>>They all thought they'd be on 60K a year with a company BMW

After graduation back in '93 I found NO jobs in IT, so worked for a year as a truck driver, barman, peat cutter etc., then finally managed to find a PC support role on £10k a year. (This was considerably less than I was earning as a truck driver, but it was in IT which is where I wanted to be)

Now I am up in the sensible salaries range, but that is only because I made the decision to specialise in IT Security. I have colleagues who were on the same salary as me and now I earn more than double what they get.

The only ex-colleagues of mine who earn more than me are those who went in to sales, and one guy who is a router guru for Avaya.

Lean times for most folk. Scary!