What are some top tips for someone looking into an IT career

[LePenguin]

So I'm a 18yr old guy looking to go into the IT sector in the UK and want to know how I can do this, I have average grades (good enough to meet base standards for a college/university course that have requirements) and have decided to do an level 3 IT apprenticeship (A level equivalent) instead of doing computer science at college or University.

I am about 15% done time wise (minimum I can finish it in is a year even if I complete the work before that) and was wondering where I can go from here.

In my apprenticeship I have learned advanced excel (chaining nested ifs with VLOOKUP's and CEILING functions as well as making macros for vba and building a automatic order form for the company to send to customers), very minor html (just making/adding marquees, editing text and sizing and linking social media), have started learning python which I know basic syntax for now and could be learning SQL as I might be doing a module on databases.

After I have finished my level 3 apprenticeship I was planning to do a level 4 one which is undergraduate/honors degree equivalent depending on who is supplying it but am open to other ideas if they would turn out better.

I'm honestly not to sure which career within the IT I would like to go into as I'm aware there are lots and aren't sure what my speciality would be in but I like the sound of working with data/databases.

What advice would you give a young guy in my situation and what are some other things I could work on alongside my work like courses or projects?

[Kajaria]

I just read your topic here. You have excellent quality and hope your can do well in future. Just do what's your mind want.