For Sysadmin, you really just need experience. Certs can help, and some sort of relevant IT degree that isn't programming can also help, but really your big thing will be experience, otherwise you're not going straight to Sysadmin with zero experience, but an entry-level position where you work your way up, assuming you show competence along the way. Granted, some companies let HR write their requirements and often times this includes the necessity for a 4-year degree. In the face of experience, you probably don't want to work for someone who values a piece of paper validating rote memorization that is inevitably lost after a while, over someone who has built and maintained networks and systems enough to know better than what, but how and why.
The education part of it is nice and all, but it's not the foot in the Sysadmin door when there's a lack of experience unless you get really lucky and/or know someone on the inside where you want to work.
Certs, they're nice too, but again, without practical experience, it's not much of an assurance. Believe me, knowledge is only as good as your proven ability to use it efficiently in this field.
Experience, however, trumps both of the above. I have a 2 year degree and zero certs. But 6 years experience prior to my first job in the corporate sector. That was the kicker.
So, with the above (barring any oddities that may happen or not happen), you're looking at something like this:
1. Get the education, pay for the certs and either get lucky or know someone and skip past the entry-level stuff. (and possibly f*ck up big time because you had no clue what you were doing as it relates to a myriad of environment variables)
2. Do the above but start at the bottom and prove your worth.
3. Spend a chunk of your life getting mandatory experience in the military and getting free education and certs afterward, but what you sacrifice in not needing to work your way to your goal in the corp sector, you lose in time on the outside in the corporate world.
If this were 2003, I'd tell you to join the Army because we did a lot of cool sh*t. It's not like that anymore in any branch regarding Sysadmin type IT. My best friend is in the military now and it has gone from 25 Bravos configuring entire networks and setting them up to support thousands of users to 25 Bravos requesting tickets from civilian contractors and military overlord style IT echelons. The hands-on that was, is no longer. At best, you might be able to fool a civvie on your resume', but for a mandatory 6 years wasting your life thinking you were going to be doing real Sysadmin stuff, the only thing you'll get these days is a free education and none of the experience.
With that said, if you can pay for 2 years of tech school as a systems/network guy, using tuition assistance if need be, you'll probably save yourself a lot more time just doing that, and then getting your foot in the door at a company large enough to move up in. If you take to the field and have a logical approach to troubleshooting and aren't an idiot, you'll probably be far better off in that situation because your experience will translate to corporate no matter where you go and when you're already in a company, it's a lot easier to move a hotshot up than pulling someone else in.
__________________
|