[anigbrowl]

Better yet, if working for a large employer see if you can get them to help pay for it. Obviously I don't know what sort of company you works for, but being depressed about working at a non-software company may be a reaction to internal rather than external factors.

It's worth asking for a meeting or lunch the supervisor, and explaining the worries about where you can go with this firm and why that lack of hardcore software prospects is worrying you a bit. It sounds very much as if you've ended up working as a mechanic when what you really wanted to do was design engines or gearboxes. If your employers aren't jerks and you've been doing a good job up to now, they may well offer some career-building assistance or advice that you might not have thought of yourself. Tread carefully, to ensure you aren't the obvious choice if the economy requires them to lay off a few people in every department ('Oh, let's get rid of yacoder, he's not that happy here anyway so he won't make a fuss'), but keep an open mind. For all you know the lack of core software openings at your company is due to management's inability to build a better programming team, and they might see your ambition to delve deeper as a valuable future asset.