this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
199 points (99.5% liked)
Selfhosted
60210 readers
780 users here now
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
Rules:
-
Be civil.
-
No spam.
-
Posts are to be related to self-hosting.
-
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.
-
Submission headline should match the article title.
-
No trolling.
-
Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details.
Resources:
- selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
- awesome-selfhosted software
- awesome-sysadmin resources
- Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting
Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.
Questions? DM the mods!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm a mechanic.
This is both my reason and explanation lol.
I do my own work has been said to be taken a bit too literally in my case. I got ripped off by Geek Squad when I was 18 and said "wow, it's just like getting ripped off at a shitty mechanic shop" and ever since then it's been all hands-on.
I sat on that fence but being a mechanic gives me guaranteed work and I basically work-out every day. It's hard, but not brutal and the pay is decent. Surrounded by maga tho.
I’m a web developer and whenever I pay my (awesome) mechanic I always sometimes wonder what it’s like on the “other side.”My dad was a mechanic when I was a child and I always regret never picking up those skills.
A lot of times when they run me through their problem-solving I’m like “damn, that’s just like reproducing a bug to find its root cause.”
Never too late
Yes, but also factor in information in the mechanic space has no FOSS comparison. Some companies put out their official service manuals after a period of time but most charge your company out the ass to let you view everything in some proprietary walled garden. Troubleshooting a mechanical fault can be very similar to troubleshooting code or software, and sometimes it literally is a vehicle's software, and out comes a laptop.
"What field am I in, again?"
https://charm.li/ at least there's a piracy comparison. Closest thing to FOSS are the (sometimes quite good) walkthroughs of different projects you find on owners forums. I don't know shit about nothin, but built myself both a decent car and server from other people's junk
I quit IT work to be a mechanic. It's exactly the same problem-solving process, but the problems are almost always way less arcane. I'm very happy with the switch.
If you wanted to make the switch yourself, the skill sets are very interchangeable. You're just debugging an alternator instead of an Active Directory setup. If you have a willingness to learn you'll be up to speed in under a year.
I'm also a mechanic, I self host for basically the same reasons and I just don't like the idea of big tech spying on me . Definitely a lot of MAGA, it's fucking annoying hahaha.
I guess that allure of rugged individualism attracts a lot of MAGA types to trades and small businesses. It's been the opposite in education on the teachers' side, but definitely adversarial with MAGA on the students' and parents' side. I used to teach current events, but I haven't been able to do that for the last 10 years. Kids would find their way into your personal accounts, too, so I switched to federated platforms instead.