Just a final bit of advice: most people would not look to hire someone &quot;down on their luck&quot;. An optimistic and enthusiastic attitude certainly helps.<p>Her stance should not be &quot;I&#x27;m a great programmer but have not been given the chance to prove myself&quot;. It should be &quot;I&#x27;m a great programmer who wants to save your company millions of dollars.&quot; Or even something like &quot;I am happiest when writing code, but I&#x27;d rather be paid to do it.&quot;