Now here's a comment that restores my faith in HN: well-informed, skeptical, acute... and offers to do the nice thing anyway.

I wish I was trolling, but this is the reality of my life. I did apply for one of the investor demo days at Hacker Dojo, but was rejected. I'll admit I am somewhat antisocial, and have not attended any networking events, which is totally my fault.

As you know, lots of programmers are anti-social, so that's less of a problem than it seems. It may well be easier for you to get a good-paying programming job than a lower-paying normal-person job. If I were you I'd find something interesting to hack on and then talk to other hackers about it. That doesn't require much social skill and is as least as likely to lead to work opportunities as the resume/interview grind.

Investor demo means you are still talking about your startup. The poster meant you go to Hacker Dojo not to pitch your startup but to network and get hired.

From what I can tell, you first need to say to youself, "I am done with my startup, now to get a job." Then your talking should be focused on getting yourself a job. Only look for minimum wage job if you are financially desperate.

Otherwise, spend the time figuring out which start-up to apply for. I graduated last May and it took me 8 months to land my first "real" job. The key component I learned is that out-of-college will have a hard time landing contract or a job at big companies. Your best place to land a job at is a start-up because they are more willing to look over lack of work-experience for having actual skill set. As long as you are good at programming, you will be able to land a job.

I also took a different approach than you. Instead of going directly into start-up, I decided to first work at a start-up and learn how the start-up world works. I realized early on that I am more of the type who likes to learn from others experience, as to avoid making same mistakes and to do things that would actually make my startup successful. For me, learning on-the-job at a startup means figuring out your own way of doing things that work, but it also means you don't get benefit of taking into account how others dealt with the same issue.

On a side not, AppMakr is hiring! http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/web/2230975872.html If you feel you are up for the job, don't be shy to apply/

The nice thing about networking in general, is that most people are trying to keep you from losing face. That's as uncomfortable for them as it is for you. This makes networking for someone who is open, considerate, and honest a very safe social activity to engage in. In fact, it's also true that people in networking situations are looking for help. They need something, otherwise, why are they networking?

Just do your best to be a nice person, and look for opportunities to create value for others.

If you have any skill with 2D game animation, I'm looking for some short pieces that have to be done with panache. Send me email at my HN username at gmail dot com, if you are interested.

I don't think this is a troll at all. I'm long term unemployed and I am having a similar experience. Most companies simply won't see the CVs of the unemployed because agencies won't be sending them on.

Anything such as working on a personal startup or returning to education is seen as non-work and counts against you (I've heard this from several agencies in Europe and a careers advisor).

As it is, things are looking up for me but the situation as described in the question strikes me as being very real. I imagine graduates with no work experience are having a terrible time.

Yeah, I don't believe this either. No wonder he couldn't get his startups off the ground. If you can't do well enough to market your own skills as a developer, then no way can you market any other sort of startup (I consider freelance web development to be a startup.)

No work experience? Is that a reflection of how lowly you valued your startups? These are real businesses and you worked for them, right? Isn't this work experience?

In any case, if this is real then you won't have a problem finding work now. Everyone replying to this thread would be willing to throw you work at minimum wage. ;)

I know 16 year olds which have been offered jobs at fairly big startups on the spot at events like 500 startups and Launch.

A college graduate who has been jobless for six years is probably pushing thirty. It's harder to get hired with "no" experience at 30 than at 20 (or even younger) a lot of the time, especially for fast-moving "dynamic" technology jobs.

I started my start-up 4 years ago at 31 and ran out of cash at 34, where I got my first coding job. I had 3 years of hobbyist experience and was able to find a gig. I dont think age has anything to do with it.

To land my first gig I found job postings on craiglists or wherever then searched company on facebook to see if any of my friends was connected to an employee at X company. This landed me a few interviews pretty quickly. Now I indeed I did start at a low level salary, but it has quickly increased. IF this is indeed true ... good luck; think outside the box like this post to help you get your 1st gig!

One thing I found, when I was in a similar situation, is that people with "nontraditional" CV's are rebuffed in a somewhat rougher manner than usual applicants. This can be pretty discouraging. This was decades ago for me, so I was doing a lot of phone calls as a part of my job search. It can be a bit brutal.

oh ... well doing the whole Facebook thing - finding a mutual connection between me and the employer really helped a lot. Within a few days after using this method I landed interviews and a few different offers. Also, I did have a portfolio of different designs I built for my start-up as well two other sites I built.