I can't help to do two things here. One, agree with the majority of replies here and recommend that you stick things out and two, be incredibly jealous. What I wouldn't give to be called back to the numerous help desk positions that I've applied for. Yes I know all to well that the help desk world isn't all sunshine and rainbows, that its thankless, and people only come to you when they need you. I also know that it's a progress towards where you want to go and that means putting your time in and showing others what you are capable of. I spent five years doing sys admin work in the military, got out to go to school and worked various IT jobs big and small but took the chance to be a big kid while in school and became a firefighter. Don't get me wrong, serving the community is great but it was the worst thing I could've done for my career. Long story short, I greatly miss IT, I love technology and while the family has gotten bigger so has the bills and we are barely getting by and its at a critical point. I've been applying to anything and everything just to get back in the game. I'm enrolled in a program to have my CCNA, CCNA Security, and CEH by the end of this fall but unless something changes soon I'm not even sure if I'll be able to finish the program even though it comes at no cost to me.

To sum it up after applying for months and nothing more than a couple of call backs that have led to nothing I'm sitting here thinking I'd love to be where you are, showing up to the grind every day, knowing that someone will notice that I'm putting in the time, educating myself, and ready for the next step. Do that and your time will come. Its not glamorous work but remember when you got that job there were plenty of hungry tech folks that didn't.