Look at it from point of view of employer.
I'm an employer and looking to hire a coder, what am I looking for.
* Someone who knows how to code;
* How do I know if they can code if they don't have years of experience coding with references... a portfolio would convince me.
To get started how about running your own apache server with your own blog on to describe the projects you're working on.
Your first post could be how you setup an Apache Server on your Home Linux PC.
What is this the 90s? Considering how many better alternatives that are available on the cloud advising someone new to programming to set up their own server is a waste of time. That energy would be better spent learning something interesting. A better idea would be to write your own simple CMS for your blog. That would be a better exercise and a better demo of your development skills than setting up an Apache server which just shows that that you can follow a long series of tedious steps rather than actual coding.
