Foot in the door tactics

Events have conspired in such a way as I feel I have to get myself a 'regular' job in the near future.

Programming dialects of BASIC has been a hobby for me since my folks bought a C64 back in the early 80's. I love it but for whatever reason I've never taken this further than a hobby.

As well as others I'm about to apply for a range of VB based IT jobs but this is a new sector for me and I'm after any advice folks can give. I can afford to work for very little for a period in order to prove myself and get my foot in the door.

My CV is all over the place and decidedly not IT, from 'regular' work as an architectural CAD technician to organising aid distribution in Kosovo and building the Cargolifter hanger in Germany. I guess my predominant skill is as a 'problem solver'.

Can anyone here give any advice on foot in the door and CV tactics.

Since you'll be treated as a beginner in the field, I'd suggest you demonstrate that you have the ability to learn and pick up things quick. If you have any work to showcase (preferably online) then that helps a lot.

I've certainly got a lot of code I can show and funnily enough I've been looking at web hosting this morning for said showcase/CV. I'm thinking such a website is probably key to getting noticed, more so than my degree in architecture for example.

If you haven't got any CVable experience (which is not the same thing as having no experience) then agencies and job ads tend to be a waste of time.

When I was looking for my first few jobs, I just grabbed the yellow pages for all the surrounding regions, looked up the computer software section and phoned every number in it. Assuming they're not a one man band (which is quite alot of the numbers) you'll usually get the receptionist, explain you're looking for development work and ask for whoever is in charge of their development. The receptionist might put you through but is more likely to say they're busy. No problem, just ask if you can email your CV - the good bit about this is that their email address will almost always contain their name. Send your CV in being quite honest about the fact that you haven't done much commercial work but that you've been hobby programming part time since the 80s and then follow up your CV with a phone call a few days later asking for them by name. This is usually enough to get you past the receptionist monster.

Once you're talking to the development manager/director/whoever you'll be amazed at how happy they are to give you 10 minutes of their day. Tell them about the stuff you've done in the past, ask them about their company and the technologies they use, generally just chat and come accross as a nice and compentent guy. There's a good chance they'll get you in for an interview and, with luck, it'll lead to a job.

If you're a brit (like me) it feels really unnatural to contact people direct in this way but I was amazed at how willing people were to talk to me. Even if they didn't have work for me they were generally freindly and encouraging and it was actually quite good fun. On the three occasions I took this aproach I was employed within a month each time. This aproach will only get you positions in small companies (the receptionist monster at big companies tends to be a far more vicious beasty and they're often backed up by personell ogres and human resource goblins) but I personally quite like working for small companies and, if you don't, it'll still be worth sticking with for a year or so at which point you can start legitimately calling yourself a developer and use more conventional routes like agencies and so on.

Edit> The web site is a good tool too and I did one when I was taking the above aproach. I'm not convinced any of the prospective employers actually bothered to look at it (in fact I'm fairly sure they didn't) but just the fact that I'd done it and was prepared to give them the URL helped me come across as a serious prospect. Generally, anything that shows your keen and have initiative works as a big plus.

Thanks you two. Good replies.