I've been working as an engineer for a few years, and one thing I've noticed is the lack of opportunities to practice dealing with real production issues without actually being on-call. That's why I created a series of labs where you're dropped into systems that are already broken. These issues are not presented in an obvious way; instead, they're messy and ambiguous, similar to what you encounter in real incidents. The goal here is to enhance problem-solving skills rather than just memorizing commands. I'm curious to know if anyone would find value in using something like this.
5 Answers
I love the concept! It reminds me of a project called sadservers.com. I think I'd have a blast using something like this. It sounds like a fun way to practice without the pressure of real production problems.
I think this could be super useful, especially for formal educational settings. People who are busy handling real incidents might not want the added stress, but there’s definitely a gap for those who want hands-on experience. Just remember, simulators tend to fail in predictable ways, which can be a downside. If you can make them unpredictable, that would be great for training.
Absolutely, this fills a real need! Most of the skills you pick up on the job come from dealing with situations that no regular lab can replicate. Just out of curiosity, how varied are the scenarios you're offering? Are they tied to specific infrastructures, or can they adapt to different tasks?
There used to be this program called Monkey Wrench that did something similar, but it was limited to a single host. It would randomly mess with your setup, forcing you to fix it. If you can expand on that idea into multi-service setups, I’d definitely give it a go if I had the time and resources.
Exactly! The messy and ambiguous scenarios are what most tutorials lack. If you can include partial failures and misleading clues, that would be incredibly beneficial for people trying to build their skills.

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