Ok, so last August I started going back to school, finally. When I first started college, back in '02, I wanted to be a programmer. I've since decided that's not really what I want to do for a living. I still want to learn it, but I don't really fancy having to code for a living. Instead, I've decided I'd rather get into network adminstration, specifically some form of Unix. I use Linux, I like Linux, and I understand Linux. I can't apply any of these to Windows.
It does look like IT will be difficult to break into. Every company wants an admin with at least a bachelor's degree and 5+ years experience. I've also read a little bit about IT maybe not being a great career from an employee relations POV. Nonetheless, this is what I want to do, and I'm going for it. Hopefully I can get an internship somewhere.
So, as part of trying to get into this field, of course I need to be certified. It's been argued before that certs don't really have any real value, aren't realistic assessments of skill, and blah blah blah. Maybe it's true, but employers look for them. Since I don't have any experience yet, I need something to show. I started with the Comptia A+ exam, and just passed the second one today (875 / 900 - yay!). There are, of course, a number of other certifications I should get, other Comptia certs like Network+, Linux+, Server+, etc. Also there are certifications from the Linux Professionals Institute, Red Hat, Novell, Sun, and who knows how many other vendors. Quite an expensive proposition to get them all, so I need to pare it down and prioritize. Right now I'm leaning toward the Comptia certs, Novell's Suse track, and Red Hat. LPI sounds good, but I'm not sure if any companies are really looking for these.
So, hopefully one of these years I'll get that dream job at Google.