I’ve never considered myself a “creative”. I’ve gone as far as to identify as the opposite. I don’t really know what the word for that is but I always said I was a “computer guy” and the tangible “arts” just weren’t for me. I knew since the 6th grade that my career was going to involve something with computers. There was just a way that my mind connected with computer interfaces that felt so much more natural than anything else in the world. Everything else I tried just felt… Unintuitive.

Introduction and History

Warning: This is going to be a long post and I am not going to trim any rambling :)

One of my hobbies for about a decade now has been “homelabbing” or “self hosting”. Homelabbing started for me as a way to dip my toes into the Linux universe without committing to running it on my precious gaming PC back when I was in college.

As I studied computer science I wanted to play around with concepts I was seeing at school and had no experience with. Back then it was simple things like LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). I didn’t really host anything noteworthy but this was how I started to learn about Linux, Networking, Web Development, and all the fun niche topics that fall underneath those broader umbrellas.

Introduction

The first time I used a mechanical keyboard was in 2013. At the time I was a regular gamer and was deeply invested into playing Valve’s Team Fortress 2. It was within that community that a close friend of mine was singing praises of this new fangled type of keyboard called a “mechanical” keyboard. That glowing recommendation sent me down a rabbit hole much deeper than I ever could have predicted and turned into a whole other hobby of mine.

Introduction

If you’re reading this article then I’m sure you’re more than familiar with the ongoing controversy regarding reddit and it’s API cost changes which are throttling the throats of third party mobile applications.

This topic has been covered by thousands of other websites and I have nothing unique to add to that discussion so I’ll keep it brief.

• Reddit changed the price of it’s API to an unusable price for third part applications
• This was most likely to funnel users to the first party application and serve ads (A.K.A: $$$)
• Subreddits protest by going dark and there is a light exodus of users from Reddit to alternatives such as Lemmy

So as a Reddit user of over 11 years I wanted to give a write-up about what I think of Lemmy after using it for a couple of weeks.

What I Do Professionally

I am a Software Engineer focused in platforms like Kubernetes. My focus and passion has always been around writing code to automate the termoil and solve practical problems for developers.

I’m incredibly quick to pick up new technologies and am a life long learner in the field. This combined with my strong interpersonal skills make me a solid addition to any team.

What I do Personally

Linux

In my free time I am enthusiastic about Linux. I’ve been using Linux as my primary operating system on my personal computers for about a decade now. It began with a homelab I set up while I was still in university and eventually took over as my favorite OS for “just getting things done”.