This looks wrong, why not just use something like a LSI 9200-8e and skip all the swapping.

It really depends on you, there are more resources than ever to help from text, YouTube videos and of course paid courses. Start small, see what you like, Tech is a marathon for most. Can a NET+ help fill in gaps, sure but so can trial and error on your own hone lab. If you are just going for knowledge and not to further a career just stick to the free stuff.

I'm confused why you say you can't find information on how to set up home lab projects. There are hours and hours of content on YouTube that also do sometimes point back to blogs and GitHub repos.

I will say that the problem I have is once they show you how to setup say a reverse proxy there's generally not follow through in either deep diving into all the additional settings or more advanced setups. If there is the other problem you'll run into is that it can become outdated quickly so it's a double edged sword. But setup and getting things running in a home lab there shouldn't be any shortage of info to consune.

This new wave of "buy a core i7 4th gen USFF PC instead of a Pi" is wild. It's really case by case of what you are doing but lots of people seem to push "proxmox and tons of VMs! or GTFO" on everyone.

Had similar experience to OP, added no authentication list, that fixed it, kind of. But it's not 100% at least for me, still never tracked down why that is.