Thomas Byern’s Field Notes is an independent publication about self-hosting, software engineering, privacy, and the operational details that matter once systems leave the whiteboard and start living in the real world.
I write for people who want practical, thoughtful material rather than recycled takes, shallow tutorials, or platform hype. Some pieces are about running your own infrastructure without turning it into a second unpaid job. Others are about maintainability, reliability, tooling, and the kind of engineering trade-offs that only become visible in production.
This is a place for notes from the field: what works, what breaks, what is worth the effort, and what usually is not.
What you’ll find here
Subscribers get writing focused on topics such as:
- self-hosting and homelab operations
- Linux, Docker, reverse proxies, backups, and restore habits
- privacy-conscious tooling and digital independence
- software engineering practices that improve reliability and reduce operational drag
- practical guides, deep dives, comparisons, and opinionated field notes
Some posts are free. Full access is available to paid subscribers.
Why subscribe
Subscribing gives you direct access to new posts by email, without depending on algorithms, feeds, or platform churn.
A paid subscription gives you full access to the archive and all subscriber-only content going forward. It also directly supports independent technical writing that takes time to research, test, and write properly.
If you choose the Founder tier, you support the publication at a higher level and help fund more of this work.
Who this is for
This publication is for:
- self-hosters who want systems that keep working
- engineers who care about maintainability, not just novelty
- people who value privacy, ownership, and operational clarity
- readers who prefer practical substance over inflated claims
A note from me
I’m Thomas Byern, a software engineer with a long-standing interest in self-hosting, operations, and building systems that remain understandable after the initial excitement wears off.
Thomas Byern’s Field Notes is where I publish the kind of material I would want to read myself: grounded, specific, and useful beyond the first skim.
If that sounds like your kind of thing, you’re in the right place.