I made it!
After a year of continuous work I managed to secure a job in IT doing what I wanted to do: development. The road isn't over yet as much as I wish it was. I just need to convince this company that they really want to keep me as a programmer and in order to do that I am taking a lot of work home.
It is not fun to do but it can be achieved and the end result will be a decent salary for years to come so it is worth the pain.
Graeme