I've been writing code and researching CS in various capacities since I was about 14 (I'll be 26 in a few weeks). I contribute to FOSS as much as I can, I occasionally push out personal FOSS projects, and occasionally make screencasts / blog posts highlighting things I find interesting or have learned.
I get by at the moment doing freelance web dev for agencies in town, but its a dead market, and a lot of places have either gotten very complacent or segregated as far as design and development (we have lots of agencies that can make "pretty" things and lots of agencies that can make very "good" things, but no agencies that have a strong design _and_ development presence).
I don't feel like I have an opportunity to advance myself beyond where I'm at. There aren't any start-ups, developers don't talk to each other, and we're being taken over by three-letter-agencies (We're now home to US Cyber Command).
At the very least, from my perspective, I make serious improvements / contributions to local companies as a contractor, but get very little recognition / respect from the developers in those companies.
Its my goal at GA WDI, to gain better connections with individuals / companies that I want to work with and do interesting things with, and to get better understanding of where I'm actionable (right now I work in a lot of various environments doing a lot of different things; the only time I really get to discover where my interests and my strengths converge is in the evenings and on the weekends).
I learned from community college that you typically get out what you put in (at least in my limited experience)-- I'd like to think that if I'm able to put in what I already know and take advantage of an opportunity to learn more and be "in the right place", I'll be able to get a better and more stable job.
I hope that makes sense; its been a long day.