SharePoint Development? Is it possible?

I want to get into SharePoint Development but obviously my current company or any other company is not going to hire me for this due to lack of experience.

How can I do SharePoint Development on my own?

I have Visual Studio 2010, SharePoint Developer 2010, etc. but I do not have a SharePoint Server to use...

Is their something on the cloud that I can connect too for development? Maybe something I pay for?

I have a copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 that I can install on a Virtual Machine or perhaps dual boot my laptop. But I am not sure how exactly to go about installing SharePoint Server after that?

I tried reading through things like SharePoint EasyScript but no luck...

Basically... I am a student, who is working for a company, I want to get into SharePoint Development but I have no SharePoint Server to do so with. I need an online service or instructions to set up my own SharePoint Server.

Thanks

Your best bet is an MSDN subscription

You could try the trial:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=43162AF5-5B7B-40E0-B879-A77DAC8F58BC&displaylang=en

Basically... I am a student, who is working for a company, I want to get into SharePoint Development but I have no SharePoint Server to do so with. I need an online service or instructions to set up my own SharePoint Server.

Check your school's MSDN-AA, you can get SharePoint Server through there.

Failing that... I'm sure you can find...a...way...to "acquire" a copy of SharePoint Server. You're a student, you're meant to know your way around...those...things.

I am, of course, refering to stumping up tens of thousands of dollars to Microsoft I would never acknowledge or condone copyright infringement for trivial academic cases that would have zero negative impact on Microsoft's long-term bottom line.

You can set up a Sharepoint server using the version built into Windows Server, it's not as full featured as Portal Server but that shouldn't matter for learning to program against it.

You need to get a sharepoint up and running locally

... use eg wmvare to create a windows 2008 R2 (x64), vs net 2010 and SharePoint 2010 virtual machine. Remember to install the sharepoint tools when installing vs.net. Assign the vm as much RAM as you can ...

When you install SP 2010 there is an option to have the installer setup and configure sharepoint for you. It is a sort of a demo option that allows you to get a sharepoint up and running and it is sufficient if you want to get into sharepoint coding. It will install and configure a SQL Server Express aswell.

At a later stage you can look into how to configure SharePoint the correct way.

Getting started coding:
http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/SharePoint2010Developerbooks">http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/SharePoint2010Developer

books:
Professional SharePoint 2010 Development
(http://www.amazon.com/Professional-SharePoint-2010-Development-Programmer/dp/0470529423)Beginning">http://www.amazon.com/Professional-SharePoint-2010-Development-Programmer/dp/0470529423)

Beginning SharePoint 2010 Development
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-SharePoint-2010-Development-Guides/dp/0470584637/ref=pd_sim_b_2Good">http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-SharePoint-2010-Development-Guides/dp/0470584637/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Good luck

Windows Server 2008 includes SharePoint and you can get that of DreamSpark.