I live in California and have been applying for various programming jobs for about a month. I've gotten 2 interviews over the past month but no job offers. I'll really take anything, even something like a junior web design that may not pay much just to get a career in programming going.
My question is - is my background strong enough? I never finished my math degree. I took several computer programming classes in college though where I learned a lot of c / c++ programming and the UNIX shell. Since I left school, I've done freelance projects and taught myself. For example, on my resume I put down that I was lead programmer and web designer for a PhD. He had this mathematical model of the stock market and I approached him with a project to turn it into a javascript / CSS / HTML web app plus a Windows app. I set it all up for him and his clients and maintained it for 2-3 years and his clients loved my work. So I put that work on my resume. With my background, I'm quick to pick up other languages like PHP, Python, SQL, etc. I just don't have the work experience, I've just done some coding in those languages on the side and everything runs fine.
Do I need to show more than this to get in the door? I have gotten a couple interviews. Should I just be patient and keep trying or should I go back to school and try to finish that math degree? I really don't know how I stack up. Maybe if the economy was better I would have gotten something by now. What do you think?
