No fluff.
Just what works.

I'm a 30-year IT veteran. I've spent my career deep in infrastructure: AWS, networking, security, and every home tech problem a family of engineers can generate. I know what gear actually holds up under real load, what sounds good in spec sheets but falls apart in practice, and what the honest tradeoffs are.

NerdDad.net exists because my family kept asking me the same questions: What router should we get? Is this mesh system worth it? What NAS should I buy for our photos? I kept doing the same research over and over. Now I've built tools to answer those questions faster, and I share the ones I'm confident in.

This is a side project, not a job. I have a full career in IT and a family, which means I only write about gear I've actually thought hard about. No filler content, no reviews of products I haven't researched thoroughly, no recommendations I wouldn't make to a colleague.

// principles

• No accounts, no email capture, no paywalls. Ever.
• Product recommendations are based on real research and engineering judgment, not which affiliate program pays the most.
• Affiliate relationships are disclosed upfront and never influence tool results or rankings.
• I only recommend gear I would genuinely point a colleague toward. If something has a flaw that matters, I say so.
• The stack is Astro deployed to S3. No tracking scripts beyond GA4. No third-party data brokers.
• Amazon product data is periodically verified. If something is stale, reach out.

// affiliate disclosure

I earn affiliate commissions when you buy products through links on this site. The price you pay is identical whether you use my link or go directly to the retailer.

My current affiliate relationships are with Amazon Associates. Tools on this site calculate results based on your inputs, the math doesn't care about commissions.

If you have questions about how a recommendation was made, you can email me at admin@nerddad.net.