Most SRE-aligned engineers will tell you they have a home lab. Depending on how grey the beard is, it may be an old blade they acquired when a company moved data centers, an intricate setup of Raspberry Pi 4s set up in a custom cooling rack, or like me and many others, it may just be an old gaming computer they no longer use but cannot bring themselves to get rid of....

It’s a system (sigh) built on getting people to buy things they can’t reasonably afford through the veil of “it’s only X a month.” Unnecessary consumer debt sets people up to fail by putting them on a treadmill of excess consumption they believe is under control. Sticker shock is a good thing. If you see the price tag of something and it has your head reeling, there’s probably a good reason you shouldn’t be buying it....