We do, again and again, and from some people we get nothing but condescension in return, and treated like unskilled janitors who only ever stand in the way.

If I had a penny for every stuck up sales/marketing person or exec who though everyone in IT was lower than pond scum...

This condescension even comes from developers, who you'd think would have some sympathy for other tech roles, but the attitude is often that devs are gods compared to the lowly ops guys.

"most sysadmins don't make the money, the people they support do"

This attitude is part of the problem. You don't appreciate that it's a team effort.