How did you get your start?

After a few years in the industry doing mostly non-Linux support and infrastructure work, I'm trying my best to move across to the Linux side of things.

The trouble is, though I am comfortable using Linux and have set up web servers, FTP, Wordpress and/or Drupal sites on AWS etc, none of this seems to be what job postings are interested in. Nor do there ever seem to be any junior or mid level Linux admin postings.

So it makes me curious, for those of you who work in Linux admin in one form or another, how did you get your start? Was it through friends or colleagues? Was it a junior role somewhere, if so what kind of role was it?

Lastly for people with a few years of experience who want to transition into Linux, what would help them achieve this? Would it be better to focus on getting a certificate like RHCE, or would it be better to just practice at home trying to learn shell scripting? Or set up home labs running web servers and database's etc. What would you value in a new employee joining you team?

TIA!