Running/managing my own server

[techlists at phpcoderusa.com]

Hi,

Thank you for all your insight and help getting my home server up and 
running!!

As you may or may not know I am a PHP developer.  Over the years I have 
had ample opportunity to work on LAMP servers.  I was exposed to a lot 
and I have a ton to learn.

I currently have a VPS in a data center and a full service PHP hosting 
server in my home office that runs Let's Encrypt/BIND/Postfix/Dovecot as 
well.  I got it to work and need to get back and figure out how it 
works.  I have more questions than answers.

This morning the thought popped into my mind that running my own 
production server might be possible.  I'm thinking I can ditch Plesk at 
some point and run on the bare metal (VPS).  I know I have a ton to 
learn.  The home server is great for learning.  I would never host a 
production website out of my home.

I bought 3 books - Bind/Postfix/Dovecot and have subscribed to those 
lists as well.

I'm thinking I may be able to learn enough in 6 months to manage a VPS 
w/o Plesk.  Then, maybe later I can run a hardware server.

I am talking about a virtual PHP host running Ubuntu LTS, LAMP, Let's 
Encrypt, BIND, Postfix, Dovecot, and possibly some webmail app.  Not 
sure of anything else I would need. Is there more?

We can throw in learning Apache SPF and NGINX.

1) First question is this a reasonable idea or am I crazy?

2) 2nd question is what skills would I need?

Thanks!!

Keith