A GTR, an intense homelab with multiple racks, designs own hardware and PCBs, billet blocks, built his own house, etc etc. Really a man after my own heart, I hope to accomplish the things you have one day.
@@joel9909 The guy in the video was probably very strategic in addition to having the ability to spend 12-14 hours a day doing stuff he didn't want to do for years on end. He's probably also the type of person to get home after a long day at work and use the precious few spare hours he had to work on his own projects instead of relaxing. It's a hard path to get to where he is (unless you know the right people obviously, but that's where the strategic part can help).
Absolutely agree with the point that a CTO should understand and actually be able to work with the technologies they are responsible for. More companies leaders should adapt that mindset.
@@jeffsponaugle6339 I run the exact same philospohy in my cloud company I learn the tech first, i build the tech first and i run the tech first. Once I know all but every little thing about it, then i push the training onto other techs etc the "boss" imo needs to be a true leader, someone you can call and actually get tech support from and expect them to deliver. A lot of these CTOs are just paperwork clowns with no real experience
I agree how can you lead people with not knowing how to fix it yourself. I have worked for CTO that could Not even configure a Firewall correctly and would blame me for his mistake.
I understood nothing of what he was saying but I still kept watching. There's just something so impressive when someone talks about what they're passionate about.
It's difficult to convey to non-homelab folk the satisfaction I get when i learn how to build and deploy a service for the first time, and then keeping it up. Always great to see how others scratch the homelab itch
"The Greatest Homelab That's Ever Lived". Thank you for taking the time to make this video, and especially for sharing your advice regarding the drive to learn new things. Super informative and interesting, I'm sure your setup is now the end-goal of tons of people that have seen these videos. As someone that owns a small computer repair business, it's awesome (and very humbling) getting a peek into this corner of the industry and the mentality that drives a successful CTO (and business)!
Your videos are great. I appreciate these videos. Pls keep it up. Even if your are uploading a 10 to 20 minutes video every month or two. You and your projects are very inspiring. Greetings from Germany
Hey there! Just wanted to drop by and say how blown away I am by your homelab setup. Seriously, it's like walking into a tech wonderland. The way you've organized everything and the sheer amount of gear you've got running smoothly is truly impressive. You've created a tech sanctuary that's both envy-inducing and inspiring. Keep up the amazing work!👍👍😃
This is fascinating. I got started with my own homelab journey last year with small mini PCs and 3 HDDs with similar motivations (having an environment to learn and tinker without having to pay $$ for cloud instances). Thanks for the tour and these insights!
@@VinnyLogz Well he could use it for storage, try to do a RAID System. Another use would be for VMs, to have a dozen VMs for different testing can be useful. He can also just use it to test new hardware he gets to see if they work.
If engineering was a person it would be this gentleman. I'm pretty sure there is nothing this man can not learn and execute as long as there is a source material and an inner calling from him.
Very cool. Thanks for the follow-on video and details. Homelabs are one of the best ways to learn safely, to work though a problem, to test things, before applying what has been learnt to production environments. Most companies seem to lack corporate test labs.
So happy you posted again and loved the full explanation and tour. As someone starting out, I would love to hear what you'd do if you were in a position to begin from scratch (what you'd start with, what has been your favourite and most interesting parts, etc...)
For many years I worked as a rack Builder. It was my hobby and job. Hundreds of cabinets, millions of meters of cables, cable markers, cage nuts, a lot of expensive equipment, some worth as much as a small house.
Your setup makes me wish I was a kid again so I could say "When I grow up I want a setup just like that!". I really liked the part about always learning and being capable in the things you are overseeing.
As a chief arch and CTO myself, its so cool to see someone else doing a lot of the same things I'm doing for my home lab, power management, etc. Couldn't agree with you more on the need for a tech leader to know the tech they are approving or recommending. This channel as well as Dave Plummer are new channels I've found that go into this.
I love the home lab and home setup. I too have a home server room but not as futuristic as yours. I constantly get asked why I have this in my home as well and to answer everyone I say it is a amazing way to learn and experiment and cope with my day to day Hunger for knowledge. the closest thing I can use as an example would be a person that really loves cars. They may own multiple or just one but on any given day that car is always takes care of and is something they take great pride in. Its even better when you enjoy something so much it lives with you even after you come home from the same type of work. At the end of the day when you work in the crazy tech industry its nice to come home to something you built yourself and you know works, No politics involved in home labs! keep up the great work.
Do you give guided tours? I completely agree with your views about how CTOs should know the tech - It's called mechanical sympathy. In my experience, CTOs have been bureaucrats that know very little and are not interested/passionate about the tech. As a result, they make terrible decisions and they really undervalue their top level engineers who do make the effort to learn in their own time. Respect from Australia.
Yea, and the funny thing is it does not that that much extra effort to learn a little bit more of the technology. Often you have a fantastic team of experts working for you that you can learn from, so it is a puzzle that so many don't take advantage of it.
Amazing homelab setup and much more feasible when doing new construction but not impossible to retrofit if you are determined. Keep in mind that Jeff more than likely had several homelabs over the years that culminated to this state so don't get down on yourself (myself included!) if your homelab doesn't resemble his end product. Jeff - incredible work and thank you for showing us your setup, truly appreciate it!
I agree so much on all these "I need to understand what manages" and "Continue learning" parts, I have the exact same mindset so it's quite inspiring to see the success it seems to have had for you brought, I hope to follow a similar path to you Have fun with that modest "keep it simple" homelab ;)
OK...that explains the mini Data Center you build.... Great work! Would like to see the stuff you doing with Video and AI... Then there's also a lot of other things...so please keep sharing.
What’s nice about the homelab is the freedom to store, organize and edit as many of your RU-vid videos as you want without worrying about storage space.
Jeff, what a fascinating and unique homelab you’ve built. If you’re willing to, I’d love hear more about the power and cooling setup you put in place and any of the interesting challenges you had to tackle. Whatever you choose to talk about next, I’ve subscribed and look forward to watching.
Jeff this is so cool man . I have a crap education stopped at 6 grade and fell into electrical work as a career . I’ve worked oilfield for 10 years and got thrown into controls . I would stress out on basic motor controls and compressor systems for process controls on call . So I took home bad or replacement parts and built em at home to learn and understand low voltage controls . Now I want to get certs or somehow get more understanding of automation . That’s my next goal . Anyway thanks for your video !
Brilliant stuff. If i had the cash and the time I've love to build a lab similar to that. Whomever you work for is lucky to have someone like you, that's for sure.
holy cow... a whole datacenter just to "learn" ^^ and here i am... needed 1,5 years of saving money to be able to afford a 4060. so jealous. reminds me of my project, many many years ago, to build my own touchscreen-wireless-device to control my own programed videoplayer. one of my first things i build on my own and i was so proud... many years later, less currency, all gone :x im happy for people who can do what they dream of without thinking about currency. well done sir, well done.
Very cool setup. Hoping to do something similar if I ever get my house built. Also will put a heat pump water heater in there to recover some of that excess heat, hehe. Your policy of dogfooding, even at home, is a great policy for a CTO.
8:45 - Hey fellow Portlander. Yeah, having that deep understanding is so critical when you gotta dive in and address something at the drop of a hat. It’s also great for just iteratively improving on stuff. And 💯% with you on just diving in and trying it out. Getting hands on is a fantastic way to not only learn but gain that deep understanding that’s so incredibly useful later on.
Very nice setup ! I have a similar setup in my home . I get the same question ALL the time.. People look at me with like I have ten heads when they see I have a data center in my basement . My team built 18 data centers for a global telecom back in the early 2000 and so having my own DC makes me feel very comfortable.. I use my clusters for a lot of study and some docker applications that run some of my stuff .. my rack mount pi cluster is still in progress but very excited to have ..
Excellent! It is something that is both fun to build but also fun to operate..of course I wonder if at some point I move what will the next person do with it!
I just want to say that you are such a cool guy, I am not even interested in homelabs, or at least not that data center you have, but you are really really cool guy doing what he loves without trying to be some "viral" youtube star, but just sharing some of your passions.
My greatest respect for sharing the pov that CTO should actually be able to do the technology they are responsible for. This is a requirement for building a successful company
Ok, not only does he have inspiring technical know how and a brilliant approach to being a CTO, he applies those to improve healthcare globally with surescript. Legendary hero.
Really an excellent video, I would love for more informative videos, breaking down more of your mentality around building the homelab. I am a CybSec student who would love to model a smaller version of your clearly professional configuration when I have the funds to do so.
Be our mentor, teach us your ways, share your experiences and knowledge you gained by the steps that brought you to this point, your journey... do realise to us noobs you sound extraordinary and amazing, WE WANT TO BE LIKE YOU 🤩🏆
I cannot second enough what you mention about understanding how the technology works from a base level up to, well, endless levels really, because technology is about always continuing to learn and improve. Doing things, building things, experimenting with things, and breaking things is how a true understanding can be achieved at every level, in my opinion as well, because of the inherent interaction that’s had at every level in the process. Understanding gives the freedom to redesign, modify, and configure things to the limit of your creativity, really, and I believe that is a true “expert” in a certain technology. I do not, and have never memorized anything about the technology I interact with, I get my hands on it, disassemble it, and do research to the end of understanding it. I’ve found that the brain, when it consciously understands how something functions at all levels, does not struggle to remember everything necessary to interact with it. And allows true creative interaction with it. It gives the freedom to see what things could possibly be, and is conducive to the creative implementation of something that is believed could possibly be. But it can all only possibly be from a deeply rooted understanding throughout every level up to the level that you are continuing to creatively learn to do, and make new things, and often times to make existing things work unconventionally in a way that makes something new. That is how all new things come to be a reality. By building upon the layers of understanding of the existing, and understanding is the only basis that allows that to be done. For me, at least. I hate memorizing steps and anything I don’t need to, because I can grow and create faster and worlds more efficiently if I just understand what I’m doing, and what I would like to do with it. Awesome home lab! I’d like to understand and do enough projects and learn enough to have my own version of something like that eventually. I’ll just keep doing things, and learning how things work. Cheers
3kw continious load would set me back 766€ (820 USD) each month in electricity. Thats about as much as my homserver cost me to build. Your Homelab looks impressive!
Dang 7 kilowatts...my home lab pulls 500 watts peak and I thought that was a lot. I've got a 145 TB NAS and 3 systems running Proxmox VE. I'm a devops engineer, so I've got a kubernetes cluster that is fully automated by packer, terraform, and gitlab. Two commands can destroy and rebuild the cluster within a matter of minutes, so I can appreciate the work you've put into this. Awesome setup!
Amazing video love the content, would be amazing if you could explain why you made certein decisions and how to recreate stuff like this. So for example how to host proxmox on high availability etc, you explain really well thanks
The 'gluon' lab, sounds like they do some pretty nuclear stuff! On a serious note; this must've taken a countless amount of time to construct in designing, planning, testing, and executing a set up where you can a huge array of investigations from mathematical/computational projects to AI stuff. Super interesting and inspiring, I aim to have a laboratory like this in my future
Finally found someone else running a kafka cluster in their homelab!! My entire job centers around data streaming architecture and engineering and I run a kafka cluster (albeit just on some VMs) in my homelab. Would love to know what home services you use it for!
