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1. You didn't say where you're living right now. If you're still in the city where you went to university, you might want to try talking to your professors, explain your situation, and ask them if they have any projects you could work on for free. Even if they don't, they might have suggestions for projects that they'd be willing to advise you while you worked on the project (e.g. meet semi-regularly with you and offer feedback.) This will be harder to pull off if your self-assessment is inaccurate :). Start with classes where you got As or really clicked with the prof, then work your way down. Whenever you talk to someone, ask if he or she knows other people who would be a good fit for your interests and who you could also talk to. If they mention someone you don't know personally, ask to be introduced by email. The usual job search/networking stuff. (As long as you're not obnoxious about it, this isn't pushy --- most people will be happy to send an email that will make it easier for you to talk to someone else but might forget to offer unless you bring it up specifically.) 2. At the same time, think about what sort of work you want to do. Then start learning more about that area and try to become part of that "community." Are there relevant conferences you could go to? Do you have friends who know people in the field? (This is a rhetorical question; you probably do, even if you don't know it.) Ask to be introduced, and then ask those people how to get started in the field. Don't be pushy about it, and try to make it clear that you're not asking anyone for a job. AND don't ask people for jobs! You'll get a lot more out of these conversations if everyone views them as "conversations" and not "job interviews." 2b. If you don't know what sort of work you want to do, maybe do a version of those steps, but aimed at learning about lots of different aspects of development. 3. I would strongly discourage you from spending 2-3 months working on your own on side-projects. It's too easy to fool yourself, and it's likely that you'll be back in the same place after 2-3 months spent unproductively. But, if you have friends in a similar position, and if working with a former professors isn't possible, it could be useful to work on a project with those friends. You're likely to learn more about "work" that way than working on your own, and you're more likely to get something interesting done in a manageable time frame. |