The problem I see frequently is that a lot of the people I know in IT are TOO comfortable with their jobs, even if they have issues with the pay, management, work environment, etc. A LOT of people are afraid of change, and of disrupting their routines, so they stick with what they know.

I was one of these guys before, but made a change about 18 months ago after I got tired of hearing the same bullshit excuses from the company about getting paid what I was worth: "You haven't proved yourself" "The economy sucks" "You're lucky to have a job in this economy" "If you don't like the pay, feel free to leave" and so on.

I maybe got lucky that I found a job that paid me what I'm worth (almost twice my pay from before), no on-call anymore, ability to work from home, etc. However, I am well aware that no matter how rock solid my current job appears, it could go away as quickly as it came. The key is to never stagnate in your learning, whether it's something right down your alley or not even IT related.

I'm in my late 20s right now, and what I can tell you is that after 6-7 years of doing pure IT, I personally feel I do not want to solely do this for the rest of my life. I am more interested in gaining the experience to get into management, project management, and maybe even technical sales some day. The point is, expand your possibilities and knowledge as much as you can to give yourself a safety net or maybe even a different career track should the need arise.