I joined this forum nearly 5 years ago as very much a hobbyist programmer.

My confidence grew as a result of this community and this year I decided to go for a career change and try to get some work as a professional software developer/engineer.

I've applied for loads of jobs and not got a look in at any, I have no programming qualifications. Following advice from one of the members here I started to look for voluntary work.

Well, I found somewhere to volunteer. The coding is really interesting for me, mainly low level image processing. They like what I have done, I can apparently 'bring something to the table' and they have given me a decently paid job.

Thanks folks, I would not have got here without you.