Where to start when becoming a network engineer?
 

hey their guys, i live in england and am currently in my second year of sitting my A levels. for a year or so now i have really wanted to fulfill my dream of becoming a network engineer/technician however im really confused on where to start. im 17 years old and my first choice i made when i left school was to carry on and sit my A levels however i now understand that was the wrong thing to do and i should of actually gone to college to sit some kind of networking course.

i dont want to go college now otherwise i feel i have wasted 2 years of my life, so im basically asking if anyone can help me with where i go next. i could go university but im not entirely sure what course i should take and weather a university course is what a network engineer needs or weather i should do something else like sit some private courses to get my A+ and MCSE awards. these are alot of money however and i was told even before sitting these courses i need a high rate of knowledge with networks and servers and i dont feel i have a large knowledge yet. any help on this would be great as i am totally confused on what to do next and if i wanna go university i must apply within 3 weeks otherwise i cant go.

i was going to go university until someone told me that nowadays, the network engineer industry is hard to get a job as their aint enough jobs out their, so if i wanna get a job in that industry then i should get some CISCO awards. thanks for any help you guys can give.

/Mark