If programming is your future, you might try using it for everything...

Try to do a list of priorities in your present life in different sections: life, money, family, love, etc.

Then try to imagine all these interests flowing in a sort of multitasking system and live every day attending all those flows in a normal way.

Try to show clearly that what you program is valuable. Perhaps only another programmer might understand you. But if you are able to document your code very clearly (especially the one that you print for your professional folder). And fill pages with clear and graphical schemas, you might have something nice to show when you apply for a job. Remember WYSIWIG?

You might be an interesting programmer if your code is so clear that any other programmer might be able to continue your work at any time.

You might have to offer a lot of free jobs to get people trust you. So try to have some older programmer's advice to guide you in the offerings.

Open Source might become also a way of helping each other in finding interesting jobs that you might offer to others that have been working hard on the code with you.

OS is a shift in the concept of normal jobs where people try to distinguish from their companions. In OS people might try to help each others in finding some jobs.