About this site

North Engineer is an independent publication focused on helping you reclaim ownership of your technology and digital life. We believe technology should be accessible, affordable, durable, and serve people—not the other way around.

For too long, we've been presented with a false choice: accept proprietary platforms, subscription models, and walled gardens, or go without. This site exists to show there's a better path. Through technical guidance, honest reviews, and transparent documentation of our work, we demonstrate that you can own your infrastructure, control your data, and build systems aligned with your values—without requiring a computer science degree or an unlimited budget.

What We Do

We share practical, affordable solutions to technology problems. This means reviewing hardware and software, documenting setup processes, discussing the real costs (financial and otherwise) of different approaches, and being honest about what works and what doesn't. We write about ownership and control—not as abstract concepts, but as practical outcomes of the choices we make in what tools we use and how we deploy them.

We believe in decentralization, privacy, and self-determination. We talk about the ethical implications of our technical decisions and what it means to operate with integrity in an industry built on extracting value from users. Sometimes that means acknowledging where we've failed or chosen convenience over principles. Sometimes it means celebrating small victories—a successfully self-hosted service, a piece of hardware that lasts, a decision that reclaimed your autonomy.

We procure hardware from various vendors, share the costs, document the failures and successes, and provide the kind of detailed information that actually helps someone decide if a solution is right for them. No affiliate links hiding our true opinions. No subscriptions required to access our core content. No algorithms deciding what you see.

The Philosophy

Technology ownership isn't a luxury—it's a prerequisite for freedom. The world has been shaped around subscription models and walled gardens precisely because it's profitable for corporations, not because it's inevitable. It's easy to feel trapped by these systems because they're embedded everywhere. But they're not immutable. Every time you choose a self-hosted solution, run your own server, or use open-source software, you're opting out of that game.

This site exists to make that choice easier.

About the Author

North Engineer is a 20-year infrastructure engineer with deep experience in government technology, cybersecurity, and building systems that actually work. This is a solo-authored publication reflecting one person's experience, opinions, and technical perspective. My background spans data center construction, network infrastructure, and helping organizations navigate technology decisions that matter.

I operate under the name "North Engineer" rather than my legal name—maintaining a professional boundary between my personal identity and my public technical work. You can find me on Bluesky at @north.engineer or reach out via email at the@north.engineer.

What You Should Know

This is a sole-author publication. That means the perspective here is informed by my experience, but it's not comprehensive. I make mistakes. I have blind spots. I'm learning just like everyone else. When I get something wrong, I try to acknowledge it.

All interactions with this site and its content are subject to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. We don't track you with analytics, sell your data, or create detailed profiles of your behavior. You should read those policies—they're written in plain language.

If you subscribe, your support allows this site to exist and for me to invest time in thorough documentation, testing, and writing. If you can't or don't want to subscribe, the vast majority of the content here is available for free. This site is not a business trying to extract maximum value from its audience. It's an attempt to contribute something useful to a community of people trying to take back their technology.

Let's Go

If this resonates with you, start exploring. Read about technologies we've deployed. Understand the costs and trade-offs. Think about what you actually want from your infrastructure. Then build it.

You're not locked in. You have choices. They might take effort, but they're available to you.