[hom-læb] (n): a laboratory of (usually slightly outdated/second-hand) servers, hosted in the domicile.¹

My personal definition: a very very deep hole I have found myself in.

It all started with a cursory interested in Amazon Web Services (AWS). It was something that came up at work as a possible point of interest for us, so I volunteered to look into it. Next thing you know, I’ve suddenly invested time, effort, and money into setting up my own hybrid-home network that includes 4 servers at home, and 1 server on the cloud².

I’m particularly proud of my homelab, because to me, it represents my ability to learn and adapt³. Prior to diving into this rabbit hole, while I considered myself tech-literate, I wouldn’t have ever called myself a technologist. But after repeatedly going through the cycle of (1) wanting to do something cool, (2) learning how to do it, and then (3) actually pulling it off, which is how my homelab was birthed. It just reinforces the idea that I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

Most recently though, my homelab has joined in the fight against COVID-19 by participating in the decentralize computing project, Folding@Home .