Teknoguy...Trust me when I tell you this...you will not make $80K on your first job in IT. I don't care what the magazines say, it doesn't happen (maybe 1 in 1,000+). You need to get a feel for what you want to do in IT. It kind of breaks down into three areas...
HelpDesk/Desktop Support
This is an excellent entry point, but it's not the job for everyone. As a staff tech on a HelpDesk in a large firm, you will become a jack of all trades and a master of none. HelpDesk positions are relatively low paying (20-28K starting), but are easy to get. After a few months (6-9) you will understand the org. pretty well and may have an oportunity to move to Tier2 support. If you are not a people person, and I don't mean faking it, then a HelpDesk is not right for you. You need to want to help users for this to be a good choice or you'll hate your job.
These jobs lead to the following types of jobs:
HelpDesk Manager
CallCenter Manager
Network Administrator
Lead Engineer
Programming
Again, salary will be in the low to mid 20's with a solid company. Sure you can find some bozo willing to pay you 40K to make some web-sites, but you'll be lost, he'll be unhappy, and the product will suck because you don't have anyone to turn to for help. I'm a big believer that large firms (or contracting firms with contracts with big firms) are an excellent place to start. Entry-Level programmers will probably not be involved in spec meetings, but will instead take their queues from more experienced staff members. A great place to learn from others.
This will lead you to other programming positions.
NOC/Computer Room
You will ONLY find this position in a large company. Small fries don't have the reasources to make a NOC (Network Operations Center), much less pay a full-time person to watch for errors. NOCs are tasked with monitoring a company's (or campanies') network(s) and basically giving management a warm-fuzzy feeling. You have to be self-motivated or you'll waste your time surfing the web since 90% of your time is idle. The other 10% is spent running diags or working on outage issues. Most NOCs are 24x7 operations and have night/weekend shifts available. Since these shifts are notoriously hard to fill, the new people get stuck on them. There aren't a lot of these positions available in most cities, but they're easy to get if you can find them. NOCs and Computer Rooms are excellent places to learn in-depth telecom/wirecloset/WAN technologies (Frame Relay, Switches, Hubs, Routers, Firewalls, etc...)
Life after a NOC:
Network/WAN Engineer
Telecom Engineer
Security Technician/Engineer
----
Hoping this finds you, and finds you well.
Monkeylizard
-Isaiah 35-