How can I gain experience in web development to get a job?

Hey Alex!

As far as your first question goes it really depends on the employer how much experience you need before they will hire you. Some will ask for years of experience whereas others will just ask you for a look at some sites you have built in the past and ask about your past experiences.

They will be looking for experience building websites so it might be beneficial to build up a nice looking portfolio showcasing all of your work on sites and etc.

I hope this helped, if you have any more questions feel free to ask away!

-Luke

Alex;

That is a great question and I would say that while some of it depends on the employer, there are some things one can do to increase your chances of getting through to at least an initial interview.

Have you put together a portfolio showcasing your work?

Are you networking with companies/people in your area that do the type of work you are looking at breaking into? They may be willing to let you work on some smaller projects or pieces of projects to see your skill level with minimum negative exposure for themselves, i.e. if you design a contact form in Python for them at it doesn't work they aren't out too much in duplicating your efforts.

Have you considered freelancing at all to cover some of the time between now and being hired? This could also allow you to get exposure to different technologies and languages.

As an aside, there was a discussion similar to this in which I answered a question and you can find that here.

Best of luck,

Ken