Tips on starting my first home lab

Hello everyone. I just have a couple questions as I plan on starting my first project and want to make sure I'm on the right track.

I am 26 and currently a tech support specialist for OneMain Financial. I have an associates degree in CIS with a networking cert from Microsoft and an expired Comptia A+. My goal is to pursue a career into networking but the job market is rough.

I have been unhappy at my current job and want more for myself. I have been studying for my CCNA and hoping a homelab will teach me skills I can use to help land a networking role somewhere.

Question 1: Is ChatGPT reliable enough to help me set up services running in an enterprise network?

I paid $100 for a dell optiplex 5700 9th gen with 32gbs DDR4 that I plan to use to run proxmox. I have an 8 port managed switch connected to a netgear wifi extender as my router cannot be placed in my office. I have a pretty beefy tower that I will use to configure everything. I want to set up a windows server, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Ubuntu VM, Etc. Every step of the process I'd like to document in a GitHub portfolio.

Question 2: What else can I do to help me land a job in networking? I am very determined but without job experience I'm worried I will be overlooked. I plan to self teach everything included in a typical enterprise network.

Thank you for taking the time to read my first post in this subreddit. I am open to all feedback and appreciate your input.