I'm new to networking and self-hosting and have no idea where to start.
I've been slowly working my way though a list of skills to learn, both to put on my resume and as personal growth. Networking is the next thing on this list. I am not sure what I am looking for, but I want to start another project. I have built many a personal computer, but the world of networking is a pretty foreign concept to me.
I have experience with building computers and a minor glance at the network-side of things. I've set up a Pi-Hole or two and set a basic CUPS server up on a RPi0w, but beyond that, I have no idea what I'm doing, or even what the possibilities are. I just see posts like this and think that it's a pretty cool hardware project.
Is there any resources you recommend to start learning, maybe what the hardware does? From my outsider's perspective, I see a lot of people's racks have at least a router, switch, and firewall, along with various other machines.
E: thank you all for the suggestions! I'll have to take some time to figure out what to do first
Cisco do free networking courses which teach the fundamentals. The one I did was more theoretical than practical but it really helped me think of what Im really trying to achieve and learning the terminology was really helpful, especially later when trying to troubleshoot and finding help online that was a struggle before the course.
There are assessments as you progress and a certificate at the end.
They also have virtual software you can play around with for different potential configurations. Thats much cheaper than buying lots of hardware!