I purchased my first NAS in 2018. A QNAP TS-453B. A four-bay, six terabyte dream departure from external hard drives.
Years later I liberated myself from the built-in EMMC-based QNAP OS and turned to OpenMediaVault 7. Years of managing web servers on shared hosting and a desire to level up my Linux skills fueled this fire.
As far as the networking goes, I only did the familiar. I gave the NAS a static IP address and assigned it in the router. Job done.
But I’ve always known, getting things working and doing things well are not all the same thing. I never created the need to improve my networking skills because at home, nothing needs to be advanced to work.
Streaming devices and other IOT devices were added year after year and I knew it wasn’t great to have them all on the same network. Traveling and accessing files from home has long been a wish. And using self-hosted services from anywhere would be so cool.
One day I watched videos about Tailscale and Headscale and Netbird and I was like, yes, this is something I want to set up. I know how to use Docker containers now, I’ve got a decent handle on reverse proxies, let’s do this. One look at the docs and my tail moved between my legs.
That’s the worst, isn’t it?! Knowing that you’ve come a long way then realizing you’ve got only half the equation down. Sure, in this example, Tailscale should be pretty straightforward but I want to understand what’s happening. I want to do things well. I want to be intentional about the details and the bigger picture.
But if we’re being real, regardless of the difficulty or the amount, learning isn’t the real challenge.
The real challenge is justifying the time committed and accepting the trade-offs of not doing other things.
For me, it feels like moving on from marketing and venturing into network engineering is that trade-off. There are reasons more significant than spicing up my home network setup, of course. It just feels like the time is right to try something different.
After 20 years of marketing, I’m committing to something new. I’m going to become a network engineer. I’ve long been fascinated by how this stuff works and have been tortured by my inability to do much with it.
I’ll be publishing
- Projects
- Notes and reflections on the the things I’m learning
- and tutorials
My stance on AI and learning
I’ve learned basically everything I know up until this point without AI. I love learning. I love the process. However, AI is a useful tool for learning when applied well. It’s great for aggregating sources. Great for generating alternate explanations. Great for creating curricula. And it’s also great at doing the hard part for you—which I have no desire for because I won’t deprive myself the opportunity to learn.
If I get stuck on something I’ll ask AI for the solution. And then work out for myself the reasoning for the solution. Like looking at the answer key and working my way to that solution.
AI is a tool, not a crutch.
And none of my writing here will be AI-generated.
A learning log
This is principally a learning log. My crystal ball tells me these posts won’t win Pulitzer prizes due to their riveting prose. That’s not the goal here. However, there may be times when the mood is right and I just can’t help it. Writing can be incredibly joyous, but in most cases, documenting the journey is priority.
I’m always open to productive feedback—comments will be open.
And perhaps there is a post or two that someone else finds useful.
Thanks!
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