Learn by doing.
Capture some network traffic with tcpdump or any of the other capture tools. Analyze it in Wireshark. Knowing which flags to use while capturing and which filters to use while analyzing go a long way towards saving time when the time comes to put these skills to use.
Chris Greer on Youtube has a bunch of in depth tutorials on both TCP and Wireshark that are a good starting point. He shows step by step practical examples. There is no substitute for understanding networking at a packet level to really tell you what is going on.
TCP playlist:
Wireshark playlist:
Being proactive and willing to learn are commendable traits. And sadly a rare ones. One of the most useful skills in my opinion is diagnosis. Being able to tell what the system is actually doing. It's always the first step in solving any IT problem. If you can't tell what is happening you can't solve it.
When I used to work as a System Administrator I had the misfortune of working with many overpaid MCSE certified external contractors. They were skilled at memorizing the locations of settings and what good defaults were.
But every time something wasn't working, or they had to work on another operating system, they were unable to solve anything because they lacked the skills to diagnose properly, never getting to mitigating or solving anything.
Unfortunately during that time many organizations fired their staff and all their institutional knowledge, only to spend more money on external people doing less work.
Never stop learning because the only people that have job security are the ones keeping the place running. Even if your current employer doesn't value these skills, knowing how systems work and interact will help you throughout your professional and private life.
