Following on from what Ravi said... Don't know if this helps, but I too was in full time tech support for nearly 10 years before a company wide closure found me needing to find something else. Being a developer was always something of a passion of mine, ever since high school. I was then forced to make a decision, find another tech support job (where there's no real progression beyond Senior Service Desk Analyst), or take it as an opportunity to go down a new path in life. I managed to get the word out that I was looking for a junior developer role and the only thing letting me down was shear professional experience (some irony in that no professional would take me on to get me that professional experience). Thankfully, I was given a chance to prove myself by voluntarily working for an agency, 1 day (7 hours) a week for 2-3 months simply to gain that exposure and added experience. Had it not been for that foot through the door and all my willingness I'd not be here today.