Thanks for all the advice. Just to let everyone know, I don't wake and bake and stuff like that. It's more recreation. Like if we're going out on the weekend, I'd rather smoke than drink (hangovers suck).

And as for the job thing, it does seem like everyone starts out doing admin work before moving into security directly. I guess everyone has to start somewhere, and it doesn't seem like someone is going to hand over a security job without seeing some experience performing admin work.

Does anyone know if security positions are within a group by itself, or are different security jobs like a side responsibility of most system admins? It seems like industries still haven't woken up and realized the importance of security. I guess there haven't been that many hacks into their systems to realize the importance of it. Why does it seem like companies wait till they have a problem, and then try to put a bandage on it as opposed to using some precaution to prevent most of these events from happening. Is it a lack of knowledge or funding or what?