Why an IT pro Needs a Homelab
With the recent hikes in cyber attacks and rampant ransom-ware infections, it is more critical than ever for IT pros to be educated about cyber security and keep their skills up to date with current trends. One way to keep up with the latest security trends and sharpen security skills is to fire up a personal home lab at home away from your production environment where you can play with latest technologies.
A home lab creates a safe place to experiment with new tools.
A lot of vendors out there offer “free” tools for various tasks that can be beneficial for systems/network admins and engineers. For example, Knowbe4 offers a Free Phishing Security Test. It will be unwise for a systems administrator to just go ahead and use these tools on a production environment without testing them somewhere safe where production isn’t affected. That’s why a lab can come in handy.
A home lab allows one to build new skills.
Unless if you works for an MSP, it is hard to keep one’s tech skills as sharp as they should be. For example, someone who has been a sysadmin for 10 years at the same company might not need to regularly install or change firewall settings. Having a home lab allows this pro to play with various vendor firewalls and they might end up implementing these new technologies at work.
You can also use home labs for test preps (like MCP exam or Cisco ). If your employer is not willing to invest in your continued education and help you to build new skills, it is wise to build yourself a home lab, because at the end of the day, your future is contingent on keeping current with constant technological changes and it is your responsibility to do so.
Build your confidence and minimize mistakes
It is important to know your stuff and usually experience is key in the IT field. Its easy to feel under-qualified when working with IT veterans who have been around for a long time. One way to boost your self-esteem is to have a home lab. When one has a lab, they can talk about technologies they have played with and possibly messed up- with confidence.
You cannot afford mess things up at work , and if you do you might get a hearing or even get fired. Techs with labs can confidently implement technologies because they would have tested it in their lab- minimizing risk of breaking something, thereby costing their employers up-time and revenue.
While home labs are a great tool for an IT pro to keep their skills sharp, they can be expensive to build. My advice is to start small and build up depending on need. One of the best ways is to use virtualization. Here is a screenshot of my Esxi host:
In future posts we will look at different options for home labs on a budget and i will also share how my lab is setup.
