I have techs I work with that keep wanting to climb the it ladder. I keep telling them to go deploy something at home. Build a network. Setup a separate DNS and DHCP server than your router.

If you work with Microsoft. It might still be good to spin up an AD domain just so you know what that’s like.

If someone walked in saying they did even those basic things, I think theyd be more experienced than most people that walk in the door.