http://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/career-advice-part-1

http://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/career-advice-part-2

As great as reading career advice can be to get you over the initial hurdles of developing self-confidence and making connections with people, a good idea might be to also look for stuff that's not so purpose-driven. What I mean is writing/listening that focuses on the why as much as it does the what.

In particular, when I was first getting into the SD world (which is not to make it sound like I'm a big time pro or anything) I stumbled across this set of writings by Andreas Bick (http://silentlistening.wordpress.com/category/reflections/ and http://www.andreas-bick.de/en/writings/). They were really helpful with giving me a conceptual kick in the butt in terms of thinking about how sound works, why it works, and the power that comes with the ability to control it. Also, see if you can find a copy of Salomé Voegelin's Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art. Also, take a look at http://earroom.wordpress.com/.

The reason I recommend these things is that a big helper with getting a gig (in my short experience) has been being able to communicate a developed sense of aesthetic, and a clear sense of where you want to take something and why. And yes, there are quite a few people who are not at all interested in the above and will tell you it's all a load of waffle (and will shortly after tell you that they just want more bass), but to be able to manipulate your audience (which is what sound/music/art is really about) you have to understand what it is in sound that motivates people's reactions to it. And the better you do that, the better you do, if you take my meaning.

http://sound-sculpting.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/how-to-become-sound-designer.html

As you can see this site is a little old, but it has some of the most amazing articles. Articles from the grandfathers of sound design.

Check it:

http://filmsound.org/