Help me design my homelab: TrueNAS Apps vs Proxmox for DevOps/SWE learning environment

[dusk wind]

Hi everyone! I'm building out my homelab for Software Development and DevOps learning and could use some architectural advice.

My current setup:

Proxmox 9.x as the hypervisor

TrueNAS Scale 25.10.1 VM with HDD passthrough

Using TrueNAS Apps for easy application deployment (k3s under the hood)

The convenience factor: TrueNAS Apps make deploying services like Prometheus, Postgres, Forgejo, Nextcloud, Syncthing, Immich, Draw.io, Nginx Proxy Manager, and Jenkins incredibly easy with one-click installs.

The dilemma:
I initially planned to use TrueNAS purely for file storage (ZFS, SMB/NFS shares, backups), but the Apps system is so convenient that I'm now running everything there. However, my primary goal with Proxmox is to learn Software Development, DevOps practices, multi-system management, clustering, and infrastructure-as-code.

My question for the community:
If you were building a learning environment focused on SWE/DevOps skills:

Should I keep using TrueNAS Apps for everything because of the convenience?

Or should I separate concerns and use Proxmox (LXC/VM/Docker/k8s) for the DevOps tooling?

Most importantly: Which apps would you keep in TrueNAS vs. migrate to Proxmox, and why?

What I'm optimizing for:

Learning real-world DevOps practices

Understanding container orchestration

Building CI/CD pipelines

Maintaining a system that's both practical for daily use and educational

I'd love to hear how you'd architect this, especially from those who've faced similar decisions!

My Current Proxmox Setup

Hardware

Host: AOOSTAR WTR MAX with AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS

RAM: 96GB DDR5

Storage Configuration:

NVMe 2TB: Proxmox OS + VM/LXC system disks

3x 4TB HDDs via passthrough: TrueNAS ZFS pool RAID-Z1

[compact valley]

if you want a devops learning env, i wouldnt use truenas - its all obfuscated away behind an appliance and you wont learn anything.

as you said, its a convenience trade off. so do you want convenience or do you want to learn actual devopsy stuff? thats the real question

[dusk wind]

I want to learn real DevOps, but here's my dilemma with tools like Jenkins, Prometheus, Grafana, Portainer and Forgejo:

Yes, TrueNAS hides the infrastructure - I get that. But for these particular tools, the real learning seems to be in configuration and operation, not installation.

Example:

TrueNAS installs Jenkins in 5 minutes

Then I spend 50 hours learning: Pipelines as Code, JCasC, CI/CD workflows

Versus: Spending 3 hours installing manually, then 47 hours on configuration

My actual question:
Should I optimize my learning time for installation skills or configuration/usage skills?

The TrueNAS convenience gives me more time for actual tool mastery, but I don't want to miss fundamental infra knowledge either. Where's the smart balance for DevOps learning?

[compact valley]

i can only speak from experience, but im responsible for hiring devops engineers and if one told me they could use app X but not install it, it would not be a good sign.

i also think your missing out on more than just "install", like networking, storage, etc

ultimately, its your call

[dusk wind]

Thanks. I get it now. Setting everything up manually makes sense

[mortal tree]

I have a similar setup to OP, I even have the WTR MAX, but in my case I started with Proxmox as the base hypervisor and the created TrueNAS as a VM, that way you can limit the resources to TN and use the other resources for additional VM's/CT's, networking etc.

[dusk wind]

I have the same setup, but I was asking about a system that will serve as a homelab for learning and DevOps. I'm currently working on a SaaS framework and need to handle everything myself, especially managing everything from the ground up, meaning CI/CD. That's why I asked—I wanted to make sure what would be better: learning the basics and building everything from scratch, or using TrueNAS/Apps for quick installation and learning how to connect everything together.