That Bearded IT Guy.
I’m Liam.
I work in IT, I like figuring out how things work, and I have a habit of starting projects just to see if I can make them work.
That Bearded IT Guy started as a simple idea: somewhere to put all of that stuff - the things I learn, the things I build, the problems I run into, the things I find interesting, and probably a few things that seemed like a good idea at the time.
It’s grown into a place where I can document the practical side of IT and the things I’m learning along the way.
How I think about IT
I’ve always been more interested in understanding something than just making it work.
If something breaks, the first question isn’t always “how do I fix it?” Sometimes it’s why did it break? And if it keeps happening, why are we still seeing it?
That doesn’t mean everything needs a complicated solution - quite the opposite. Sometimes the best answer is a really simple one. But I like understanding what’s happening before changing things, keeping a record of what I’ve done, and looking at whether there’s a better way of doing it next time.
That’s probably why I find things like troubleshooting, documentation, process improvement and service management interesting.
Why TBITG exists
There’s a lot of technical information out there. Some of it is brilliant. Some of it assumes you already know half the terminology.
What I want TBITG to be is a bit different - a place where I can share things from my own experience and projects in a way that makes sense. If I’ve solved a problem, I’ll write about it. If I’ve built something, I’ll show how I built it. If I’ve learned something useful, I’ll share it. And if I get something completely wrong, there’s a good chance I’ll write about that too.
The point isn’t to have all the answers. It’s to keep learning and share what I find along the way.
Built, broken, fixed.
That’s basically how I learn. I like getting hands-on with things, which is one of the reasons I have a homelab - a place to experiment, test ideas, build things and occasionally discover that the thing I changed five minutes ago has broken something else.
It’s also a good place to try things I don’t necessarily get to work with every day: Proxmox, Docker, Linux, Raspberry Pi, self-hosted services, scripting, networking, and whatever else I happen to be interested in at the time.
Some projects are useful. Some are just experiments. Either way, I usually learn something.
Outside the screen
I’m not always thinking about IT. I spend plenty of time outdoors, especially paddleboarding, getting out with the dogs and generally finding reasons to put the laptop down for a while.
I think that’s important. Technology is a big part of what I do, but it doesn’t have to be everything.
What you’ll find here
Field Notes
Things I’ve learned, noticed or found interesting.
Projects
Things I’m building, testing and experimenting with.
Experience
A look at the work and experience behind what I do.
One last thing
I’m still learning. There are plenty of things I know reasonably well, plenty of things I’m still getting better at, and plenty of things I haven’t learned yet. I’m quite happy with that - IT changes too quickly to ever really be finished learning anyway.
So that’s what TBITG is about.
Build something. Break something. Figure out why. Fix it. Learn something.
Then probably do it all again.
Get in touch
If you want to follow along, the best place to find me is LinkedIn.