In 2012, I created a geek community.
I wanted to host it myself on Linux servers. Because everyone knows that a server worthy of the name is necessarily Linux!
Without realising it, I was entering my true vocation: sysadmin 🌱
📷 Photo by Manon Laterza - 2012 - I manage my servers, my friends play pétanque next door. 😂
The beginning
In 2012, we needed: a website (initially a forum), a voice server and game servers.
I've been passionate about computing for 10 years, and I was the only one of the 25 people behind the project who dared to stick his neck out for the technical side, becoming the community's de facto main system administrator.
So you had to learn a lot all at once, from scratch:
- choose a dedicated server provider (at the time: online.net / Dedibox)
- install and manage a Linux server (ESXI + Debian) via a headless terminal (SSH)
- manage multiple IPs (failover)
- choosing a registrar to register and manage a domain name
- manage a DNS zone
- manage a firewall
- install a web server (LAMP)
- create MySQL databases by hand, install and use phpMyAdmin
- manage system and CMS configuration files
- manage rights and permissions on a phpBB forum
- And I'm sure there are more
In this discovery, my curiosity was insatiable. 😋
I worked day and night until everything worked! It took me 5 to 7 days 🌛
I learnt a lot more in that short time than I did in a year at IT university (which I stopped to set up my own business in 2010 because I was bored with the courses, which I found irrelevant).
And that was just the beginning...
In the end I had a VM (virtual machine) for the web server, a VM for the voice server, and a VM for the game servers. I could have grouped the last two together, but I was learning and I thought at the start that it was better to keep everything as separate as possible, which in the end isn't a bad thing when you're starting out.
For years I've been exploring the many facets of servers. Including BASH programming, becoming second contributor from LinuxGSM by getting deeply involved in the open-source project.
Discovering WordPress
In 2014 I mainly discovered WordPress! 😍
I didn't know it, but WordPress was to become a central part of my professional life.
I first transitioned the community site from a phpBB forum to a WordPress site.
After discovering this brilliant CMS, I wanted to create my own LRob website in the same breath, still in 2014. I started hosting and making sites for friends. Without even realising that, in fact, it was a real job as a sysadmin, webmaster and web host.
Accelerating
In 2016, I gave a huge boost to web server management.
After increasingly clean server migrations, the creation of my own tools and processes, the manual installation of SSL/TLS certificates (for HTTPS) and a fair amount of time managing WordPress, I've tackled the missing link!
I set about building my first email servers by hand, respecting all possible standards (rDNS, HELO, SPF, DKIM, DMARC). And discovering deliverability issues with Microsoft, which are difficult the first time you deploy a server.
I've even created a series of tutorials on Linux servers, The one I would have dreamed of having when I started out.
This is a great help for aspiring Linux and Web system administrators.
2017: from enthusiast to professional
Until 2017, let's face it: my professional situation was chaotic.
Very rewarding, but chaotic.
I oscillated between working as a sound engineer, freelance IT troubleshooting, video shooting and editing, telecommuting support (I was ahead of my time 😎 ) and temping’ to fill in the gaps. But at 27, I had my student loan to pay off and I wanted to improve my standard of living, so I needed to stabilise my income.
I said to myself that I was beginning to have IT skills that could be put to good use in a company... There must be a company that we can help each other with!
And then, I think I had the stroke of luck of my life.
As soon as I started looking for a job, I discovered a web host in Orléans: HaiSoft.
What a bargain! 🤩
He's the only one I sent my CV to. The only one I interviewed with. And it was, I think, mutual professional love at first sight.
They recognised in me the passionate self-taught person that I was. They invited me to join the team.
This marked the start of a brilliant adventure lasting almost 6 years. 🤝
During these years, I have become more professional while contributing my fresh ideas and energies to perfect every aspect of the services. 👌
HaiSoft set the bar very high, but nothing is ever perfect. 🏋️♂️
In an exemplary synergy, we have resolved recurring problems, improved documentation, boosted performance, security and updates. We enriched the offering and improved communication. I even got to manage the server racks! 🎯
HaiSoft is a superb IT business model, the best in my opinion. 🤩
Everyone's voice is heard, and the hierarchy is friendly, transparent and accessible.
Anyone can suggest and implement improvements.
Employee involvement and commitment become natural.
It's thanks to this openness that, at the time, as the most fervent WordPress user, I naturally became the WordPress support referent. I was able to push forward specific services for WordPress and train the whole team in these tasks.
The humans behind it are awesome! 🤗
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the team, who are still dear to me today:
- Frédéric, for being an exceptionally upright and concerned boss
- Damien, for your always relevant overview
- Benoît, for being an eternal mentor, with your curiosity, rigour and consistent uprightness
- Dylan, for further improving the ideal of customer relations
- Arthur, listening and responding to development challenges
- Jérôme, for the discovery of another world and the good discussions
Thanks for everything! 💖
👉 HaiSoft continues to shine with its quality thanks to all this little world, and the new ones. Every time I hear from them, I learn of the introduction of’developments and ingenious solutions.
So if my WordPress expertise isn't of use to you : go to them !
You can thank us later 😉
🌐 Web agency
As the years went by, I still wanted to evolve and re-enter the business.
I started making more websites, first for friends, then for professionals... Offering WordPress webmastering.
At the end of 2022, I took a calculated risk: leaving HaiSoft to join a web agency and overhaul their hosting estate. 🪛
You know what you lose, but never what you gain. So I prepared for my future as an independent.
In the short transition between the two jobs, at lightning speed, I deployed my own web hosting infrastructure. ⚡
Then, in the space of a few months, I renovated the servers at the agency that hired me: improving performance, security, backups, simplifying management, while drastically reducing server costs. 🔒
⏩ Freelance Turnaround
At the beginning of 2023, a big surprise: my new bosses are retiring!
The web agency where I was implementing my long-term plans was sold.
At first, I was enthusiastic about this change, it opened up some fabulous doors.
Except... The new hierarchy blocked all the budgets for the planned developments. I thought it was temporary, but when I spoke to the management directly, I realised that it wasn't going to work. 😅
The team felt abandoned and wronged. Some were talking about leaving. The atmosphere was extremely negative and heavy. I could no longer do my job properly and certain emergencies could not be dealt with. While I'd previously been proud of the work I'd done and was on the way to doing it, now I just didn't want to put my name to the disaster I could see unfolding before us.
My time deserved better! ⌚
At the same time, my freelance business was starting to take off, even though I was doing nothing more than talking about it a little. Throwing myself wholeheartedly into this task was bound to work!
So I took the plunge:
- Resigning first (others followed)
- Go 100% freelance! 🚀
Probably the best decision of my life!
Not only am I able to make a comfortable living from it, but I get a sense of satisfaction that I would never have dared to imagine!
I've got the hosting infrastructure of my dreams: the most beautiful, reliable and secure.
Above all, I'm delighted to work with some exceptional clients every day. 💘
👉 To succeed with WordPress discover my WordPress hosting !
PS: Thank you Enzo Deniau for inspiring this post with your questions.
Article updated since my LinkedIn post.
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