See if there are some local developer Meetups or user groups. Microsoft does a lot of them, at least in my area. There are things like Barcamp and other things that draw techies. If you dig around on Twitter for local developers you'll eventually find a decent list of upcoming events. The point of all of that is to build local contacts outside of school. A lot of freelance jobs float around local devs I know.
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See if there are some local developer Meetups or user groups. Microsoft does a lot of them, at least in my area. There are things like Barcamp and other things that draw techies. If you dig around on Twitter for local developers you'll eventually find a decent list of upcoming events. The point of all of that is to build local contacts outside of school. A lot of freelance jobs float around local devs I know.