Hi I have a question for the proffesionals on this forum. I’m a college graduate with a degree in computer engineering. I never used it much since graduating in '04. I’ve made the occaisional static HTML site for people. How would you best suggest someone like me get back into programming websites. I don’t really have a portfolio to show people so getting freelance work is difficult. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the good advice guys. I’ll see if I can get in touch with some non-profit organizations in the area. Also will ask around and see if anyone is in need of some work. Wish me luck and thanks again for the advice. 
Throw yourself towards some charities, you could get some (non-payed) web design work which helps a good cause and will give you some great examples for your portfolio. Also look towards your local community, you could always get some small businesses to pay you to provide them with a good basic site.
The main key point is to keep practising, network with other professionals and try to get yourself out into the community, hanging out here (for example) may give you ideas, new knowledge (from other peoples posts) and the potential to advance your coding skills (by helping out others) - it’s why I’m here! 
Jump in head first… Make sites for the few businesses you are connected to at low or no cost, leverage these to get you into some cheaper freelance work and build from there. It’s a competitive world and experience counts, big time, but so does persistence. Not enough credit is given to using the network you know to reach friends of family, friends of friend and cutting the right deals to earn their business and show it.