The stereo types of IT are too powerful, our own managers re-enforce them
1. The stereo types of IT people are too powerful, and our managers, being accounting and sales continuously promote them.
As well as programming, technical analyst and project leading, I have done work in sales over the years. Sales people get regular training to develop their people skills. It occurs weekly in weekly sales meetings, and it occurs on courses they are sent off site for.
As well, most sales people are given similar frequent training in negotiations and goal setting.
I remember my first sales meeting at the last company I did sales for. Six of us started that day. The manager went around the table and asked us each what we were here for. It was all money. None of this "self-fulfilment", "self-actualization" or "to help the company" crap IT people are taught to parrot.
I have a brother who is an accountant, and even they get courses to develop their people and negotiation skills.
IT people lack people skills because they aren't sent on courses. And because that deficit makes it easy to keep them down.
2. IT people are often sent on technical courses as an alternative to giving them pay raises.
In my work as project leader, around review time, we would be told to offer courses, and to tell our staff that the new technology would allow them to advance their careers.
Of course what the technical courses typically let the IT people do is keep their existing job, but work in a different language or operating system. It sets them up for a lateral transfer at the same level.
It keeps them content for another year. It lets us have another year's grunt work out of them.
3. Remember the EDS "herding cats" commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8
Supposedly programmers are as hard to herd as cats. EDS makes money off of how supposedly hard to manage programmers are. But really, programmers are easy to manage, if you don't mind manipulating, duping and cheating untrained people.