I've been working full time as a mobile developer for 2 years after dropping out of college nearly immediately and attending a bootcamp the subsequent summer.
I was in a similar situation as you and had the same thought about applying for internships. I had a non-CS background, was a couple years out of school, doing work that barely qualified as software development in a mediocre environment. I felt stuck and was jealous of friends still in school who seemingly breezed into Facebook and Google internships (etc.) which I wasn't even allowed to apply for. Meanwhile, trying to apply full-time to any top companies would result in automated rejection.
There is a well-oiled machine for scooping up thousands of talented CS students and funneling them into positions at top companies, but if you are on a slightly different path it is easy to be overlooked by the recruiting machine.
What eventually worked for me was continuously trying to get into companies that were better than where I was, while working hard enough that I learned lots and impressed the people I worked with. It didn't take as many steps as I thought it would to get to Google/Facebook level, and overall it was faster and probably more interesting than going back for a CS degree.
Edit: I should elaborate. There are companies out there offering internships that I would die for. I don't mean FAANG stuff or Big 5 or whatever. I'm talking small shops like Teenage Engineering or medium sized business like Ableton or Native Instruments. I have been put in an awkward position where I have experience working full time as a developer, but I'm not necessarily learning anything or developing my skills. It sucks not being able to qualify for a certain subset of entry-level opportunities because I'm not apart of the college/university institutions. I will be keeping my head up as the position I am in may just be what forces me to be extraordinary at what I do.
I don't want to be too blunt, but I think the barrier you are seeing is 25% real and 75% in your head.
Some of the best coders and ops people I've ever worked with either never went or never graduated from college.
If you've been working 2 years as a full-time mobile dev, you're qualified for a full-time role. We pay our interns industry salaries, just for 3 months instead of 12. We do take a little bit of extra care to give them a good intro to the company and make sure we take them to a factory in their first (and only) 3 months and have a few intern events over the summer, but otherwise, it's 80-90% like having a software developer job. A few places will have some HR/recruiting drone 86 your resume because of no college. Many will not and most hiring managers who are/were programmers won't care.
Although OP's situation is different in that they have 2 years of experience, I can definitely say that companies won't just hire someone full-time with zero experience anymore (even into "new grad" or junior positions). College internships weren't always a thing; a career switcher might not have any tech experience to put on a resume, and a lot of companies and recruiters don't even look at personal projects. It's a very tough row to hoe starting from zero and getting a job as a developer.
Agree that it's no longer like it was back in 1998-early 2000 (where all you needed was a pulse it seemed), but I believe that competence and capability will generally overcome obstacles.
Would it be easier if you graduated 6-3 from MIT? Sure! Would it be easier if you already had 2 years at Netflix? Sure! You have to play the cards you're holding at the moment, though.
Side note: I've also heard the complaint recently that companies and recruiters are being too selective by asking about open source or personal projects, so there are definitely some out there. We don't have a set formula; I'm happy to talk about you, your goals, your skills and abilities, and anything else that comes up. If you've got a great personal project, let's talk about it.
Unfortunately internships aren't really designed for you. From the company's perspective, the point of an internship is to build a relationship with students so that they're likely to join full time after they graduate. Since you're already eligible to work full time, there's no incentive for a company to hire you as an intern. If you really want to work at those companies, study I'm your free time and apply for a full time role.
Sokoloff gave you some wonderful advice and I don't want to repeat what has already been said. However, here is what I know:
- You're a good writer.
- You do have two years of experience.
- "I will be keeping my head up as the position I am in may just be what forces me to be extraordinary at what I do." -> this sentence betrays a really good attitude.
I'd apply full-time if I were you. Worst case scenario, you'll be in the same place you are now. Best case scenario, I've got someone I can bitch at when Ableton Live hurts my feelings...:)
Just apply to those jobs anyway. Past a certain amount of experience hardly anyone will care about your education. Until then, your biggest hurdle will be HR folks who might discard your CV before the hiring manager gets to see it. To maximize your chances of getting interviews, do your best to go around them (meet them and their staff at meet-ups or by working on OSS projects they participate in, etc.), or avoid them entirely (small companies don't often have any HR staff).
