Lately ive been asking that myself, and opted to start studying for security+, network+, and a good linux certification, note that this certs are for begineers but theyre are popular and good enough that to have them means knowledge obviosly... about your question, how do you know what certs to go for go
here, they have a nice comparison charts for certs, ive found that linux+ is more valuable than lpi 1, but lpi 2 and lpi 3 are far more recognize.