I also have to agree with the advice listed above so I'm also going to add my story. When I graduated high school, my parents had no money to send me to college so I enlisted in the Navy. I thought, what the heck, they'll pay for college and all I have to do is give up a few years and travel around the world. I had a great career as an Intelligence Specialist until a car accident ended any hopes of retirement.

During my last year in, I started going to school at night to get my MCSE. It enabled me to get my foot in the door to a good IT company. In that job, I've grown from a Requirements Analyst to a Systems Administrator in less than 2 years. I was very lucky, in today's market, to find a job that pays good money to people without a degree. (Currently making a little under 50K) But I'm also going to school at night to get my BS in info tech to give myself more options down the road.

So to sum it all up, if you are just looking to get into the field, a certification could do the trick. But if you want to give yourself a chance at other opportunities out there, go to school, get your degree and work hard. This career field is about constant study to keep yourself current on today's technology. I personally wouldn't change anything about the way I started out but that isn't for everyone.

I've been lucky to have 2 careers that I love dearly and the best advice I can give you about chosing a specific area to study is to go with your heart. Do what you love to do. If that's security...great but if it isn't....I'd rather make slightly less money doing something I love than a lot of money doing something I hate. When chosing a field, you have to want to get out of bed everyday to go to work for 30-40 years. That's a long time to do something you aren't passionate about.

This is just my 2 cents worth. Good luck.