Bro, I just turned 35 last month and I worked in IT as well, for Sprint. Basically, UNIX Admin and Cisco router/switch stuff. I got the crazy notion to do the same thing back in March of this year. I took a buyout from Sprint (layoffs and they were offering a buyout for me of nearly 6 months pay and benefits) and started training. I went from 0 hours starting in April and will be finished by the end of this month (Sept) with the CMEL/CSEL. I am at 160TT and 23ME now. I went the FBO routes, so that I could use my GI Bill benefits, but if I didn't have that, I would have went to ATP to get in and get to where I was going quickly.
I would have never made the decision to do any of this without finding this web forum. There is so much great information on this website. Actually, when you hear someone explain how they got addicted to meth or heroin, I can understand now....this forum is pretty damn close to an addiction for me. Although, I really like to lurk more than I like to post....but, I still post a bit.
If you have any questions, send me a PM. And, by the way, be willing to offer up your services with IT to trade off for flying time or instruction time. You just never know some of the messes that pilots can get computers into.