I was considered a non-traditional college student when I started for my BA in Computer Information Systems when I was 25 years old. I graduated this past December (2018) at the age of 30.
Since then I have been actively applying for jobs in the IT field such as "Software Developer, IT Help Desk, Desktop Support, Programmer" etc. Some of them are mostly the same thing just different titles.
As of right now (May 2019) I have applied to at minimum 50 different jobs in the surrounding cities near me. The two largest cities near me are an hour away in opposite directions. I live in a relatively small town with no computing industry at all so the other two larger cities are my best bet.
Unfortunately, just about all of the 50 applications have been rejected due to lack of professional experience. No one seems to care about my personal experience even though I have it listed on my resume. I'm becoming frustrated because I have to start paying my student loan back in a couple months.
I'm married with kids, my wife has a good career in the next county over, and we own our home so I cannot relocate. I don't have a lot of free time to due to my part-time job to pay some small bills while my wife covers the rest.
We don't have a lot of free money so after looking at the cost of study materials and exam fees for certifications I have decided I'll have to wait to find a better job to save up some money.
As a side note one thing I've noticed is that not a lot of companies are posting "Entry-Level" positions for people like me to apply to. Most of the positions assume you already have some professional experience.
This all being said (sorry it's so long), what advice do you have to help me figure out how to get started?
