What would you like to do?
How old are you? (so i know where you are at in your career)
You don't need a college degree, but having one will help you move up.
You could probly get a helpdesk job after getting a Net+ (or better a CCNA but it is much harder) an A+ (basic hardware software cert).
If you want to work with windows MS has a whole line of Certs
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mc...8/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mc...t/default.mspx
MCDST is the entry level cert, it does basicly xp / vista.
Your best bet would be to get MS and cisco certs. These 2 are the things you will see most often in busnesses.
I have a MCSE, but that is a older cert and being replaced by one of the newer 2008 server certs.
The way i would prepare would be to jump in and download a free copy of server 2003 /2008 and install it on a spare computer. Or even better (or if you have a decent spare computer) install a virtualation solution (vmware, xenserever) and install a few copies of server 2003 / 2008.
If hardware is a problem, then 2003 is better to use.
I got started after college, got A+, then MCSA cert. I now work as a system / network admin for a midsized lan.
Most of my experince was from running servers at my house and practicing. I have 3x Vmware ESX servers (with 4 copys of 2003 on each .. so 12x virtual servers), 2x server 2008 computers, and 1x free BSD router (pfsense).
Nothing compares to hands on xp.