Another path you can take instead of the in-house sys/network admin day to day operations gig is to go into consulting at a VAR. It basically ends up being a great way to fast track on gaining experience. At a lot of VARs, the amount of projects & environments you work on in the span of just over a year, equates to the type of experience some in-house system/network admins gain in maybe 4 years.
You end up seeing tons of different environments, working with many different people (engineers, IT managers, top C-level folks, etc.), and you just learn how to handle yourself in the industry overall. You're knocking out one implementation project at company A for 2-3 weeks then onto the next at company B, etc. Constant exposure to new technologies & new problems to troubleshoot. Also a good VAR will usually pay for you to stack as many certs as you can so they can bill you out to more clients.
One of my former managers went this route before he became the network manager for a midsize bank at 31. I used to wonder how dude always knew what to do and was never phased by anything that went wrong in the environment any given day yet he was still so young. He explained to me that because of all his years working with a VAR, after working on so many different environments, he had pretty much seen a lot of things before to the point where he hardly ever faced a problem he's never seen before.
Don't get me wrong, it's not the be all end all route to go. There are a lot of tradeoffs versus going the in-house IT admin route. While you most likely always make more money on the consulting side vs in-house operations, it is a lot tougher. Constant changes.. constantly studying for the next cert.. usually longer hours(some clients dont want you installing/configuring shyt in their environment during regular biz hours).. usually lots of travel (I was in fukkin south dakota last week
and still have to go back next month
), etc.
However, the amount of projects I have under my belt in just a year makes me much more experienced than a lot of senior admins simply because they're more focused on the day to day aspect of running things, putting out fires, and maintaining the same environment. They don't have time to keep up with new technology, which is why they call my company to come in and implement a new solution for them and then we train them on it afterwards.
I think the consulting route is worth the sacrifice early on IMO especially if you're younger and don't have a family or any commitments yet simply because of the amount of experience you gain. When I get older, family, kids, etc. I'll probably settle down into an admin or manager role at a company somewhere, and at that point I'll already have the skills & experience to justify them giving me a higher salary.
Ill just reiterate if you live in a major metro IT area on the east coast (plus places like houston, austin, cali, etc.) and you're spending more than a year in help desk you are doing it wrong.
I need to build more exp to get these contract jerbs.
what is a VAR? 
Also, obviously there is more contract work for people w/more skills/experience. But is there anything like that for someone lower on the totem pole? I'm guessing that's what a VAR is. I like the idea of bouncing around and basically freelancing. I've done that within companies and it's been the fastest way to gain skills.