certs are good for consulting, degrees are good for huge organizations and most internal it jobs, and experience is the best thing you can have.
There is no easy road anymore in the it field, back in the late 90’s you could quit your jod in the morning and have another one making 5g’s more in the afternoon. Now, most companies want you to know cisco routers, be a database programmer, be a sys admin, and handle pc and printer calls and pay you $35k/year.