About The Home Lab Guide

Hey there. I'm a senior infrastructure engineer at one of the largest streaming platforms in the world. My day job involves supporting remote workstation infrastructure, large-scale storage systems, and authentication platforms that serve thousands of engineers.

I've been building home labs for over a decade. What started as a single tower running VMware ESXi has turned into a proper rack with dedicated networking, redundant storage, and more VMs than I'd like to admit. I've gone through the full cycle: overspending on enterprise gear, burning out on complexity, scaling back to what actually matters, and finding the sweet spot.

Why This Site Exists

Most home lab content online falls into two camps: spec sheet regurgitation from people who've never racked a server, or over-engineered setups that scare off beginners. I wanted to build something different.

The Home Lab Guide is where I share what I've actually learned from running infrastructure at scale and translating those skills into a home environment. Every piece of hardware I recommend is something I've either run myself or tested extensively. Every guide is based on problems I've actually solved.

What I Cover

• Hardware reviews grounded in long-term use, not unboxing hype
• Hypervisor and NAS comparisons from someone who runs both Proxmox and TrueNAS
• Networking guides that go beyond "just buy Ubiquiti" (though sometimes that is the answer)
• Beginner-friendly walkthroughs because everyone starts somewhere

My Approach

I write from experience, not press releases. If I haven't used something long enough to have an opinion, I won't recommend it. If a budget option genuinely outperforms the expensive one, I'll tell you. And if something broke on me after six months, you'll hear about that too.

This site does contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps keep the site running, and I only link to products I'd actually put in my own rack.

Have questions or want to share your own setup? I'd love to hear from you. The best home labs are built by people who learn from each other.

Find Me Elsewhere

I'm on LinkedIn if you want to connect professionally.

I also run a YouTube channel where I do considerably less responsible things — like explaining what it's actually like working in IT. Less rack mounting, more poor life decisions.