There’s a lot of people with degrees and certificates I work with, but the best ones are the ones who get the job done. Some of them have degrees and some don’t. But the best of the batch are winners whether they have a degree or not.
Start out simple. The first server I ever built was a print server. Bought a $5 printer at goodwill, spun up a vm on my computer with Ubuntu Server, installed CUPS, figured out how to get USB connection to my VM. Setup networking so the VM got an IP on the same network as my home network. BAM, now I have network printer server that any device on my LAN could print through.
My advice would be to stop thinking there’s an easy way into this field. Do everything hard-mode. Everyone else is trying to live in easy mode. If you really put in the work, you’ll learn to seek out solutions on your own, learn how to learn - what to learn, and how to be tough. When you finally come up, your coworkers will recognize you get stuff done because you’ve never had a break.
We call these people where I work the NFAC “Not F***in Around Crew.”
I can tell you first hand the struggle is worth the pay off, but only if you’re willing to see it through.
Good Luck!
PS - Learn linux command line, and how to program. Learn networking, then learn how to be an engineer.
