IT Auditor

Hi everyone, I was a programmer for 7 years and hit the techie ceiling (not that high really) and could not get a salary increase without getting out of programming and entering the it audit field. After 16 months I see that I miss the technical field but it seems to be a catch 22 situation; that is techie jobs are lower paid and the management boring jobs are the higher paid.

Looking for ideas on what career path to take now.