I'm in a situation I find pretty typical for a lot of my friends right after they graduate and work for a year or two. I'm a junior developer and for the most part I like my job a lot. However, I have a lot of interests outside of just software engineering, and before I commit to being a career developer I would like to try other roles like system administrator, network engineer, security analyst, or solutions architect. Given though that salary is based on years experience it seems silly that I would basically spend 6 or 7 years in entry level positions in each of these fields until I decide on which one to pursue. 

So my question is, what are some good ways to get acquainted with other parts of IT professionally? Should I seek certifications in these fields while still employed as a dev to get a flavor for the work? Is freelancing or working a second job a good idea? Do I need to just try each job one at time and take the pay cut? Or are there more options?