Could you easily move out of GAE? I made a site on that platform a couple years ago for fun, and would get anxious every time I'd get an email from them with terms of service or API changes.
I wouldn't hire anyone based on where they learned. I want to see what they've made, and see how they answer some coding questions -- not "why are manhole covers round", but questions about software design, and anything to give a hint about how much experience they have solving coding issues.
I'd ask if they had a blog, or a website they built, or a hobby they're working on. I'd prefer to see a candidate that's passionate about software - that turns on her computer when everyone else is sleeping because she heard about a new framework or language or service on Amazon that she wants to play with.
There are uninspired graduates of good computer science programs, and there are hidden superstars that taught themselves, with no idea how good they are.
Bottom line - experience and passion matter more than where they studied.
Misery and discomfort are relative. If you started complaining, then people in Siberia will start laughing. We all have our pain, and we don't have to justify it across all of humanity -- else, nobody in first world countries should ever complain.
I always just ignore the subject domain and focus on a technical challenge. That's been enough for me for 15 years so far. I haven't ever been stuck on O&M work though - that seems soul-crushing.
Get yourself some new development work, and try to pick the hardest challenges and that'll often be enough to stimulate you.
I made the mistake of accidentally setting the firewall too strict on a remote server, killing my ability to SSH. A neat little trick I found was to setup a scheduled task to kill the firewall in 5 minutes, and then restart it. If it's too restrictive and locks you out, wait 5 minutes. If you did it right, then kill the scheduled task.