Do you need a degree yes and no, some jobs like the high level require it like CIO (Chief Information Officer) (degree required) Engineer,programmer level 3, IT manager all of these require degrees and work experience. So what's wrong with taking some community college or learning annex classes. They cover programming (writing code) Networking (connecting computers together, think the internet) Hardware maintenance (opening computers and replaces broken parts or fixing viruses overloading the Operating System) Tech support, Network administration.
If you work for a small company they may hire you on into the IT roll, which could be systems administrator if the current person is too expensive, or if they don't have enough people. They will most-likely require you to take some classes. They might also encourage you to get a degree and/or certification. Small companies have people that have to do it all including programming and fixing viruses to running the servers.
Common certification are A+ (hardware maintenance) CCNA (Networking) (MCSE for Microsoft certified system engineer)
If you go and take classes in your colleges/universities computer department you could work in that departments in one of the labs or working on the computers for the college as well. An advantage of working for your school is they have a record of what you have done. Disadvantage is the money not great, but its a job and work experience. Also, I like my job because my supervisors and co-workers are cool, my co-workers are my classmates.
Ok so for the ones that don't require a degree is data entry, some tech support jobs (level 1), cable installer (this could be the person who install tv cable or network cables) some small companies only require the certifications, large ones like Intel, Charles Schwab and Any medical service provider will require lots of education, certifications and work experience sorry its just the way it works. A way around is to work as a contractor for a temp firm. Also, Intel uses many contracting firms, but since the down turn more experience people are taking the entry level jobs so they at least have a job. Getting in is the hardest part. That's why I recommend going to school because then you make contacts. Instructors can write recommendation letters, or other students might know of available jobs or contacts. Also, most colleges have a job board recruiting site for business not military.
You can go into the military but unless that is something you really want to do there are other ways in, the internet originally called ARPANET was started by the United States Department of defense so in case of a Nuclear war scientist and key figures could still continue to do business.. Yip, I included a wiki link about it because its a little off-topic but still cool.
I did answer a question very similar to this one. please click here
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100724134616AA7bk7M