[ho-ho]

Hi,
I am a mom of two kids. 3 to 4 years back when my daughter was born, I took some online C# development classes ( certificate and not degree).They helped me a lot in understanding the language. At the time , I wasn't too interested in programming but tried to learn it anyway since I was studying at home, didn't had to take classes the traditional way and also my kids were young.
Since then, I have developed couple of mobile apps. for 6, 6.5 and windows phone 7. Now I seem to be more interested or I am enjoying developing more than I was before. I have also tried to learn Sql through the various websites and currently I am trying to learn asp.net.
To the various outstanding developers out there, I would like to know how can I get my first job as a C# developer?
I don't have any corporate experience and everyone wants at least 2-3 years development cycle experience. I am having a really tough time finding a job. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks.

[stackoverflow]

Gear your resume towards certificates and the applications you have made. Put a lot of emphasis on them and any and all skills you have. Apply to a lot of places and something will bite.

[jon.kiparsky]

Get a job as a tech writer. Tweak together some Java to ensure that blocks of phone numbers in the new phone system are properly allocated (replacing the Excel spreadsheet previously deployed for the purpose). Hack together some perl to auto-compile documentation on svn commits. Work on a PHP-visualizing tool for the company's website. Get asked to regularize some attributes in some dtsx files used in the company's database. At that point, someone will say, hey, you can write Java, can you take a look at this piece of C# that's lying around, we need to make it do THIS instead of THAT... can we borrow oyu for a few weeks to work on that...

At least, that's what's happening with me.

[Curtis Rutland]

Do you have a degree? If you have no degree, no experience, and no published work, in this economy, you're going to be straight up out of luck. At least one of those things will take you a long way, but having none will leave you high and dry.

Your best bet is to join up with a recruiting/headhunting agency. They can help a lot, since some of the jobs they fill aren't even offered to the general public (that's what happened for me). They're going to expect you to prove your proficiency, though.

Another suggestion is to try a "rent-a-coder" style site. See if you can do some of the projects there. If you can, try to bid a few. You might not make much money, but it's all experience you can point to.

[ho-ho]

Thanks for all of your input in this matter. My mobile applications which I talked earlier, have been published in windows mobile marketplace.So it isn't like I don't have any published work.
When it comes to freelancing, I am a bit hesitant as I feel I am not confident enough or I may not be able to complete the task.

Also I am trying to learn asp.net so I can get familiar with various aspects of creating a website since a lot of jobs which I see require knowledge of asp.net.Is this the right approach?
Thanks.

[Curtis Rutland]

Quote

When it comes to freelancing, I am a bit hesitant as I feel I am not confident enough or I may not be able to complete the task.

Well, frankly, if you're worried about that, then you're not ready to work for anyone either. How much worse will it be if you're a fulltime employee that can't complete her tasks?

[sparkart]

There is a craze for Android/iOS apps. Hop on the bandwagon before it's too late.

Next will come the HTML5 bandwagon.

Just follow the wave.