I am going to write this from the perspective of a potential employer.
Personally, I don't look at the years of experience someone has, but at the projects that the person worked on and how good that person is at answering some technical questions (to weed out people that lie about their experience and knowledge).
If you are good at what you do, then have some projects to show your expertise. And there are a few options to get them:
1. help a non-profit for a lower pay or even for free
2. contribute to open source projects
3. create a project of your own where you can show what you can do
> What did you do to get a response back from jobs you've submitted an application to?
When applying don't talk about years of experience, but about what projects you completed and how you managed to get them done.
"1. help a non-profit for a lower pay or even for free 2. contribute to open source projects 3. create a project of your own where you can show what you can do"
What's wrong with projects from previous full-time jobs? My most complex and interesting projects were done during paid hours and since I usually was the only person working on these projects, I can proudly call them "mine", despite being owned by an employer. From the perspective of an employee, if you demanded to have non-paid projects I would thank you for an interview and say "goodbye", even though I have some of these.
I think any of these things (1, 2, 3) are commendable, but expecting any of them is like only hiring a plumber if he has completed any good plumbing projects in his spare time.
I find it completely bizarre this has now become the standard in hiring software engineers.
Personally, I don't look at the years of experience someone has, but at the projects that the person worked on and how good that person is at answering some technical questions (to weed out people that lie about their experience and knowledge).
If you are good at what you do, then have some projects to show your expertise. And there are a few options to get them:
1. help a non-profit for a lower pay or even for free 2. contribute to open source projects 3. create a project of your own where you can show what you can do
> What did you do to get a response back from jobs you've submitted an application to?
When applying don't talk about years of experience, but about what projects you completed and how you managed to get them done.