From 2022-2032 the average job market in the United States will see a growth rate of about 3% according to Forbes. The IT/Cybersecurity field is expected to grow at a rate of 32%. If you are thinking of changing your career to IT or want to build on your skills, I've created a hands-on step-by-step guide to help people break into IT without breaking the bank.

Why Build a Home Lab?

In my mid-twenties, I decided to make a big career change into IT, despite having absolutely no experience. Before, if my family had internet problems, I was as clueless as anyone else! I asked a coworker for advice on getting started, and he literally dropped a CCNA certification book on my desk and told me to "learn this."

After only about ten pages, I almost quit right then and there! The book was incredibly overwhelming. Concepts like Layer 2 switching, Spanning Tree Protocol, Multicasting, and VLANs made my head spin. It felt like learning a completely new language.

I had no frame of reference; I had no tangible way to apply any of the book knowledge and didn't see anything particularly interesting about networking. Along my long and painful journey of self-teaching myself IT, I found Windows Server Administration, VMware, Linux fundamentals, CompTIA Security Plus, as well as others.

I learned through building servers and clusters from the ground up using networking skills, server management skills, and security skills. By doing this, one could get a hands-on feel for why IT can be very interesting while also gaining confidence when applying to jobs. I could even add the experience to my resume.

There have been countless times I have used my experience building and testing IT solutions in my home lab in the real world. I'm only a mid-level system administrator with a handful of years' experience, but home labbing really helped me make connections in my brain from books to the real world, I hope this guide can help you too.

Part I. Build Your Home Lab

Part II. Choose Your Hardware

Part II. Choose Your Hypervisor

Part IV. Network Your Home Lab

Part V. Administer Your Home Lab

Part VI. Configure a Domain Controller and DNS Server

Part VII. Configure a Storage Appliance

Part VII. Fun Projects to Add to Your Home Lab

Part VIII. Secure Your Home Lab

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