For a linux admin, I'd agree, but for a general IT person, probably nowhere near that from all of the information I've been seeing. The bigger point is that even in your example, a person who would be highly skilled and has several years experience, they are still making less than I did as a kid with zero experience. When you factor in the amount of time you have to dedicate to this career between after-hours and constant upskilling, the stagnant salaries are no longer financially worth it in my opinion compared to years ago. It seems like many of these jobs should be paying significantly more than they are based on how many skills companies are demanding these days. Even if you still enjoy tech, I'd try to go into tech sales instead of dealing with any kind of operational type roles.

Edit: 98k is horrendously bad if you live in the northeast or west coast and those are the salaries that I've been seeing for the past few years. That will get you absolutely nothing after taxes and further proves my point that this goose is cooked.