To get by I started freelancing. Odesk is a pretty good place to work if you are starting out. The people there gladly trade inexperience for a tiny amount of salary(work!) and it can be a start. What I learnt though that it is more or less pointless to market yourself to the technology people (but if they do come to you on their own it is worth it to discuss the opportunity since you have a slightly upper hand in negotiations). Rather it is more profitable to market to people who use that technology.
So for instance suppose you work on your programming skills and learn how to build a CMS. This feat will be "meh" for technology people. They do this stuff day in and day out and see no value in it(maybe they will even criticize you for using jquery). But if you can learn to sell this CMS to say a local travelling agency who is still marketing their services through blogger, by showing them how much more they can accomplish if they used a better tool, then you are on to something. A single sale can transform into managing the server for them which can be quite a good source for recurring income.
Another thing that I learnt is that it is very valuable to have a domain expertise (besides programming). Taking the above example if you learn how the travelling agency conducts it's business you will no doubt find ways to generate income from this knowledge. Maybe you will design a CRM for a them or maybe you will create a tool that makes it easier for them to find new leads or send invoices or whatever.... you will learn to look out for things that can be done better with a program and that is where the real money is. That's what these companies do after all don't they?
Unless you have a debt, or a family to look out for, may be you are better off without a job (or maybe not). Regardless of this take time to learn how to market yourself and the stuff that you build. Oh and how to deal with negativity I don't know what will work for you but I pick up a PG Wodehouse book and laugh till my stomach hurts :)