At the risk of sounding like a snob (though please note I am not in IT):

Folks who are reasonably bright are often given hell in school and become social outcasts because of stuff teachers, society and other kids do (teachers are really bad about holding up the smart kids as examples to follow even though no amount of studying will make the other kids that smart and, no, it really isn't anything the teacher did though they are trying to take credit for it). Condescension can be a form of ego defense -- ie "I have few if any friends and I know you hate me on sight just for being me, but I'm better than you and probably make more money".

You can often get past something like that by overlooking it and being genuinely nice to them and sincerely respecting their brains/ability/contribution instead of resenting it and trying to fight for the limelight with them. Only the occasional hardcore asshole will persist for long with consistently asinine behavior in the face of genuine, sincere niceness and respect/appreciation.

(Though, really, all the folks from IT at my company that I can recall interacting with have been just genuinely nice to me from the get go.)