thanks for the quick reply! so how did you get your FIRST job then? it seems easier to bootstrap once you've made connections at your Nth job to go to the (N+1)th job, but how do you start?

My FIRST job started as an internship at the company. The internship was scored entirely without connections - I think the combination of well-refined cover letter and resume was the trick, as well as my experience with interviewing (the college had us apply and interview for a LOT of jobs).

From the internship came the job. Yay.

My first job was an internship with someone I met during my short stay at college. I didn't know him very well at all, but we happened to talk a little bit and after I told him I wanted to get into the computer industry he let me know they had an internship available.

ah nice, yeah it seems like internships during college is a good first step since the barrier to entry is a bit lower ... from there you can start building your network

I think it's worth mentioning that college wasn't really the important factor; the important thing was seeking out and finding people who were doing what I wanted to be doing.

You could go the route of posting your resume to job boards, writing great cover letters, etc; but knowing people is a two-way street. Not only can they give you an in, they can also tell you if a place is any good or not to work for.