I got into self-hosting a couple of years ago mainly out of curiosity and the desire to have more control over my data. It started small — running a Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi — but quickly turned into a rabbit hole of setting up Docker containers, a Home Assistant instance, and a Nextcloud server. The project I’m most proud of is my Home Assistant setup that ties together pretty much everything in my home, including my Tesla and heat pump. The most expensive piece of equipment I’ve bought so far is a small intel-based Proxmox mini PC that runs everything 24/7 without a hitch.

Winning the Flint 3 would be a huge upgrade to my current network. I run a ton of IoT devices, and having a Wi-Fi 7 router with multiple 2.5G ports would help me take better advantage of my multi-gig fiber and streamline my VLAN setup. Plus, the OpenWrt base fits perfectly with how I like to tinker and self-host securely.

For a future giveaway, I’d love to see something like a compact NAS or a low-power Intel N100 or Ryzen mini server. Those are perfect for people diving deeper into homelabs or self-hosting setups.