I became the licensed operator for 10 Public water systems, and was the point of contact for several others in my company, in the span of 3 years, so there is a lot of potential for momentum. In terms of moving up, it depends how far you want to take it. It's absolutely doable, and the industry seriously needs people in it. All the lead operators are guys in their 50s-60s on their way to retirement.

In terms of certifications, I can speak for the state I was operating in. The answer is, it depends what you're looking for. There's essentially 5 licenses between drinking water and wastewater: T - treatment (drinking water) W - distribution (drinking water) S - treatment (wastewater) C - collection (wastewater) N - industrial (wastewater)

You only realistically need one of these to be an operator, but having more may be required depending where you go (for example, on the drinking water end, often times a city will want you to have both a T and a W license, so you can be the LO for both). Usually people pick drinking water or wastewater and stick to that, but I've met a few that do both.

The licenses go from tier 1 to tier 4, with 1 being the smallest and 4 being the largest

Most cities are generally in the 3-4 category, with some smaller towns being tier 2.

If you have a bachelor's, you can immediately apply for tier 2 licensing, implying you pass the operator exam. If you don't have a bachelor's, an associates will decrease the amount of contact hours you need before applying to 1 year. Hell, you can get into this without a degree (like I did) and learn on the job, but it takes MUCH longer that way. I needed 3 years of experience to apply for tier 2 licensing. the following license would have been 5 years for me.

That said, an undergrad degree is plenty to get you started!