This is going to sound harsh, but I feel IT workers get treatment that wouldn’t be tolerated in any other field. I think it’s because of super nerds who don’t realize that their actions impact other people negatively, and Indians, who bring third world ethics into a first world country.
The disposable mentality towards IT workers just wouldn’t be tolerated in any other field. The idea that you take credit for someone’s work, fire them with no notice, bash them on a reference call for their next job and that that isn’t a problem. That you can then turn around and make a big deal of their resume gaps. My experience now working outside of IT has confirmed to me that there’s something wrong there and I think there has to be a house cleaning on a major scale.
I happen to think I’m very good at what do, which is information systems style programming. I don’t think I’m “average.” But I’ve ran into so many people who have interfered with my ability to apply my knowledge.