6 years, but during those times I did not stop of having a serious career path and have that exposure. I never gave up, not that I just waited and see if things would happen. I did my homework - those sleepless nights watching video tutorials, reading some articles and blogs, googling and searching other's approach in Stackoverflow. I did not stop improving myself until I got an offer.

How about you, how long did it tested you until you got your dev exposure?

Feel free to share :)