There's been some success over the past year.
I convinced, first section manager, and then my direct line manager, that I could do some interesting things with a proper IDE installed. They both said yes.
I've since completed a couple of neat little project that appear to have wow'ed my colleagues.
Happy result.
In the meantime, I'm learning more and more about my chosen language, and how it can be used at a professional level. Not that I'm really there yet. I can fake it pretty well though.
Looking back over the years, I'm convinced that its really been the last 2-3 years that have really solidified my understanding.
