About me

Hi there! 👋🏻 As you've probably read on the homepage, my name is Lars. I'm 25 years old and from the Netherlands. Currently, I’m employed as a Linux Systems Engineer.

IN my spare time, I run a modest homelab where I experiment with various IT-topics. Besides experimenting with the latest technologies, I also like to program. I do this mainly in Python, but I do my fair share in web development as well. Mostly front-end nowadays, but still something i dig.

Besides IT and Tech, I'm into music. I've been playing piano since I was around 17, and a few months ago, I picked up the guitar as well. Besides making music, I'm, of course, into listening to music. My taste? Well, about everything, I would say. This ranges from Hardstyle/Hardcore all the way to Classical Music and back to bands like Nirvana.

My journey so far

The start

My fascination with computers began around 2007 or 2008. Back then, I played a lot of online games and always wondered how they were made. Somehow this quickly transitioned into creating simple websites, as many of these games were web-based. I think I was about 7 or 8, when I wrote my first HTML and CSS code.

Creating these websites was really exciting. I remember using an editor that displayed both: the code and the output. You could either choose to write the code, or drag along all the elements. At first, I mostly dragged things around, but I soon discovered that writing the actual code was faster and more rewarding.

When you're building websites, you need a place to host them. Simple as that. At first, I sent people my 'C:\Lars\Documents'-URLs, but that, ofcourse, didn't work. lol. Thats where I found out about Webhosting and essentially Linux.

Linux

My 'love' for Linux began when I was around 12. I had found out about VPS servers, which seem a lot 'cooler' than regular webhosting packages from various webhosters. What I liked about these servers, was the terminal. I had to type stuff to get things done. While it was definitely challenging at first, I started learning more and more. The first Linux distribution I worked with was Ubuntu 12.04.

Later on I discovered virtualization through VirtualBox and started experimenting with other Operating Systems. OF course, that brought me back to LInux, since there are A LOT of different flavours to run. It was awesome to run like 2/3 Linux distributions ON TOP of Windows. Eventually I ditched Windows and installed Linux instead (Ubuntu 14.04 iirc).

Nowadays

These days my focus has shifted slightly. After an internship, I discovered that working a 9-to-5 job as a developer wasn't really my thing. I found out that managing these servers was my cup of tea. Keep things running, break things, fix things: far more enjoyable for me. Thats when I transitioned from 'Dev' to 'Ops' (pun intended).

As said earlier: I'm fascinated with anything computer related. I'm really into managing and maintaining my own servers and infrastructure (modest homelab, remember). Therefore I often find myself experimenting with tools such as Ansible, Terraform, Proxmox and Web Servers. If I can do something manually, I certainly have to automate it with either Ansible, Python, Bash or something else.

Welcome to my blog! 😃

The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences as I explore, experiment with, and learn about various technologies. I have a passion for diving into new tools and systems, often with a focus on Open Source solutions. Whether I’m tinkering in my homelab, building something from scratch, or figuring out how to optimize my 'infrastructure'. I enjoy documenting the process and the lessons I learn along the way.

Here, you’ll find posts about a wide range of topics, from containerization and automation tools like Docker and Ansible, to web hosting, programming, and high-available Linux systems. My aim is not just to share what I’m working on but also to help others who might face similar challenges or are looking for inspiration for their own projects.

Who knows? You might stumble upon something useful, whether it’s a guide, an idea, or even a solution to a problem you’ve been tackling. So feel free to browse through my latest posts here.

Looking for my portfolio? You can check it out here.