I’m beginning to get the feeling that working in IT (as opposed to, say, product development) actually puts a stain on your résumé, at least if you want to work in product development. Before this year, I had never worked in IT. I had done tech writing, QA, some sysadmin stuff on the side, consulting, Web design, Web application development as a consultant, software development on a product team, and other stuff. This past year, I’ve been working in the IT department, but still doing nothing other than designing and implementing applications. However, when I talk to people about moving into a product-related position, I seem to be getting some resistance because I’m “in IT.” Needless to say, I find this rather frustrating. Is this IT ghetto a universal phenomenon in the software industry? If so, why wasn’t I told about it?