I'm curious: at what point do you feel you're an "expert" at certain technical skills?

Pretty similar to a struggle of my own finding iOS developer positions. My advice is to just build something and put it out there on the web for companies to see. You don't necessarily have to have a large portfolio - any projects that are worth showing are fair game.

I'm still in the process of interviewing with several, several companies out here in Los Angeles and from what I've gathered, what they want to see what all you can do, not how many you can do. With that said, though, I'd suggest having at least a couple out there to be safe.

Also, I'd look more in depth for entry-level, junior developer positions. There are plenty out there. When companies refer to senior level developers, they're referring to developers who have either released successful products of their own or developers who have worked on consumer-facing products within other companies.

Hope that helps.

Absolutely agree with what already put. You need a little bit of experience and the confidence to stand up an say, "Hey! I can do that". Just remember, its you their looking for. They just don't know it yet!

How can i say this? I have no degree, no formal qualifications, but have worked for a handful of startups. (I like small companies), as I feel that their more flexible, agile and someone like me can jump in and really make a difference.

As a back end coder, here in the UK my code is in the BBC, Tesco, a bank, and several other high profile companies. Am I an expert. Nah, I'm just someone who, tries to keep up with new trends, got good at thinking outside the box so to make elegant simple solutions to big problems. (in case your wondering im on treehouse to tidy up my front end skills . after years of just doing back end code)

I Will tell you what expert is. Its a weeding out tool, to hold back people who are not confident enough in their skills to step up to the plate ;) My Advice. Is first look in the mirror, think about all those courses you done and how much knowledge you now have.

Now Start applying! Go for the big jobs and go for the small and when you get to those interviews.....

Sit back and ask yourself, do they excite you. Would you be happy working there. Are they also ready to have someone as remarkable as yourself to help them achieve. If not go find somewhere that is and trust me keep looking the right job will be just around the corner.

Kev.

Thanks Guys. I guess it's worth it to just throw it out there, give it a shot & see what a couple of them say. Also, I generally use Genesis as a framework, but I'm considering building something with Bootstrap just for fun. Can I put those kinds of things into my portfolio? Or is that totally frowned upon?

It's sometimes suggested you need to spend 10,000 hours at something to achieve mastery. So I'd look at "jr developer jobs" for now and after 5 years or so of doing that maybe you'll be ready to be an expert.

Then again HR people like to abuse words like expert so you need to figure out what you'll be doing to figure out if it really requires an expert or just a professional level of competence. How can you know the difference, starting out that's kinda hard to do.