The problem with that is there are certain parts of IT where you would never, ever, ever have a job if you adhered to that. Security, for example. If the company is under 150 employees, they probably don't have a security team. They probably aren't developing security applications or products. If they aren, they're probably not very successful (or are about to be bought out by a big company).

And I would wager that 80% of all IT employment is done at companies where IT is not their main source of income. At that point, you're automatically a cost center. Your second rule is saying "never work anywhere that doesn't produce technology as their main business", which forces everyone to live in San Fransisco.

Besides, IT is not a cost center for IBM, it's part of their core business. And they still lay people off.