I remember hearing that after you get a year or so of work and networking under your belt, it mostly just flows. And I didn't really believe it a year ago, but now I see it. All the people I've met from hackathons to the accelerator program to random events, it all adds up later and I get approached for work a good bit now.
When you say 'work' is this freelancing work, or work as an employee at a company? If its freelancing work, how do you find enough to keep you busy during the 1st year?
My usual setup is a monthly stipend from a somewhat early stage startup, or one that I'm cofounding and then I do freelance/other stuff on the side. At the moment I'm doing full time work for a startup out of Harvard, freelancing with a dev on an iPad app, and doing some work for a YC startup.
The demand companies have for labor is determined by your rate. If you charge less, clients will demand more of your time. You can work 30-50 hours a week freelancing for a single client, if that's what you want.
It's not a bad arrangement at the start, since you probably need money and are willing to work for it. Sometimes with those projects I work a lot at the start, then do maintenance work for 1-2 days a month later on.
