I worked for a small cartographic firm for about 5 years, still occasionally do freelance work for them, and have about 10 years of additional cart. It may land you a more responsible position than strictly production, and will definitely be valuable in the long run. Also remember that entry level positions don't last forever. If you like this type of work, you'll find your niche, and your salary can increase substantially within the same organization if the fit is right. At this agency cartography, strictly speaking, involves database creation and maintenance for GIS support as well as conventional cartographic design for presentation quality maps.
All work is done with computers.
GIS staff and GIS users in the agency do varying degrees of cartographic work on their GIS projects. About half of the GIS staff have significant cartographic training. Sorry, Scott, haven't a clue. I am a Field Cartographer who updates our maps using proprietary software for our upcoming navigation systems. I was recently hired at the Census Bureau as a cartographer.