How do you develop references for jobs? I have 6 years of programming experience spanning two jobs, but sadly I don't have a lot of people I can draw on as references. It's been several years since I left my last job, which was at a small company, and I've lost touch with the few people I knew there. I now work at another small company. I think I've gone as far as I can in my current position, and would like to look for greener pastures, but I can't exactly use my current boss as a reference, even though I have a very good repore with him. I'm sure he'd make a great reference down the road, but I'm afraid I'd insult him or jeopardize my current job by mentioning that I'm thinking of leaving and would like him to help me.

I've applied to some jobs, and I have gotten several replies like, "Oh, you're exactly what we're looking for. Send us a couple references and we'll schedule an interview. Oh, no references? You must be a psychopath, nevermind."

I've tried doing some small freelance work on the side, just so I can have a contact who can vouch for my work, but the competition for even small projects is pretty fierce and I can rarely devote adequate time to freelancing while holding a full time job. In addition, I often encounter a Catch-22 where a lot of freelancing jobs also require references.

So how do programmers maintain existing references and develop new ones, especially while holding a full time job?