In The Beginning...

Introduction

So here we are… my first post ever. I thought long and hard on how to start this. I decided to just document my journey over the years that led us to this point and what I plan to do moving forward.

Early years

I have always been nerdy ever since I was a kid. I played a lot of video games as early as the good ol’ Atari. My first introduction to computers was with MS-DOS on a 5.25" floppy disk that actually felt floppy. But, the one that really got me hooked was Windows 95 and its GUI that allowed me to play Solitaire and Prince of Persia.

Awakening

The first time I was really introduced into programming was in high school when the World Wide Web was still in its infancy. I quickly learned HTML/CSS/JavaScript and helped write our high school’s website. Shortly after that, a schoolmate introduced me to the world of building my own custom PC. This really hyped me as not only do you get to pick and choose your own parts, you also get to pick and choose your own software. This led me down a rabbit hole where eventually I would learn about Linux (Debian and RedHat) and FreeBSD. Obviously, these projects were still at its infancy so I didn’t use them much as they require quite a lot of technical expertise that I did not have at the time.

It’s worth noting that as early as high school, I became the family’s de-facto tech support guy (their personal Geek Squad). Various family members would call me up to ask me to help them build a new computer or fixing it, which usually means they’ve caught some sort of malware and need a Windows reinstall. At this point, I’ve reinstalled Windows XP enough times that I actually know the CD key by heart.

Present

Fast forward to today, my early interest in computers led me to major in Software Engineering and I am now a professional developer. I started with C/C++ and embedded systems and moved on to Apple iOS development with Swift.

When I’m not working at my day job, my side hobby is improving and fine-tuning my homelab and network to be closer to enterprise level. That leads us to where we are today and why I am writing this blog.

Future

Over the years, I sometimes have had to repeat a certain setup I’ve done either because of migration to a newer gear, replacing defective parts, or other types of unforeseen circumstances. This often results in me having to replicate whatever I did in the past or reinvent the wheel from scratch. This was a giant headache and I’ve finally decided that now is a good time to finally put an end to this. I hope to automate and document the whole workflow so it will both save the future me time and help to stop banging my head on the wall when I forget a certain step.

Hopefully, some of you may even find this blog useful!