Selfhosting got me a job offer reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Anejey · 2023-11-16 22:01 I still barely believe it honestly. I'm a student "freshly" outta school with no experience, and I've been struggling finding a job for a while. I had an (first) job interview recently and while I didn't have much to offer, I seemed to somewhat impress them with my home labbing. I run Proxmox at home for my self-hosted things and got a decent amount of experience with it, and it's what they use a lot as well. It's not that common in my age group to be interested in stuff like this, apparently. Anyway, this is barely worthy of a post, but I'm really excited. I don't really know how it'll work out as I still got plenty to learn, but it's a big step forwards for me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- suitcasecalling · 2023-11-16 22:06 hell yeah!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TheJerdle · 2023-11-16 22:15 I’ve always thought one of the biggest benefits to self hosting is developing the ability to learn and troubleshoot on your own. Apply that to your job and you’ll go a long way. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-11-16 22:26 Congrats on the new job! Hardest part is getting your foot in the door. Remember us little people when you are a tech billionaire! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Solkre · 2023-11-16 22:43 They're using proxmox in production? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Anejey · 2023-11-16 22:49 I obviously don't know all that much yet, but yeah. Most of their servers run linux/proxmox. It's an ISP. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Solkre · 2023-11-16 22:50 That's cool, congrats. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- skynet_watches_me_p · 2023-11-16 22:50 I list my home network + virtualization tech in my resume, and I have 15+ years experience to boot. I think adding in a homelab is the resume equivalent of claiming you like to work in your spare time outside of work. :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Innominate8 · 2023-11-16 22:53 I think a lot of selfhosters/homelabbers severely undervalue that experience when it comes to job hunting. Particularly fresh out of school, where it's something to distinguish you from the thousand other graduates whose only projects are school assignments. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MargretTatchersParty · 2023-11-16 22:54 Absolutely, it helps to show you have experience, you can get sometihing up in production, and it's very visible in your success. Do not understate that in your resume. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Big_Booty_Pics · 2023-11-16 22:54 What's wrong with that? If you're just doing basic things and don't want to pay an arm, a leg, and your firstborn to the VMware licensing department I don't see why it's an issue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UnfetteredThoughts · 2023-11-16 23:08 They didn't say anything about it being an issue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- falcorns_balls · 2023-11-16 23:27 I always talk about my homelabbing during interviews. It always gives you bonus points. It shows you love what you do. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- d_Party_Pooper · 2023-11-16 23:43 Anywhere I've worked over the years, the people with the Homelabs tend to be really knowledgeable and versatile in a work environment. The continuous learning makes a difference over time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- speculatrix · 2023-11-16 23:43 When I interview young people for junior positions, they have no job history and references, so what I'm looking for is aptitude and attitude: * *can* they learn * do they *want* to learn * do they have technical curiosity * persistence and problem solving Also, do they have some insight into the kind of work we do, and are they going to stick at the job? I'm sure OP demonstrated these things at interview. I think you'll go far. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ursa_Solaris · 2023-11-16 23:44 Hell yeah, that's what it's all about. Pretty jealous of you getting to work with Proxmox, everywhere I go it's Hyper-V and VMWare. I'd love to work with a proper Linux hypervisor for once. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-11-16 23:55 What about old people who are new to the field? Any chance of getting a job? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6ftClaud · 2023-11-16 23:55 Last year I got a Junior DevOps Engineer role because of selfhosting as well. During the interview I mentioned I was running Linux on my PC and had a homelab. Told them I used the server(s) to run OPNsense, Proxmox, Docker containers and had a NAS set up. They grilled me a little to make sure I wasn't lying and knew my stuff and then called me 2 hrs after the interview asking me if i want to accept the position. I didn't know all the tools/technologies they were using (i.e. Kubernetes, etc.) but they took a leap of faith and hired me as i was \`motivated\`. Selfhosting opens doors! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- unisasquatch · 2023-11-16 23:56 To add to this. Make yourself familiar with the industry standard tools. Using proxmox is a great in for "I'm familiar with VMware. I don't have any professional experience with it, but I use proxmox in my homelab as an alternative because x and x and x". Also be able to speak on the advantages and disadvantages of each tool. If you don't want to come off as an idiot for confidently saying something wrong, phrase what you know as a question. "Is it true that vsphere x and x and x? This is a weakness that I feel proxmox has its strengths" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- l8s9 · 2023-11-16 23:59 This is funny, I applied for a supervisor position where I work and they requested a resume and I added a hobby section and one of the bullets it’s self hosting various services ---------------------------------------------------------------------- l8s9 · 2023-11-17 00:00 This is funny, I applied for a supervisor position where I work and they requested a resume and I added a hobby section and one of the bullets it’s self hosting various services. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- speculatrix · 2023-11-17 00:03 Yup, if they have those characteristics. I don't need to see a university degree if there's talent or experience instead. I don't need to know about your age, gender, sex, religion, skin colour, etc. these things are none of my business. I just need to know you'll get the job done and fit in well with the team. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lostillini · 2023-11-17 00:06 can you help me understand what role you went after? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-11-17 00:07 Cool cause I am old as dirt but not old enough to retire and forced into a career change. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- broderboy · 2023-11-17 00:11 And push through frustration ---------------------------------------------------------------------- fractalfocuser · 2023-11-17 00:38 One of my coworkers always tells people "Just start with a Plex/media server" and it grows from there. It's worked for at least four of us who work on our team and I'd say we're all doing some cool things now. Good luck friend! Keep labbing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- farva_06 · 2023-11-17 00:54 Besides Xen, what else is there in the enterprise world? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mrcaptncrunch · 2023-11-17 01:02 Something a lot of people don’t get it that regionally, you graduate with hundreds or even thousands of others at the same time. It’s not the schoolwork, everyone graduating has it. It’s what sets you apart. If you haven’t done internships, no personal projects, or if you haven’t built anything, you’re just another one among many. Doing these things makes you different and highlights what you can do and what you wanna do and your drive to try something, figure it out, and see it through. When looking through resumes, skills is one thing and goes into one pile. Then that pile gets shorter based on what else you bring. Languages and I deal with international offices? Exchange courses abroad and I need someone who understands that different places have different customs? We deal with things that change often and you have a home lab and have figured things out? Took programming classes and we have things automated or need to automate? I can teach the stack to people or idiosyncrasies. Teaching the above takes wanting to do it and also shows if you want something, you figure it out. We know these things aren’t taught in school. #Congrats OP! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Exotic-bit01010001 · 2023-11-17 01:10 Got any openings? lol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mkosmo · 2023-11-17 01:13 When I interview entry-level candidates, discussion of home labs puts the candidate at the top of the list, all other things being equal. It's hands-on experience and demonstrates an interest in tinkering... and will show that the candidate knows how to solve problems (including how to Google problems). Only once has that strategy failed me, and it wasn't even a terrible fit - just a bad one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Icy_Expression_7224 · 2023-11-17 01:15 Hey man it’s how I got into my position where I’m at now, all self taught. I started just as help desks, then the place I worked for had an opening and a Lab technology specialist, which I knew nothing about anything in that field. But in the interview talking about all my home lab projects and goals and just general love for tech. Next thing I knew a week later got a nice pay bump with a promise in a way bigger one if I make it a year. Well now I design PCB and work of very custom hardware and software and it’s all still mine blowing to me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BarServer · 2023-11-17 01:48 I read "selfghosting" at first and thought this post was made in r/recruitinghell .. Yeah.. Well.. Glad it worked out so well for you though! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IndependentPumpkin74 · 2023-11-17 02:00 Ill remember you forever, and im a tech dozen-aire! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lrdfrd1 · 2023-11-17 02:08 Ikr. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wdrussell1 · 2023-11-17 02:52 >Anyway, this is barely worthy of a post, Shut up! This is always worth a post! We do this because we enjoy it. Not because we seek fame. Good on you for getting the job. Just keep learning and growing. A word of advice for any one else and any future endeavors. Put your lab at the bottom of your resume. 10 year or 20 years in the game, I don't care. Put it on there. Give the highlights and you are good. So far it has gotten me two jobs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SelectCase · 2023-11-17 03:07 I specifically started my home lab for this. I had to take on managing technical teams at work and I wanted to know what they actually did. The skills I gained made me way better at my job, and helped me get into my current position which gives me a ton of control over the projects I take on and way more work life balance than average tech positions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- spanish4dummies · 2023-11-17 03:43 upvote for good post ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sparrow538 · 2023-11-17 03:59 Congrats. Welcome to the IT arena. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mehammered · 2023-11-17 04:07 I always tell people trying to learn IT/systems engineering. Tinker but treat your Lab like a pseudo prod. Document all your changes and all your methods. Keep it on a USB for interviews, Web site and in a PowerPoint. Congratulations! Happy you got this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -eschguy- · 2023-11-17 04:25 Yeah I've got like....five bucks and still know this sub. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IBJamon · 2023-11-17 04:26 KVM is at least as popular as Xen, if not moreso. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Anejey · 2023-11-17 05:17 The position is labeled as "IT specialist". I was actually applying somewhere else, but the CV made rounds and got to where I got the interview/offer from. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Anejey · 2023-11-17 05:18 That's how I started. Nothing but Plex and Pi-hole on an old laptop running Ubuntu. It grew very quickly from there, haha. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Anejey · 2023-11-17 05:21 I put my home-labbing in the hobbies and interests section. I almost didn't, but the cv then barely filled half a page since it was so empty, haha. I'm really looking forward to having some work experience to put on there if need be in the future. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wdrussell1 · 2023-11-17 05:43 Honestly it feel amazing to have it on there even with 15 years experience. It like turns the interview on its head where now you get to do your own digging. It is amazing when you find a place that supports the lab. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- hydrant22 · 2023-11-17 05:50 Congrats! Absolutely worth posting you silly goose. They'll appreciate your self starter can do attitude. I personally would put someone with a personal projects solely to sharpen their skills at the top of my list. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SuicidalSparky · 2023-11-17 05:50 This is so important. I work with so many people who just give up when solutions to problems aren't served to them on a plate. Those same people seem to eternally complain and moan they're never picked for bonuses, promotions or important projects. Self hosting and self building stuff over the years has taught me so much about searching for answers to problems and troubleshooting. Such an important skill. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- yakk0 · 2023-11-17 05:58 Many of us in IT have similar starts with our interests overlapping with our career goals. My one piece of advice is to be careful about work/life balance. I’ve done a lot of “work” stuff at home over the years without getting compensated for it. Use your homelab for your projects. The skills will transfer over, but let the work projects stay on work hardware. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EatSleepCodeCycle · 2023-11-17 06:22 That’s how I got my first job for sure. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Xillyfos · 2023-11-17 06:28 They did not. But they did convey surprise with the question, so it being an issue to them is not completely outside of the realm of possibilities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Im_just_joshin · 2023-11-17 07:04 Talking about self hosting worked for me thirty years ago. Been a great career all in all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- can72 · 2023-11-17 07:28 Almost every technical skill I have has come through making it work at home. Yes, my home environment is ridiculously over-engineered, but I now run my own MSP business 😊 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dailowarrior · 2023-11-17 07:35 Anyone who has a home lab would be top of my list. It seems normal while being on this sub, but I hardly come across anyone who has one and the skills required to maintain one definite shows in an interview. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- speculatrix · 2023-11-17 08:06 Sadly, my employer is being hit by the economic downturn so there's a hiring freeze. We interviewed two people for an internship, I felt they would have been great, I was very sad when I was told the budget to take them on was cancelled. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- daYMAN007 · 2023-11-17 08:13 Showing interest in tech or programming was always the number one hiring criteria for me. IT is so a fast changing job that you want to keep up just with your job alone, so if your company wants innovation they need people that do stuff like this in their free time. This doubly applies for people fresh out of school, cause honestly you don't learn nearly enough to do the job there. So every little extra gives you a lead against your concurrence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LucaDev · 2023-11-17 08:22 I'm doing a lot of tech interviews for my company. Whenever there's someone with a homelab I can be 80% sure they have a lot of knowledge in their respective homelab ecosystem (vms/Kubernetes/containers/etc.) and absolutely no problem adapting to new ones. Plus usually some good networking knowledge. I have a K8s Cluster at home too - it's not only a great Icebreaker but also a great way to see which technologies the other person has worked with. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- fearnobody · 2023-11-17 08:37 Basically same for me. Didn't do this stuff in my last job (95% of the time) I'm doing now and speaking about my homelab really helped sell my interest and learning abilities in the job interview. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- zn448sk39 · 2023-11-17 08:55 It's either that or no movie tonight ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ycnz · 2023-11-17 09:45 "Tell me about your IT setup at home" is my favourite interview question, followed up with "And what are you planning next?". I've been using it for years now, and it's been an excellent assessment every time. It lets people talk about a technical area that they're super-familiar with, and also lets them show how they think about planning/purchasing/budgeting. It's also weeded out people who really aren't at all interested in computers - this is fine for some roles, but for most, I want someone technically-focused. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sfekke22 · 2023-11-17 10:15 Companies love someone who spends their free time learning skills that benefit them. I've always made sure to mention my personal interest and the last few years my full-server rack at least a short summary. It's gotten my foot in the door quite often when talking to managers with some IT knowledge; ones that don't have any I wouldn't want to work with anyways. Good luck at your new job OP! And don't listen to the disgruntled old-timers that say you'll stop exploring in your free time, they're just jealous and/or have kids with very little free time left. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RagnarRipper · 2023-11-17 11:31 > this is barely worthy of a post I strongly disagree. This is really awesome and I'm pretty sure a lot of us would not mind getting a job because we dabble in servers as a hobby. Congratulations!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ibnunowshad · 2023-11-17 11:39 Which company use Proxmox? Bring me too. All I give job application they say VMWare and never heard of Proxmox ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nik282000 · 2023-11-17 11:47 Hey, those look like all the questions my boss fails to ask new applicants, do you wanna be my new boss? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fine_Neighborhood_51 · 2023-11-17 12:08 I just wanna say.. your “barely worthy of a post” is my inspiration. I graduated in May in a completely unrelated field and I’m finally starting to make progress on my home lab. Thank you and good luck with your career!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sbikerider35 · 2023-11-17 12:25 Out of context, not many would understand. Turning the TV on and opening Plex with an error..... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeyiax · 2023-11-17 12:26 Congratulations nice! I run a homelab server too running about 15 services, apps and sites I programmed/designed, and free software like Plex! I just enjoy it, I also have AI pipelines for like stable diffusion and rvc , I think the hard part of home lab is scaling and designing/organizing your files and infrastructure. I literally have a monorepo with submodules of projects all of which are connected meticulously using containerization like docker, pods, etc . I'm able to bring up websites quickly like to the Internet in production as well. it's crazy. I used to pay for a VPS, and use control panel, etc, waste of money xD homelab is great, but time consuming and learning curve ---------------------------------------------------------------------- randomnonce · 2023-11-17 13:28 I once interviewed a person and spent more than half the time talking about his homelab although it wasn't directly relevant to the job. Ended up hiring him as well. In my mind, the willingness to self-learn and tinker is an asset. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nerdyviking88 · 2023-11-17 13:35 When I'm interviewing people for any entry level, or even low level sysadmin positions, discussion of a homelab is always on my list of questions. I'm looking for not only the fact it exists, but also the passion you have talking about it. I can work on tech skills, but I can't teach passion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RiffyDivine2 · 2023-11-17 13:35 I landed a job also just off my homelab. Well sitting in the interview I setup an account for the guy, got him accessed in and let him look at everything I did and could do. You would be amazed how much better it is to be able to show you can do a job then just try to tell someone you can. Also it's a huge thing to show a willingness and gift for self learning, a lot of people do not have that. When you find someone like that even if the skills are raw you know that person can be turned into something great. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RiffyDivine2 · 2023-11-17 13:36 Not many I know of use it but they at least know what it is. However saying yes I understand how a type 1 hypervisor works is good enough. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RiffyDivine2 · 2023-11-17 13:37 > And don't listen to the disgruntled old-timers that say you'll stop exploring in your free time, they're just jealous and/or have kids with very little free time left. Fuck that. I am in my 40's and still messing around with my lab and stuff in my free time...and at work. The want to learn never stops if you like what you are doing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RiffyDivine2 · 2023-11-17 13:42 > Document all your changes and all your methods My friends joke with me that my notebook looks like a methwizards spell book from all the notes and notes on notes and dog eared notes. Nothing like having something fail two times and then work the third and you got no idea why unless you wrote down everything. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- i_am_fear_itself · 2023-11-17 14:12 Ask lot's of questions. Volunteer to do everything even if you don't know how to do it. Never underestimate how valuable "showing up on time" is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EWDnutz · 2023-11-17 14:21 Playback errors on certain shows, or infinite buffering. Yeap.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve032D · 2023-11-17 14:33 We're all behind you. Go get 'em! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- aeric67 · 2023-11-17 14:42 And push through the thoughts of, “If I ever die unexpectedly no one is going to have a clue how to get any of this working again.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- aeric67 · 2023-11-17 14:45 I call this meta knowledge and I prize it above actual experience. It is what gave people experience. Or another way of saying it: It is what makes experience worth something. Because in my opinion, without meta knowledge the years you have of experience belonged to someone else. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- einstein-314 · 2023-11-17 15:04 The best part is we figure out quickest way and is usually the bandaid fix to get it up fastest. My latest was a crontab: 1 4 * * * docker restart jellyfin Fixed my issues and since I don’t watch tv at 4 am it’s not a problem. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SnowyLocksmith · 2023-11-17 15:13 That's how I feel about all my accounts and backups. No one in my family or friends could recover anything. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rabbirobbie · 2023-11-17 15:25 something i think about probably way more often than i should ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wolfe751 · 2023-11-17 15:46 Congratulations. That is amazing!! What type of job is it? If you don't mind sharing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sypie1 · 2023-11-17 15:58 It’s all about motivation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- speculatrix · 2023-11-17 16:33 Exactly. Also, someone might have the exact skills to do a specific job well but be unable it unwilling to adapt and do other things, and gets left behind when the job requirements change. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Daxterr1238 · 2023-11-17 17:39 Thanks for sharing OP. Really cool that your hobby directly landed you a job! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rgorbie · 2023-11-17 17:44 lol, I don't have lexdysia, but I read your subject line as "Selfghosting got me a job offer" and I was wondering how you stopped responding to your own emails/calls to get a job!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rgorbie · 2023-11-17 17:46 ugh, my wife gives me so much slack for this, happens more than it should... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Whyd0Iboth3r · 2023-11-17 17:55 I wish I could have been the one to snag you up. I learned on my own, and I respect the process. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- iTitleist · 2023-11-17 19:04 I can simply guarantee you that, you know a lot more than professional DevOps guy from India 😂 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A--E · 2023-11-17 19:07 I've got my job years ago because of my (selfhosted) project. That's a great start! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain-Moroni · 2023-11-17 19:36 Sometimes my self hosting methodology works, some times it doesn't. There are some things that I just set down and say, "I don't have time for this right now. I'll figure it out later." Later is usually a few months, but I have yet to come across something that stumped me completely. But I do have a long list of things to come back to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- belibebond · 2023-11-17 19:45 I think I am ready to settle with people who need solution serverd on a plate. Folks I deal with need it fed it straight to mouth. Infuriating. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- very-jaded · 2023-11-17 20:03 I have to deal with them at work as well. "Please do the work for me, reading the instructions is too difficult." I often wonder how they function in life: do they go to the grocery store and ask someone to push the cart over to the bread shelves for them? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- zrevyx · 2023-11-17 21:27 >Anyway, this is barely worthy of a post, but I'm really excited. As well you should be! Also, I think it's **very** worthy of a post. You put in the work, and even though it was "only" a home lab environment, it has given you real-world applicable skills. Good on ya! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- taicrunch · 2023-11-17 21:34 Same here. For years all I had was a PiHole on a Pi Zero and a NAS on a Pi3B+. Then I decided I needed another Pi for Wireguard so I wouldnt have to take my external hard drive with me when I traveled. Then my in-laws were giving away an old desktop that was otherwise perfectly fine. I wanted to learn Docker so I installed Jellyfin. Then I wanted to torrent my files directly into the server so I spun up a qBittorrent container. But I still wanted it to go through my VPN so I spun up a gluetun container. Then I realized I needed a PiHole backup so I spun up a PiHole container. Now I need a reverse proxy for when I connect via Wireguard so I'm going to look into that. Eventually I'll think of something else I need! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EmanuelSchanderl · 2023-11-17 23:39 Amen! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wide-Ad5700 · 2023-11-18 07:12 Grats on the win!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ibnunowshad · 2023-11-18 10:51 I build Proxmox in my last company in cluster. But I don’t have like minded individual to work alongside or I’ve never given free hand to hire someone from *nix background. So I quit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Exotic-bit01010001 · 2023-11-18 17:18 Can we at least apply to get a file started ? Lol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lowerseagate · 2023-11-19 01:30 Pushing through the frustration when setting up was worthy 🙌. Im glad for you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- shirotokov · 2023-11-23 04:52 great to hear this, also congrats for both you and op I've been doing selfhosting/lab since I found linux (1998), yet I went through a UX/HCI/design thinking carreer for 13 years after my sysadmin job and now I'm trying to get into what I like again. It have been tought af bc bills etc but seeing this gives me a bit more energy to persist (at least I'm getting screwed doing stuff I love ahahah). thanks by the relief you bothahah