It's not clear what is meant by "an IT career." There was a time when this could only mean systems administration -- and this may still be true in smaller shops -- but now IT has more than 20 job descriptions.

The article seems to focus on escalated IT support. There are many positions that do not require being on call or sacrificing personal time.

I do agree that IT does not offer career advancement, and even if it did, most of us who are attracted to it have no interest in management. I have yet to figure out why it is that large IT organizations promote their most talented technical people into management roles.

IT is tricky. IMHO we haven't yet figured out how to do it right. The wave of consulting and outsourcing in the 90s was very damaging. Management still looks to IT first when it's time to cut costs.