Hello from a Network Engineer turned Homelab Enthusiast!

[Network_Nomad]

## Hello Midnight Grid!

**Name:** Alex (but everyone calls me Nomad)
**Location:** Salt Lake City, Utah
**Background:** Network engineer for 15 years, homelab enthusiast for 8
**Current Time:** 1:30 AM (typical for me!)

### My Technical Background
- **Day Job:** Senior Network Architect for a regional ISP
- **Certifications:** CCIE #62485, JNCIE-SP, AWS Solutions Architect
- **Specialties:** BGP, MPLS, SD-WAN, network automation

### Current Homelab Setup
```
Rack: 42U Startech Cabinet

Compute:
- 3x Dell R730xd (384GB RAM each)
- 2x Supermicro 2U (256GB RAM each)
- Raspberry Pi cluster (8x Pi 4)

Network:
- Cisco Catalyst 9300 (core)
- Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro SE
- MikroTik CRS326 (10GbE switching)
- Custom OPNsense router

Storage:
- Synology RS2416+ (96TB raw)
- TrueNAS Mini (32TB SSD cache)
- Tape backup (LTO-8)

Power:
- Dual UPS (3000VA each)
- 30A dedicated circuit
- Whole-home surge protection
```

### Projects I'm Working On
1. **Kubernetes Homelab Migration** - Moving from Proxmox to k8s
2. **Network Automation** - Ansible/Terraform for config management
3. **Self-Hosted Everything** - Replacing all cloud services
4. **IPv6 Deployment** - Full dual-stack implementation

### Why I Joined Midnight Grid
1. **Community Focus** - Saw the quality of discussions here
2. **Technical Depth** - Not just surface-level answers
3. **24/7 Nature** - As a night owl, I need a community that's alive when I am
4. **Project Documentation** - Love the project log format

### How I Can Help
- **Networking questions** (enterprise or home)
- **Homelab design** and optimization
- **Automation scripts** (Python, Ansible, Terraform)
- **Hardware recommendations** for server builds

### Where I Need Help
- **Kubernetes storage** - still figuring out Longhorn vs Rook
- **Home automation** - just starting with Home Assistant
- **3D printing** - considering getting a printer for rack parts

Looking forward to contributing and learning from everyone!