I’m an English teacher who wanted to “cut the cord” wherever I could, so I started learning about domain hosts, containerization, .yaml files, etc.
Since then, I’ve been hosting several pods for file sharing and streaming for many years, and I’m currently thinking about learning kubernetes for home deployment. But why?
If you aren’t in development, IT, cyber security, or in a related profession, what made you want to learn this on your own? What made you want to pick this up as a hobby?


Getting out of the grasp of big tech.
Been self hosting for over 10 years before anyone coined the term enshittification. When i started, i could never imagine things getting THIS BAD with tech companies. I am happier and happier with my decision to self host things every day
I work in advertising
“I work in advertising” is an amazing signoff for this post. It works on so many levels, and I remain genuinely unsure which you intended. The bitter sarcasm of a veteran who saw this coming by virtue of having caused it? The smooth flex of a consummate professional? A stunning lack of self-awareness combined with simple earnest participation in the thread? In any case, thank you for making me stop and think :)
Same here, got locked out of my main gmail/google account and there was no real person to help me recover 10+ years of my stuff. Never again.