About
I’m John Allan. I live in Aberdeenshire, I’m happily married to Cheryl, and we have four children at home.
By day I’m a production coordinator. It isn’t a tech job, but it’s where all this started. When I moved into the role in October 2024, I was suddenly working on a PC every day again, mostly in Excel and an MRP system. I’m no expert, but it turned out I have a knack for it.
I’d always been comfortable with computers, but I never learnt to code and always thought it was beyond me. I now wish I’d been pushed to learn when I was younger. I’m sure I’d pick things up a lot quicker than I do now.
Shortly after starting the job, I bought a Raspberry Pi 5 as a cheap way to get a simple desktop computer at home (they’re not so cheap now). I’ve been tinkering ever since, teaching myself Linux, Python and SQL along the way.
What I run at home
I don’t specialise in one thing. I like trying a bit of everything. At the moment that includes:
- Home Assistant for the smart home side of things
- UniFi network gear
- Pi-hole for network-wide ad blocking
- Tailscale, so I can reach things at home when I’m out without exposing them to the internet
- a Raspberry Pi 5 with a touchscreen in the kitchen, running a Python app I built (with a lot of help from AI). It shows big app icons that open our Home Assistant dashboard and a couple of local web apps I run for Cheryl and the kids
- ESP32 microcontrollers for small hobby projects, like connecting sensors, and as a way to learn MQTT
- a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W running Uptime Kuma, which keeps an eye on everything else
What’s next
I’d like to build a homelab: somewhere to properly learn things like systems administration and Kubernetes, and maybe one day run an AI model locally.
Why this site
I bought this domain back in February with the idea of starting a website, then never got round to it. NetworkChuck, among others, kept saying everyone should have a website, so I finally took the leap.
I’m not doing this to look like someone who knows this stuff. It’s the opposite: I want to show that even if you don’t, you can still do it. If I can do it, you can too.
Get in touch
If I’ve got something wrong, you have a question about a post, or you’ve got an idea for something I should try, email me at [email protected]. Or just say hello.