job satisfaction
> I take pride in my work even though it gives me nothing.
I can't imagine that this is completely true. At the very least it presumably gives you a wage unless you are working for nothing? Perhaps it also provides you with other tangible and maybe intangible benefits?
> IT is soul-less in many respects.
Perhaps, although I personally don't find that myself in general - even if I have gone through phases when I wondered if I should try something different.
I don't hold much truck with this whole idea that some people (including some people here) seem to have of blaming accidents/life on their current situation and the implicit abrogation of all personal responsibility and control over situations that this seems to imply.