Does anyone else here participate in the selfhosting hobby without a formal IT related education or a career in a similar field? I’ve only had one or two programming courses as part of my university education, but it was only very basic Python and C. I’ve never formally learned how to use containers, version control or anything else. Sometimes I regret not pursuing an education in IT/programming because there are so many things I’d like to accomplish but can’t (for example if there’s a feature missing in some project, or to feel safe in my abilities to harden my servers and my network in order to expose services to the open internet).
Me too. I do not work in IT, I do not even work at a computer.
Started installing first ripped Windows, later Linux on handmedown laptops starting around 2010.
And tweaking the shit out of it, later also to escape the Googleverse.
Selfhosting since 2014.
I can’t do everything either but I’m confident enough to let my server face the world. It doesn’t take all that much knowledge, mostly common sense.
I guess there’s some secondary knowledge, like knowing where to find useful instructions (archwiki) or knowing that Linux software often (but not always) doesn’t bother with sane defaults.
If this narrative seems to be coming from the prehistoric past then there’s your answer: give it more time. Do what you can do now, and surely your knowledge/capability will grow. Esp. tweaking Linux!