Windows 7 and cd to symbolic links

So I have created a bunch of symbolic links to top of source code tree, data directories, etc

How do I, from command line, cd to these links?

Are you sure you actually created symbolic links, or did you create a Windows Shortcut? Those are not links, and don't work as such. Actual symbolic links behave like other directories, so if you are unable to cd into it, either you a) don't have permissions to enter the target directory, b) the symlink doesn't point to a valid directory, or c) it's actually not a symlink.

(If you want to create NTFS symlinks, use the MKLINK command)

As a parable, imagine a river and its tributaries: all those rivers flow into the large river; that is the directory structure; riverside towns are files. Now, a Windows Shortcut is just a sign on the riverbank: "it's not here, you need to go back down to Mississippi and then up Ohio, it is five miles upstream, on the left bank" - but you need to read English to understand it (have a program which handles this for you, e.g. Explorer.exe). A symlink is like a water canal: if you follow it, it will actually take you someplace else, no matter whether you can read English or not (no matter what program you use).