I don't see anything "profoundly weird" about it (a bit specific, maybe, given the rest of the conversation). You're right, of course, about naive deployments.

I don't see anything "profoundly weird" about it (a bit specific, maybe, given the rest of the conversation). You're right, of course, about naive deployments. But it just isn't that hard to build reliable systems, assuming some experience. And if you're doing anything more interesting than pretty CRUD forms (say, atypical storage or bandwidth requirements), DYI becomes much cheaper, fast. To reiterate, yes, you need someone who knows what they're doing on the systems end. But you will anyway at some point, and making that hire earlier can pay for itself.