[ich]

1) Unless you have moral problems with the business domain, why not for a bank? Good salaries, interesting / challenging work, usually mature career development programs, ....

2) I had similar experiences. While our situations differs in some key aspects (I'm much older, have university degrees, long work history), my work history has also not been the text-book IT career path for most of the time. I also found banks much more interested in me than IT firms.

3) My speculation on why that is: Banks are better (in light of recent bank problems, maybe "more willing") at risk taking. Your circumstances make you less predictable than a candidate that has a "standard" career path. Big corporate IT is a lot about minimising risk. IT chooses the candidate that poses the least risk of a bad hiring decision. Banks may be willing to accept higher risk for higher potential return. My speculation is based on conversations I had about this topic with a small sample hiring managers at banks and IT HR managers I worked with.