[TriLUG] Linux Careers in the Triangle

[John Vaughters via TriLUG]

Greg,
This is a really tough question to answer, but I have a saying that is not technically true, but I still like the intent.
"Do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life".
There are lots of problems with this statement that I have personally lived. Jobs want you for a reason and they do not always match your desires. However, the spirit is that you are in the general realm of your interest and find it rewarding overall. 
As others have said, scripting is probably a must, no matter what you do. BASH is my personal favorite, but PYTHON is going crazy these days and I see it listed in many job listings. For web, you cannot go wrong with Jscript and PHP. 
Administration is a relatively common job and can pay well if the systems are important like financial industry. Some find this work boring, but it depends if you are just maintaining or an architect. The clue here is the maintaining almost always comes before the architecting. Many years worth sometimes. 
Application developing can also be considered boring if you like architecting for example. The thought of doing nothing but one thing all day long for months is torture to some, but joy to others.
Me... I fall in the middle and actually have a job that has a mixture of these two. I see myself as a solutions finder. Whatever is needed I find a solution and I can code it if necessary. Along the way of finding solutions, I have built a tremendous wide variety of skills. However much I knowledge I have, I know there is nearly infinite more knowledge to gain, and I love that aspect of this discipline. You will never run out of things to learn. Open-Source has given us that realm.
One advice, which it seems you already have latched onto and are doing and should keep doing is putzing around with linux. Make up projects and accomplishing them. Create showcases to bring to an interview. For instance, I use MediaWiki as a living documentation method and I document my knowledge on my own wiki. I can showcase this to anyone at any time and people that are less technical eat it up. I built the environment and loaded the software and now maintain it. It's a talking point that helps you drive the interview.
So pick something you love and start creating it. Your passion will show through when you showcase it and people really respond to passion about a subject. Then they will see results of this passion and that is a good combination. 
I could go on for days about this topic, but it really is a decision you have to focus on and believe me that opportunity will quickly change your focus on skill set, but never stop working on your passion, as you seem to be doing and you will end up in a satisfying job.
Final statement, scripting a must under all disciplines. From there branch out to your passions.
Good Luck!
John Vaughters