I think you're overestimating the difficulty of getting a job. It's your life and no one else's. You don't have to fit someone else's mold of an ideal employee just to get meaningful work.
Take that year. Meet some people. Talk to business owners and other money creators. There's always opportunity to improve someone's life and improve or build on existing solutions using your skills. You might even find money in that.
Build your projects. Download the source for an open source tool you use. Learn how it works, write some documentation, and add functionality for yourself. Find problems that frustrate you and others and solve them. You might even find money in that.
Get a job as a freelancer, a server, a valet, a bartender, a hotel front desk overnight receptionist. You'll extend your runway, gain a lot of perspective and insight, pick up useful skills, and meet people entirely different from those you've met up to this point. You might even find money in that.
If none of that "works out" at the end of a year or two, start looking for a traditional programming job. The gap year(s) and lack of a Masters won't be detrimental; in the programming world, it's all about what you've done. Any company worth working for will take one look at your projects and start recruiting you to work for them.
As the article said, enjoy the journey. As Randall Monroe said, "...the solution [to seeing what each moment could become] doesn't involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of someday easing my fit into a mold. It doesn't involve tempering my life to better fit someone's expectations. It doesn't involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up."
Take that year. Meet some people. Talk to business owners and other money creators. There's always opportunity to improve someone's life and improve or build on existing solutions using your skills. You might even find money in that.
Build your projects. Download the source for an open source tool you use. Learn how it works, write some documentation, and add functionality for yourself. Find problems that frustrate you and others and solve them. You might even find money in that.
Get a job as a freelancer, a server, a valet, a bartender, a hotel front desk overnight receptionist. You'll extend your runway, gain a lot of perspective and insight, pick up useful skills, and meet people entirely different from those you've met up to this point. You might even find money in that.
If none of that "works out" at the end of a year or two, start looking for a traditional programming job. The gap year(s) and lack of a Masters won't be detrimental; in the programming world, it's all about what you've done. Any company worth working for will take one look at your projects and start recruiting you to work for them.
As the article said, enjoy the journey. As Randall Monroe said, "...the solution [to seeing what each moment could become] doesn't involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of someday easing my fit into a mold. It doesn't involve tempering my life to better fit someone's expectations. It doesn't involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up."
http://xkcd.com/137/
Shake things up. Make your own path in the world and enjoy yourself along the way. Good luck!