So I’m trying freevps.edu.pl to run a Lemmy/PieFed server. It’s not working so far. My server is left on pending and no matter how I try to activate it, it doesn’t work. It claims to have “instant” activation as long as you verify your account and is supposed to provide you with an IP address, but it won’t.
I would not use that for job experience. I would review what local job listings are looking for in experience, and practice those things.
You can run a local server on just about anything. An old PC or laptop, a VM on your current PC, even a raspberry pi or similar SBC. Even a recent Android phone, though I would really not recommend that, as it’s not the same experience.