I too am interested in pursuing a career in the computer field. I am a junior in High School and want to go to a community college for one year and then transfer to a normal 4 year college. I want to learn computer programming (C++ and maybe Perl) and then after or during college I would like to possibly do some work for linux or GNOME or some kind of freeware/open source project to gain experience (I will obviously have a job doing something else during that.. like working at curcuit city or something). When I feel that I need to get a real job I will get a job working for some company making programs.
I feel like that is a very general idea of what I am going to possibly be doing... but there you go.
I noticed that somebody posted something about not being able to get a job because they didn't have enough experience, working for an open source/freeware company like linux would probably be the best way to gain experience and have something to show on your resume.