Just to add on to what sologoub stated...When I started IT many moons ago, I had a nice linear progressions of jobs and pay. We moved from an apartment to small house to slightly bigger rural area house. My job felt steady and I liked that with a young family. When I was ready to move onto the next position 2007 happened.
Now any move I make in the field would likely end up being a step down or lateral move in pay, based on the many recruiters and their position offerings I speak with. It's just the nature of the current economy. I make good money, but the cost of living has now outpaced what good money means and my pay has stagnanted if not gone down with health premium costs.
I can't help but think that referring to technology as "IT" might be part of the problem. Nobody I know who's doing technical product development calls it IT. In my mind, that term connotes working as a glorified support specialist in a large corporation.
Sorry - I should remember the audience. My wife always just says I do IT when people ask, so it's kind of ingrained in my head. I'm a developer (or whatever other term you want to use for that). I've worked from small teams (which are the best) to large corps.
Now any move I make in the field would likely end up being a step down or lateral move in pay, based on the many recruiters and their position offerings I speak with. It's just the nature of the current economy. I make good money, but the cost of living has now outpaced what good money means and my pay has stagnanted if not gone down with health premium costs.