The most important IT career advice I can give is to walk away early if it ever stops being fun. Nothing saps your life like an on-call career you hate, especially one that can rain pressure. I stuck around too long in datacenters I hated, working everything from Novell to MS to Cisco to UNIX engineering for everything from small shops to fortune 50s. Even with all the perks and the decent pay, and even though I really knew what I was doing, I looked up one day and realized that I was going to eat the business end of a gun if I didn't quit that afternoon. Gave 2 weeks, was escorted off the premises 45 minutes later, and have been able to breathe ever since.
If you enjoy it and have the skill, you'll likely love the career choice. If you don't enjoy it, no amount of skill in the world will make it worth doing, especially if you end up in an on-call position or one managing million-dollar-per-minute stuff for CTOs who can't even get your name right. I should have walked away when I first imagined doing so...on the second day of my first IT job. Instead of a college degree on my wall I have everything from a CNE to a CISSP, yet they're not worth the paper they're printed on.
Your results will certainly vary. Just remember that it's a niche career with niche training, especially if you're planning to take the common "skip college" advice.
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