Reddit mentions of So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

Well, three reasons basically:

1. I don't know any skilled software developers who have problems finding jobs. All my techie friends are happily employed. Sure, we complain about not being paid enough occasionally, but that's probably better than not having jobs :)
   
2. It's a fairly mobile career. If the UK job market is not for you, it's relatively easy(er) for move to other countries where IT is generally more in demand. Places like Canada, Australia, NZ, etc.
   
3. I've known some friends who'd taken such conversion courses. They were previously doing office admin, biology, history, etc. and got fed up with their job prospects. After the conversion Msc, they're all employed in IT now and seem to quite enjoy it.
   
   Note that the keyword here is 'skilled'. In general, have on-demand skills in something and opportunities will open. That applies to other fields as well, but it's especially true in IT where continuous learning is the name of the game. Also, my 'IT' here is the narrow world of software development. I don't know anything about system supports, database admins, IT sales, etc.