I have been trying to get a developer account for several months. At first I attempted to join the SDN (Suitecloud Developer Network) which apparently gives you access to a developer account, but I got rejected many many times. The last two times I haven't even heard back from Netsuite and it has been over 3 months now.

I find it hard to believe that the "#1 Cloud ERP" has so little care into seeing their developer base grow. How is a new developer supposed to get started in Netsuite other than buying a license?

I think that if Netsuite cared just a little bit more for its developers there would be a much better selection of apps, solutions and communities out there. I often compare it with how Salesforce operates and the difference is abysmal. I mean, if you wanted you could apply for a Salesforce developer account and you could be tinkering with your instance and coding in Apex within minutes, whereas with Netsuite it would take months and that's if you are lucky and your application gets accepted.