Only a few angles to offer..
It appears that we share a similar POV re the entire massive topic you sum-up as 'sales' (?)
(Hitler referred derogatorily to the Brits as, a nation of shopkeepers .. Unfortunately for him, he failed to recognize that, "running your own little shop" necessitates the accumulation of lore in a wide range of skills, planning, etc. Of course he missed quite a few other things as well.)
So I differentiate between er sales-droid, a 'person' (but hired as if an interchangeable commodity) to spin / hawk warez of whatever utility or none and, the simple fact that:
Whatever you 'do' - you are selling Something; your skills, reputation about those skills, etc. My impression after now many years at IWE and elsewhere [but never in Your field] is that:
Most IT folk now - certainly at entry-level - and increasingly further up the ladder - are indeed being treated like a majority of Other People out there, by the Suited-Ones - indirectly thus, by the Suited-Ones' selected deputies: as
COMMODITIES.
Period. Proof? What's that acronym again, for hiring cheap Overseas slave-labor (and they *are* slaves = unable to bargain for better conditions, move to another company, etc). No Rights = exactly as for anyone on what's left (and dwindling fast) of 'welfare' - get a Social-sociopath droid handling your case and you have No Rights.
Ah yes, the Econ folk shall cite 'The Market' and 'Supply and Demand' and property rights and other Interesting aspects; still - HR___ is the perfect example that, IT has joined the other trades as commodity fodder, officially. Whether you want to or not - you are involved in WTO, Nafta and the other rubrics via which we are moving at speed towards a Two-Class very Unstable, increasingly Angry culture (we're already there, actually IMhO).
As others have advanced - If one has a very-great capability in a difficult part of the ladder, it hasn't gotten unbearable in Corporate bizness. Yet. You are honest enough to assess where your best talents are, and thus estimate prospects today. (I'd say that that nitty-gritty personal Honest assessment ought not ever to appear here, if ya catch my drift.) No one should go on record beyond a certain degree, in a culture where so much daily lying is a necessity of employment, and where one's entrance to a job - is via something called HR, with all the science as is to be found, in sociology.. behind that selection).
Your degree probably still carries the universal weight: hey, the guy was able to eat a lot of shit, produce on time and - finish. It ought to be as useful beyond IT. Luck seems to determine if.. you stumble onto an unusual request in quite another field, and you and they conclude that you can get up to speed, 'cause ya know how to think. Remember how rare that ability is becoming?
I will light a candle.. that you don't have to choose between a pure sales-droid job and eating. And you're too smart to dump the remaining benefits for an equally unprofitable alternative - till they run out.
Cheers,
Ashton
