Certifications aren't quite as useless as described. Many companies need to have a certain number of certified people to participate in vendor-sponsored programs. So, depending on the cert and the company it can make a difference.
Some places use certs as a "checkmark" for qualification, in some cases, even though a degree is also required.
The market is down quite a bit from what it was a few years ago. Even CCIE's are on the street looking for jobs.
Security certs are pretty popular and, from what I've seen and heard about, probably the most demanded today along with Voice Over IP-related certifications.
I'm just a high school grad (zero college), but I've been in the PC / LAN biz for over twenty years. When I started, there was no common college course that directly dealt with PCs, PC LANs, or networking technologies.
The whole industry has come full circle, from centralized processing (mainframe) to distributed processing and resource sharing, back to mega-servers / clusters in a central location. The industry moved too fast for most college courses to keep up. Things are quite different now. We're down to one or two baisc topologies and media, running a few different protocols. WANS are common.
Today, networks are business-critical, securing them is a critical job (tends to be bigger bucks than a straight admin job). Businesses are also looking for ways to reduce costs; Voice over IP is percieved to be a money-saving technology, so VoIP implementors and administrators are also coming into demand. For larger institutions / organizations, Storage Networks (SANs) are also becoming / have been fairly popular and are likely to be in some demand. Wireless is also getting some decent action in the enterprise / campus environment.
There is no certification (and for that matter, not many degrees) that will be good for "big bucks" immediately. The fact that so many more people have degrees today than years-past when they hit the job market just means it's more likely to mean less, though still be a requirement ... just like any other certification.
IMHO, the best thing you can do is get onboard whatever organization you can that will give you some valid experience before you're graduated. Real, honest-to-gawd, hands-on, "lived-with-that-everyday" type experience will be the differentiator. Even if you're working for free or cheap, having some real experience to back up the paper will get you hired faster than having more paper. Networking a few nodes around a dorm is not "real" networking as far as a hiring manager is concerned.
The technologies com and go, companies will be on top for a while then slide down the pile (even Microsoft, someday). A little over ten years ago, the best thing you could be was Novell Master CNE certified - nowadays, there's people that have barely heard of Novell. Ever hear of Banyon? Vines? They were pretty hot for a while.
The point being, I guess, once you're in the biz, there is no "done" when it come to learning. New stuff comes out practically every day. The education is on-going, the classes never stop. Be flexible. Certifications and degrees are just a milepost (not a stop sign).
Participate in any kind of actual networking you can, any experience is good experience (even if you learn that "that was a bad idea").
Good Luck, pardon my ramble....
Scott
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