I am 19 and actually in college working on a programming/Database degree. I only have a couple VB.NET and web development classes under my belt and some general IT troubleshooting as well. I talked with my co op advisor at school and made a resume which she sent out to companies. I currently am in and have been in for the past few months working as a entry level programmer coding in VBA. My suggestion is for your son to try to keep broadening his programming skills while applying for companies or try to get an intership/co op through his school. I wish him luck and keep looking! Geoff