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Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

gavinray97.github.io

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Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#391

Post by red-iron-pine »

Tade0 wrote: post #310
mapassthebeans wrote: post #148

Had similarly unorthodox path to tech, albeit without the drug addiction or prison. 90s early internet/BBS punk rocker/computer nerd. Hated school angry. Dropped out to work as a bike messenger for 5 years before packing a bag and moving west randomly. Couldn't sit still. Rode freight trains around the country for a few months. Washed dishes and landscaped to cover my cheap rent till that fell thru. Discovered shop l…

You are what I've started to call "34yo Patrice". 34yo Patrice has a stable job, a fiancé and broadly speaking has his life in order. Nobody in his circle knows he dropped out of high school, got in the wrong crowd and, inevitably, did time. This archetype is a mix of several people I've met and I usually mention it when a younger person says this and that thing (e.g. dropping out of college) is the end of the world…

used to work with a dude -- who is probably on / posts here -- who copped serious felony charges for growing and distributing mary jane. some time in the slammer, but nothing crazy.

couple decades later lives in the burbs, wife, kids, regular coding job, etc.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#392

Post by ProllyInfamous »

card_zero wrote: post #109
cj wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ride maybe 6 with your eyes closed That’s like telling a skydiver to go ride the Drop Tower (or whatever the ride is that drops you straight down). Not only is the experience different, but you aren’t in control. You aren’t controlling what’s happening. For me a big part of the enjoyment comes from being in control of the bike. Personally I would get zero enjoyment riding as a passenger on a bike. The thrill comes…

So an important invention that would save lives is a combined bumper cars + rollercoaster. Like the Witching Waves but faster.

I haven't ridden in two decades, but I think a high-powered jetski is close to your description.

Either stand-up (small one-rider) or a 3-seater; each has its perks.

You can waterski behind a larger HP machine, and it's always nice to have a fellow beloved rider saddling-up alongside your antic't britches – whatever the hell that means, to you.

Or go be stupid and jumpwake on a crotchrocket standup jetski #LifeIsShort #CrippleLife #DontGetRunOver

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#393

Post by red-iron-pine »

emmelaich wrote: post #288
SpecStudioHN wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i’ve been through all of this, and it turned out fine. seriously people don’t hold a drug bust against you, if you can do the job. i’ve lived on the road, camped in Golden Gate Park, attended several Rainbow Gatherings, etc. after spending years in India as a monk, i couldn’t find a place in american society. i bootstrapped a new identity that let me live as a teacher and developer; but i had to move to Śrī Laṅkā to…

True, you can even get a government security clearance. They hold financial debts, gambling history, and dubious associations against you much more. *Providing the drug use was short lived.

drug use will definitely be a problem, esp. if it was within the last couple of years.

you're ~35 and admit to smoking a buncha weed and maybe some other stuff in your college frat 10+ years ago? not much of a discussion topic, esp. if you've had a steady job, house, family, etc. since then. doesn't have to be short, you could have been called Mikey Pipes for all 4 years of school... just that it was a phase, and it's been long gone.

smoke weed and pop some lsd 1.5 year ago? that could be a problem, esp. if you're still living the same life essentially as then.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#394

Post by ProllyInfamous »

tom86150 wrote: post #237
klibertp wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably depends on the locale. In Europe, riding a moped in a big city is a way to drastically cut your commute compared to driving a car. It's not exactly dangerous when all the other road users are moving at 5m/min, and being able to just skip all the traffic jams is a godsend. By car, my trip to the office was about 45min - it was 15min on a moped, a stop at a shop for some snacks included. And that's with riding…

I am going to get to work with my classic Vespa scooter. Its cheaper than a car and i live only 7 kms away from my workplace. Riding bus and tram is time consuming and expensive. Its fun to ride a classic scooter and it never failed so far because i use it everyday. My classic runs up to 70km/h and people think its a slow, modern scooter so they dont really pay attention to me.

>Riding bus is time consuming and expensive.

I've always thought it made more sense that instead of large metrobuses the local transit authority operate more like a locals-only taxiservice – similar to their already-existant handicapped-access services (which send a solitary transport driver, with ramped single-occupant van/vehicle).

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#395

Post by ProllyInfamous »

komali2 wrote: post #211
newaccountman2 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fairly large % of those people--I would wager most, personally--would probably rather have cars, but can't afford to.

And thank God for it. If every scooter rider in Taipei had a car, the city traffic would move a meter a day. It's also about convenience, btw, not just cost. It's basically impossible to park a car here. Scooters are also difficult but at least possible. A huge chunk of people here just take public transit now, as it should be.

Part of the reason for "US culture" (specifically: not walking mostly) is that zoning laws largely prevent over/under residential/storefront construction.

This makes everything so far apart as to make walking inconvenient. Add in unbearable weather for half of most years (whether hot/cold), and it just isn't convenient to grab something "on a quick walk" from the grocery store that is miles away from most homes.

Thankfully (some) cities are beginning to realize this, and are changing (IMHO: stupid) zoning/regulations. My favorite example has been of my own hometown's (Austin) reduction in required parking spaces for most commercial activities. This increases density, and encourages more walking. ATX's buslane-onlies leave a lot to be desired... but at least they've gotten rid of (most) downtown oneways.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#396

Post by diamondap »

embedding-shape wrote: post #387
nunez wrote: post #379

> Working at Techtonic was the best possible early-career experience I think anyone could have had. They did contract development, a lot of which was greenfield Saas MVP launches, across various tech stacks. There was not a lot of time for mentorship so it a very "trial-by-fire" experience -- either figure things out and ship stuff, or get the boot. I *always* tell older people looking to switch into tech to start at…

On the other hand, people with that sort of experience tend to have the worst instincts when it comes to actual maintenance and long-term development of projects. They're great at starting projects, and fast too, but rarely considers the design carefully enough so you don't need a full rewrite once every year just to continue being able to add features. Slow is fast in those cases, and the people who are experts in "…

Ha! I started my career in a company where I had to pump out custom web apps as fast as humanly possible. The apps were successful, and then I had to maintain them for several years. That's where the real learning occurred. I learned the cost of every one of my shortcuts and poor design decisions the hard way.

Many years ago, some famous developer said, "Always write your code as if the person who's going to maintain it is a violent psychopath who knows where you live." As I fixed my poor design choices one by one over endless late nights, I sometimes felt the anger of a violent psychopath toward the former, ignorant me who had stupidly plagued current me with all these problems.

When you learn the hard way, you know exactly why good design decisions are considered good. In later jobs, one of my fundamental goals for every new project was "I never want me or anyone else to have to answer a 3 a.m. call about why this system isn't working."

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#397

Post by ProllyInfamous »

globular-toast wrote: post #281
qmr wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever been on a motorcycle? Closest feeling you can get to flying and a helluva lot cheaper. Bike costs are line noise, (cheap!) planes I fly are better part of $200 an hour. I get what you're saying though. Barely been on bike since latest baby and wondering if I should just sell them for now. As much as I miss riding and wife misses riding with me, if the worst were to happen, yikes.

Yeah, I think this is the point. It's a "legal high" of sorts and a dangerous one. That flying feeling is addictive. Some are lucky enough to grow out of it, some aren't.

Family owns acreage less than a mile from the recent Wimberley smallplane crash. As far as "statistical anomolies" are concered [+neighbors motorcycle accident] I'm not presently up for much risk-taking rn.

They could have just-as-easily landed on the barn I built, a decade ago – years of work.

Pilot's stupidity (flying in such known weather conditions, inexperienced) could have killed more than just he & his pickleball passengers.

----

The part where I start getting upset is when others' lives are put into risk (particularly when: no fault of their own, bystanders).

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#398

Post by smithoc »

zuzululu wrote: post #249
smithoc wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you've used AI to do fraud and you're confused why people are opposed to this? You're the reason companies are pushing return to office and putting candidates through gauntlets of interviews and homework - because otherwise they end up hiring someone who lied on their resume and is trying to collect 3 salaries until they get caught and fired.

where is the fraud ? you are making outlandish accusations. how am I to blame you cant work remotely ? I dont even know if you work!

> Using AI, I've been able to land several interviews and work 3 jobs remotely currently without much effort

Working 3 jobs is almost certainly defrauding the employers, your employment agreement likely forbids this due to IP ownership issues and expectations that you're, ya know, working for them when they're paying you and not secretly collecting a paycheck while working for a different company during the time they're paying you to work for them?

Also, unclear if you're also fraudulently claiming experience you don't have by having AI write a resume tailored to the job posting rather than representing what you've actually done.

If your 3 jobs are actually part-time jobs, with clearly delineated and compartmentalized time and work tracking and the employers are aware and the contracts allow that, then fine. But your description definitely reads like someone bragging that they're hacking the system to get away with tricking multiple employers into thinking you're working full time for them.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#399

Post by solomonxiexie »

I appreciate you for the absolute honesty and having the brave heart to share your entire life story without holding anything to the entire internet. Oh man, this really got my tears out: > she told me that it made more sense for me to quit my job while she worked, so that I could spend all of my free time trying to get another tech job. So she alone carried us for several months.

That reflects how many people's experiences, especially in this job market.

Re: Building from zero after addiction, prison, and a felony

#400

Post by embedding-shape »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #386
embedding-shape wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You disagree with me agreeing with what you just wrote about it being more dangerous to go with motorcycles? The "besides the point" is that the point I was raising was how common motorcycles are, globally. Is that what you're disagreeing with?

Let me read both these comments some more, because after this one (above) : I'm even more confused. Quickly: we seem to agree that motorcycles are dangerous and worldwide their predominance is mostly correlated with poverty (unlike US outlaw/biker culture). I had associated your beside the point with a biker being more-safe than a pedestrian -- is that what you meant? ---- I have done 120mph in both vehicles, car and…

> worldwide their predominance is mostly correlated with poverty (unlike US outlaw/biker culture).

Huh? No, it's mostly correlated with working class and below, hardly "correlated with poverty", at least the places I'm familiar with.

I do agree they're dangerous. I don't agree that everyone should always avoid everything dangerous simply because it's dangerous.

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