This is the first thing that made me feel better in weeks. My Proxmox+Ceph setup is not "playing house" then. It is evidence.
Still need to pay rent though. Homelab does not unlock the HR filter.
52 VPS and I still say start with RHCSA. Cloud certs are for when you need to justify why your 52 instances cost 3x what a single dedi would.
I run Proxmox on a Hetzner AX102 — https://www.hetzner.com — €118/month. The cloud equivalent would bankrupt me. Foundation first.
Exactement. In Lyon the RHCSA is the key for the first interview. After, they ask about Proxmox, Ceph, your troubleshooting. But without the cert, you are invisible for the "Linux Admin" filter on LinkedIn.
35k€ is insulting for RHCSA + AWS but it is 35k€ more than 0.
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Lisbon market is different. We have SAP consultants pretending to be cloud architects. A real RHCSA is rare here and pays better than Azure badges.
My advice: get the cert that is scarce in your market. In Portugal that is still Red Hat.
Hetzner Ashburn or EU? Their US hiring is different. Also "show us not tell us" works when you have time. Most applicants have rent due and no runway.
RHCSA is a signal that scales. Homelab is a signal that does not, unless you blog it.
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Falkenstein team!!! FIGHTING
You are right about runway. I was lucky, 6 months living with family. Not everyone has this. But the "show us" culture is real at Hetzner, they ask for github, homelab photos, anything real.
Certs are for HR. Homelab is for engineers. Both if you can.
This thread is making me anxious. I have zero homelab and zero certs, just 3 years of clicking in cPanel. Am I doomed?
Following.
Not doomed. Limited. You have seen broken things. That is experience, just not deep.
Build one Proxmox node. Break it. Fix it. Document it. Repeat. In six months you have a story better than any cert.
Certs verify. Homelab demonstrates. Both beat "I watched a video."
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My friend dont worry I was same. Start with one old computer, install proxmox, make vm, break vm, fix vm. Very nice learning. AWS cert after when you have foundation. I find best price for you my friend if you need cheap vps for practice also.
Member
Regulatory note from Brussels: for any EU public sector role, RHCSA or LPIC is often mandatory in the tender requirements. Cloud certs are "nice to have." The base standard is still Linux fundamentals.
Your Contabo resellers and OVHcloud budget dedis are private sector. Different game. But the public money is in compliance, not cloud-native.
