About

I’m Josh — an A Level student based in the UK, studying Maths, Computer Science, and Economics, and aiming for a degree apprenticeship in cyber security starting September 2027.

How I got here

I didn’t set out to learn Linux or networking. I just wanted to stop paying monthly for things I could run myself — photo backup, password management, media, that sort of thing. So I built a homelab, and the further I got into it, the more interesting the security and infrastructure side became. What started as “I want to host my own photos” turned into running a two-node Proxmox cluster with VLAN segmentation, a VPS reverse-proxying selected services back to home over a WireGuard tunnel, and a DNS setup I actually trust.

Somewhere along the way, the question stopped being “how do I make this work” and started being “how do I make this work safely” — which, it turns out, is basically the cyber security mindset. That’s when I knew where I wanted this to go.

What I’m into

• Homelab & self-hosting — Proxmox, LXC, Docker, Linux, networking, reverse proxies. If it can be self-hosted, I’ve probably at least thought about running it.
• Cyber security — the reason I’m applying for apprenticeships. Currently working my way through practical labs and reading around the basics.
• Cars and car audio — I enjoy the hands-on side of both.
• Photography — mostly a hobby, sometimes a reason to go somewhere new.
• Travelling — any excuse.

What I’m working on

This site, for a start. Beyond that, I’m slowly turning my homelab into something worth writing up properly — you can read project posts here as I get them written.

Get in touch

You can reach me at josh@jtforrest.com, or find me on GitHub and LinkedIn.