IT (the industry) isn't limited to Desktop Support. It includes Systems Administrators and Engineers, Network Administrators and Engineers, Design, Implementation, Development etc. It sounds to me like those who are complaining that IT is "thankless" are referring to Desktop Support which, to be fair, is called "IT" in a lot of companies. I'll agree that Desktop Support is fairly dead-end and thankless, though that isn't necessarily true at every company. OP, the key to success in IT is understanding that there are many different sub-field of IT and finding the one that suits you best. Are you more drawn to Systems or Network? If Systems, what OS? Advancing in IT necessarily involves specialization. My recommendation to you would be to get an entry-level job at an IT company (managed hosting, for instance) doing phone support or whatnot. Yes, it will probably suck, but it's a foot in the door. Most places tend to promote internally as much as possible. Plus, you'll get exposed to all the different pieces that have to work together and be able to start figuring out what interests you the most. At least, that's how it worked out for me and I've done pretty well so far.