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I'm the network director for a small company on the Fortune 200 list. I currently have a BS in Applied Mathematics and a BBA in Operations Management. I'm currently doing my MBA (nice thing is that company pays for it).I sort of just found my love in networking. I was one of three network administrators at my university, and I worked for several internet providers when I was in high school. I'm only 25yrs old and make just below 6 figures a year.
The money is out there, but experience is definately a requirement. Any guys that I hire have to know how to subnet in their heads, have technical knowledge of routing and switching, have knowledge of new technologies like Layer 2 and 3 MPLS, etc. I don't care about certifications unless you have your CCIE, of which none work for me. Certifications mostly prove that you can memorize things in a book only to immediately forget them after you have taken your exam.
On a side note, I have a friend that has a CCNA cert. and asked me the other day how to set trunking mode to a port on a Cisco Catalyst switch. My point being is that he should know that in his sleep.
Anyway, computer backgrounds are good to have for sure, but like the above posts mention, networking is harder to get into than pc tech. stuff......only for the fact that higher end network equipment costs a ton of money. Servers and desktop machines don't vary too much, except in terms of speed, size and disk arrays. But, say you go from a Cisco 2950 switch to a 6505 chassis.....HUGE DIFFERENCE.
Good luck to you.
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"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."
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