Taking a break from IT

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Spot on !

 

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I don't think I am no, I don't recall saying its not all about shiny new things, keeping abreast of industry trends and development is VITAL to a successful IT career. You bet you want to be playing with the latest and greatest, if your current place doesn't use it, some place down the line will, and you will have been using it longer than the folks who 'just' got in the bandwagon
Dont always have a say in things? then learn the skills and important traits so that your business counterparts take your views and expertise seriously, then you WILL have a say in things

I used to be one of those 'pure' techs, who never looked outside of my multiple screens to realise that what I do is merely help a company do business, that realisation and the skills that have grown since mean that people, from C level to desktop support engineer listen to what I have to say, and eagerly accept recommendations and comments, its that understanding and realisation that means I do indeed help make the decisions, and not just for my company, but for my hundreds of clients too

Actually I disagree
it depends what you call 'best educated'
do you think having a degree, or higher degree makes one best educated?
or perhaps having the most certifications?
best educated is not just school skills or test skills, its life skills, career skills, work skills, job skills, all rolled in to one, and yes, the best educated, are the best rewarded
hell even the junior developers who are 'the best' in their field are hansomly rewarded wherever they end up in the industry, provided they are ACTUALLY the best, and can prove their worth to an employer

VMWare is a prime example, they currently have over 1600 vacancies across the globe, half of which are easily development positions, paying anywhere from 80 - 180 thousand USD, that's pretty well rewarded if you have what it takes

most other high end tech firms also hire and retain some of the best technical skills in the world, its part of what makes them the best

What you say is valid, for every good well respected role there are tons of crap ones, but why settle for the crap one? is that all your worth? of course not, grab that bull, work your guts off and get to the top of that pyramid

Anyway, hope that helps clarify my point

 

My point was that its really not as straightforward as you may think, I know Professors that changed to be Quantative Developers, also many physics and electronic engineers that now work in IT because thats the best way they could make money. Some people leave IT for similar reasons.

Yep, I totally agreed if you work hard you can get ahead, also jumping on the bandwagon with new tech is a great way to do that. Just realise that this is the equivalent of IT fashion, it doesn't necessarilly make you a good tech.

Many a good tech has been held down through the years by management. This statement is pretty loaded, is it possible for them to prove they are the best ? In a team based environment do we want prima donnas ? In my experience the market places values on people in a quite arbitary manner.

Lets not kid ourselves though, personal and corporate objectives are not always in alignment. Sometimes running with legacy tech IS the right choice for a company. For an example of new tech causing a mess look at the the EJB 1&2 spec and the associated costs. Technology can be misapplied, mismarketed and mismanaged.

To quote your example VMWare was created by a small startup, theres also countless other examples of expertise and innovation comming from small companies, in IT they are generally started by degree educated people and it also involves alot of business nouce and luck. If you jumped on the bandwagon early you could just as likely be out of a job or working on unsupported 'pre-legacy' tech as many startups fail, these are the very same people you were calling suckers no ?

I personally totally agree, keep working and try to get to the top, it's not the answer for everyone though.