Whats Information Systems Administration? .... I'd call it "management", or maybe a catch-all for IT things that are a bit less technical. I'm sure that there are HR people on the thread who can correct me.
My $0.02? Do they want to be geeks, or do they want to manage geeks? Both have their upsides and downsides.
IT can be lucrative, but it's largely thankless job (when was the last time you called your internet provider and thanked them because you could log on to FR? yep, me either. :-) ) When things go well, it's fun. When things go poorly, the hours are incredibly long and the stress level is high.
As for getting in, The A#1 thing that matters (as with any job) is experience. Get 'em to intern somewhere, or volunteer (schools or churches are good for this). Make some contacts, get some break/fix experience. A question that I always ask at job interviews is "How many PCs do you have at home?" 'None' is the wrong answer, always. "One", is acceptable. "Well, let me think....3 or 4, with parts for 4 more...", is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. Entry level people should be incredibly excited about all things computer.
Certifications / Degrees are OK to fool their way past HR. Once they get in front of techs, all that goes out the window. Personally, my degree (Electrical Engineering) has little to do with what I do, and I haven't bothered to get any certifications (if I was sticking my neck out in the job market, I might, depending). Of the 5 people on my team, one has a degree in accounting, one is an ME, one is a music major, and two don't have degrees at all, at least that I know of.
I can't speak to DeVry, or ITT. I don't give a lot of credence to universities that need to advertise on the radio. BUT - I'd stress that's my own personal prejudice. I also don't give a lot of credence to certifications, degrees, etc etc etc etc. "What do you know?" is what I'm looking for.
We've had a hard time of late finding entry level people. If it's not too late, stress to your kids to BE ON TIME to any interviews, dress appropriately and behave appropriately (no cursing, no gum chewing, and so on). The last entry level guy we hired for the help desk - we started out with high standards, and wound up with "Must show up on time and not swear at the customers when answering the phone." So, if your kids are well mannered (as I'm sure they are with a FReeper for a parent....), they'll have a huge leg up on the competition.
end of brain dump. Tell your kids I said "Good Luck."
Having a EE and talking about these morons who finally get the routers right is apples and oranges. It is moving fast. I knew the lay of Schneider long before they did.
No cursing? What kinda outfit are you running there?
I once had a phone interview on a cell phone standing outside of my office on a hot windy day. I wasn't happy about this arrangement since I requested the interview be around lunch time so I could be somewhere outside of the office to take the call. But these people didn't actually phone me until 2:00 pm, after I was forced to be back at the office, so I had nowhere to take this interview other than outside in the heat.
About 20 minutes into boiler plate technical questions, some drone on the other end of the line asked me what polymorphism was. Sigh. Growing tired of the whole thing, I mouthed "you gotta be f@$%king kidding me", thinking it was just to myself.
A short time later the head hunter called me and told me the interview didn't go very well. They told him they could hardly hear me because of the wind. But the one thing they did hear was me dropping an f-bomb on them while mocking their stupid polymorphism question. Never got that job.