= Advantages of Tailored In-House Solutions: Training & Knowledge Growth

== Deep Internal Skill Development

'''Why it matters:''' When teams build and maintain infrastructure in-house, they learn how systems actually work — not just how to operate a vendor interface.

'''Effect''': Engineers develop expertise in foundational areas (OS internals, package management, security policy design), which leads to:

* Better debugging capabilities

* More informed decision-making

* Reduced reliance on external support

== Long-Term Organizational Memory

'''Why it matters:''' Skills developed in-house are retained and shared over time.

'''Effect:''' Your organization becomes institutionally smarter:

* Team members train each other

* Documentation and tooling become internal assets

* Risk of “vendor brain drain” (loss of knowledge when a contract ends) is avoided

== Training That Matches Reality

'''Why it matters:''' Training based on your own systems is always more effective than generic vendor certifications.

'''Effect:'''

* You train your team on tools they actually use

* The training environment matches production

* Less time is spent learning features or workflows irrelevant to your use case

== Tooling as Knowledge Capital

'''Why it matters:''' Every script, service, and config file you build reinforces your team’s understanding and becomes reusable knowledge.

'''Effect:''' You accumulate reusable code, templates, and practices that:
	
* Speed up onboarding

* Enable more rapid iteration

* Are fully aligned with your values (security, transparency, minimalism, etc.)

== Empowerment and Retention

'''Why it matters:''' Developers and sysadmins are more motivated when working on systems they understand and shape.

'''Effect:'''

* Higher job satisfaction and team cohesion

* Increased employee retention

* A culture of craftsmanship, not just operations

== Security Through Understanding

'''Why it matters:''' Security doesn’t just come from hardening checklists — it comes from understanding the system deeply.

'''Effect:'''

* Your team can spot misconfigurations or anomalies faster

* You can build context-aware mitigations that generic vendors don’t anticipate

* You’re better equipped to perform meaningful audits and threat modeling

= In Contrast: External / Vendor-Driven Solutions

|| '''Factor''' || '''Result''' ||
|| Training ||Generic, often product-specific; doesn’t map 1:1 to your environment ||
|| Skill retention || High risk of dependency on vendor or contractor ||
|| Customization || Limited by vendor constraints and support models ||
|| Internal innovation || Stifled — changes must be routed through vendor processes ||
|| Understanding || Surface-level; often relies on “black-box” behavior ||
|| Knowledge ownership || Externalized; knowledge often leaves with contracts or subscriptions ||