As someone who has never earned a mint, I made the conscious decision to go back to university as a mature student, at the age of 32, to study Biological Science, I'm nearly two thirds of the way through. I wanted to make myself more enticing to future employers and the IT skills I have earned over the last ten years of IT employ have proved invaluable and transferable in the areas of analysis when it comes to laboratory experiments, drug modelling etc. I also wanted to explore science as it is an area I have always been interested in, to the point where I would like to be employed in it.
I messed up university the first time round - I studied Computer Science for two years and although I was naturally talented in IT when I was in school, I lost interest and didn't complete Computer Science, so that was a poor decision on my part.
After staying in various IT jobs for two to four years, I never made it into management roles, even though I was looking after the hardware/software/stationary for many companies all by myself, wiring networks, configuring switches, securing encryption gateways etc.
Managers have to be responsible for the hiring and firing of individuals for the better of their company/branch. They have to be people persons, approachable, professional and have a certain level of delicacy about the way they deal with situations.
Their heads are on the block literally if the figures aren't high enough, if their staffing has a high turnover or if the people higher than them decide that their branch isn't performing as well or they are not performing as well. If a major incident occurs i.e. fraud, theft of goods or money or something else illegal within the team, they have to explain how and why it happened and how it's going to be resolved so it doesn't happen in future.
Responsibility comes with bumper salary increases but management positions are generally only given to people whose faces fit, those who have provided a certain length of service, those who have management qualifications, or those who have gone beyond their roles and duties on many occasions, putting the job before their own family in some cases. You have to also have the right professional attitude to be given the management progression interviews in the first place.
I'm looking at employment in areas which will use both my IT skills and Science skills, I'll also be doing many or all of the points below post-graduation, to help me earn more money. But for me it was never about the money, it has always been about the job satisfaction, because I don't need a brand new Bentley Continental, I'm quite happy with an old car and motorbike I can fix myself. I don't need a four bedroom house because I don't have a wife or kids, I'm happy with a two bedroom house in a nice area that I can call my own. But everyone has different ideas about what success is to them.
These are some ways to make more money, if you can put the time/effort in:
1). Becoming your own boss and creating your own company as a sideline with your full-time 9-5 work.
2). Gaining a Prince 2 Project Management Qualification.
3). Becoming a Supervisor with the potential progression to Management through natural progression and potential courses the company pays for.
4). Learning two more languages - something from the Far East i.e. Mandarin and something European i.e. Spanish and becoming fluent in them.
5). Keeping your ear to the ground about all roles that come up within the company offering better money and potential side roles that open doors for you.
6). Finding another job that pays better with another company after you've gained some experience (at least two-three years).
Disclaimer: This is just general stuff; I'm not an expert, I'm not qualified in much and I'm not proclaiming to be, but hopefully it helps so you make better decisions than I did.
was just trying to explain what I meant. 
