Chris WiegmanI’ve long been a proponent of handling my hosting myself. Up until last year I had had at least 1 server running something for almost 20 years. I don’t miss it.
While I still like working with servers I don’t miss the rush to fix them when things go wrong. What used to be “fun” no longer is and I’m OK with that.
Even better than bare-bones hosting is managed hosting where the host takes care of the application itself and all I have to do, other than pay the bill, is use it.
I started my first reluctant step into managed hosting when I moved this site back to WordPress and, at the time due to proximity, my employer WP Engine, a managed WordPress host. What I thought would somehow dilute the WordPress experience turned out to be a godsend and, not long after moving to it I started my current streak of posting 3x per week. It was great to do that rather than messing with the site’s server for a a change.
After WordPress I went to a managed Mastodon host after hosting my own instance for a while. This past week I finally signed up for managed Pixelfed hosting. I don’t regret any of them.
I waited far too long to understand the benefits of managed hosting for my applications. I always assumed my ability to do it myself meant I should do it myself. That was the wrong approach. Today I can use those same skills for things I want to do and I couldn’t be happier for it.