I found myself in a similar "hole" -- QA in my case (not to disparage QA; it just wasn't my optimal choice) -- and eventually managed to get out of it via a la

I found myself in a similar "hole" -- QA in my case (not to disparage QA; it just wasn't my optimal choice) -- and eventually managed to get out of it via a lateral move. I was lucky to be in a flexible enough organization and to have enough programming experience to make it possible.