I assume most users here have some sort of tech/IT/software background. However, I’ve seen some comments of people who might not have that background (no problem with that) and I wonder if you are self-hosting anything, how did you decide that you would like to self-host?
Teacher here. No professional affiliation with PCs, Linux or self-hosting. Started out with a Synology NAS and got my first experiences with Linux, CLI, Docker, etc. Switched to Unraid last fall and I self-host quite a lot of services now. 100% self-taught.
I love unRAID so much. It’s crazy how just a simple GUI can help solidify docker concepts.
I’m a college professor in the humanities (religious studies, history). Got into linux about 5 years back, partly because it comports better with my lefty politics than the alternatives, but also just because I’ve long been a closet computer nerd. I currently run a couple of proxmox servers on old optiplexes I grabbed off ebay. Full *arr stack with jellyfin on docker, a Tails VM for TOR stuff, NAS (omv on a vm), some other dockerized stuff: linkding, radicale, alexandrite (a self-hosted lemmy client, which I’m currently writing this on), various backup utilities.
It’s basically just a hobby for me, though the switch to linux has also totally changed my academic workflow, e.g. I do all my writing in nvim + latex now, use syncthing to sync my home desktop, laptops, and office computer, etc. I dig divesting myself from corporate computing to the greatest extent possible, appreciate the privacy benefits, and generally just enjoy the community-driven spirit of the whole thing.
I’ve worked in auto repair and real estate. Have no professional experience.
Why self-host? Because its cool. And for privacy. And save a few bucks on subscriptions.
As someone with a strong tech background, that’s just impressive to me. It’s cool to see non-technical people are interested in self-hosting too, and for good reason.
I didn’t say I was good at it. I’ve used various GUIs that simplify things a bit (Yunohost, CasaOS, ZimaOS, Runtipi, Unraid, TrueNAS, etc. but they all seem to be missing different things that each other have. Yunohost makes things as simple as possible.
Still impressive imo, I have friends who work in IT who don’t even self-host lol
I don’t blame a lot of IT professionals for not wanting to self host. Especially if they are maintaining services for a living. When you do that same thing you do at work at home it gets very annoying quickly.
Just getting started but yeah, I have basically no technology background. Mostly I’m too stubborn to know when to quit something so here I am lol.
Sufficiently qualifiedd to be working in IT.
I’m a farmer that was an IT guy a decade or so ago, which I guess is a background in it, but that’s not why I do it. Self-hosting is a self-reliance thing. I like to fix my own equipment, metal and silicon.
When it comes apart, I want to know the reason, and I like to invent new ways to do things, which means I have to be able to control my infrastructure.
Honestly it would be really cool to see more self hosting in the farming space. I want to see a iot system that it run by the farmer.
Before we know it there will be a server room at each farm
When they were installing the alarm at my house I noticed that the main guy had nextcloud on his phone and it sparked a nice conversation about privacy. He has no technical background but managed to self-host it on his old laptop with one of those distros that have an easy UI for self-hosting (don’t remember which one exactly). He’s a pretty cool guy.
No background but I can read and listen. There are plenty of resources around.
I started out of privacy concerns and I wanted to deGoogle It started this year with a RPI and pihole. Then I saw Mealie, bought a domain, and started sharing recipes with my family.
At first I messed around with Casa OS. It’s like a gateway drug. So easy to use and get stuff running.
Last week a 2nd hand i5 arrived and now I moved everything to proxmox. The RPI is still running pihole. At the moment I’m setting up Immich and I’m thinking about buying a NAS.
Since it is a new hobby I keep everything low cost. If it sticks I’ll invest in a proper home server.
I work in logistics. I’ve always had a fascination with tech, and was leery of all these neato things on offer from big tech, from social media to the cloud.
Found out I could self-host, and got to learning.
Medical device engineer here (mechanical engineering). I host jellyfin, game servers (Minecraft, factorio, valheim, etc), my website, and a bunch of other minor services I find useful.
I got into it originally through a combination of poor internet, and being fed up with Google and others discontinuing products/features. The internet problem is solved now, so my only goal is not being reliant on someone else’s cloud.
yes! structural engineer here, computers has been my passion for a long time and self hosting is a joy! i have learnt a ton in the past year about networking, security and so many things!
I believe that most self holsters actually are more hobbyist lifestyle than people with actual tech background.
I read and research a whole lot, which has taken me down this rabbit hole.
I’ve never been in tech professionally, I’m a truck driver (now working in the office of company but still drive sometimes) but I have always been into tech. I selfhost as much as possible. Bitwarden, jellyfin, seafile, etc. and also run a Lemmy instance. I like tech projects and control.
I don’t have a tech background. Currently hosting 25 different things in docker. I wonder if there are actually more non-tech people who do it, because tech industry people might want to take a break in their off time.
Programming and self hosting the results when I was ~14 is what led me to a tech background. No university, but I’ve been working professionally in both IT and software for over a decade and self hosting even longer.
Mechanical engineer here self-hosting my own Lemmy and Pixelfed instances in a Yunohost VM on an old Ubuntu box. It just feels better being my own admin.
Kudos for self-hosting fediverse stuff, man.
Thank you!