Oooft. IT is like every other dept. They have good folk and bad folk. Overpaid folk who do fuck all and take credit for the work of others and who often have little to no understanding of wtf is going on. Then you have the clever cunts who do all the work and get abused by colleagues in other depts because they're frustrated that they don't know what they're doing.
I don't know if IT is over or underpaid in general. If anything I'd say under (obviously) but they certainly don't get the fucking basic human respect that they deserve. Some of the folk I've worked with over the years have been treated dreadfully and usually it's because some thick cunt can't get a grasp of something and lashes out.
The IT folk that have an understanding of what they're doing (which admittedly isn't everyone) and can talk to people are worth their weight in gold.