It's got some great benefits, though: 1. Makes use of the skillset I already have (sysadmin managing servers), rather than requiring me to learn something new

It's got some great benefits, though: 1. Makes use of the skillset I already have (sysadmin managing servers), rather than requiring me to learn something new 2. Doesn't allow developers to build and iterate quickly without my permission / allowance 3. Allows me to be paid a salary and benefits that I will never factor into the costs when comparing to cloud infrastructure 4. Allows me to manage my own backups, deal with vendor finger-pointing, respond to and handle any hardware failures, amortize and replace hardware on some schedule, etc. 5. Allows me to pat myself on the back for ensuring the company theoretically avoids platform lock-in, which unsurprisingly results in more lowest-common-denominator architecture (servers needing managing, which of course, I'll manage), even if it greatly increases time to our minimum viable product