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I am a felon and a software engineer. I worked on commercial video games, big porn sites, analytics/marketing/advertising platforms and startups MVP's. I am now launching a company to help small businesses compete against bigger funded companies. ...
EDIT: Here is my proof. If you need ny more proof, let me know in the comments and Ill try to provide them if necessary. ;-)
EDIT 2: I am still answering questions. You can still ask me questions guys! I'm still online!
EDIT 3: I'm going to bed, its 2am here. Please, continue to post questions and Ill answer them when I wake up. Thanks!
EDIT 4: I'm back guys. Answering questions right now :)
I am currently working on iRESTful. You can follow its future progress on /r/irestful .
My name is Steve Rodrigue. I am a 32 years old software engineer. I am now located on the south shore of Montreal (Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu). I am a french Canadian (Quebec). English is my second language. You can read my resume on linkedin. However, please don't message me there: I receive a ton of spam so my inbox is dead. If you want to contact me, follow the instructions on the irestful website.
I began my career as a software developer quite early. At 13 years old, I was learning C/C++ programming to create text based RPG games. At that age, I also got my first job ever: I was a paperboy. At 14 years old, with 2 years experience with very basic software development, I decided to learn HTML, Javascript & PHP to create websites: my goal was to make money online because I had no interest in working for a restaurant in my hometown (Riviere-du-Loup).
So, at 14 years old I began creating free porn sites. At the time, I was creating websites called CJ (Circle Jerk) sites. Basically, they were websites that had thumbnails and text links that were linking to a software application, to redirect the traffic to other sites, that was returning me traffic back based on ratio. The goal with these sites was to piss off the surfer so much in his goal of watching free porn, that at one point he would realize that free porn didn't exist and finally pay for a paysite membership. I had a commission based on paysite sales I was referring. I was also selling 2 popunders and 1 popover to traffic networks. Basically, my free porn sites were a nightmare to visit.
At 15 years old, I began creating porn sites with content. They were called TGPs (Thumbnail Gallery Post). Basically, I was listing free picture galleries, created by others, and was charging for spots. I had a web application that discovered which thumbnail was being clicked more often and automatically adjusted the rankings based on their clicks/views ratio.
At 16 years old, I created Daily Movie Sites and MGP (Movie Gallery Post). Daily movie sites were basically websites that changed their free porn video every day. So, on monday, you would get part 1 of 15 of a DVD scene. The day after, you would get 2 of 15, etc. This type of site created a lot of returning traffic. MGP sites were the same as TGPs, but with very small clips in their galleries, instead of pictures.
By the time I reached 17, I was getting 400k unique visitors per day on my porn website network. So, I sold the network at its peak and decided to concentrate in my studies. High school was finished and I was entering CEGEP (Here in Quebec, we have a special school after high scool. Basically, during CEGEP, I attended computer science classes).
At 19, I began to be interested in spamming. I created a bot that was spamming MSN Messenger with porn related messages. Microsoft discovered the origin of this spam and sent me a cease and desist letter. Keep in mind that I was still living with my parents, so my father really didn't appreciate the letter.
Sadly, this letter didn't stop me in my series of bad actions. During that year, I began to learn about online fraud. I visited some russian forums and began to talk with various people that could provide me with various fraud-related items. While learning this new information, I discovered the algorithm to convert debit card information from a specific branch of the CITI bank in New York, to magnetic card stripes. So, I ordered a magnetic card encoder, did phishing and received my victim's debit card details and online bank access in my anonymous email account.
I then created physical debit cards with their information and withdrew money from bar/restaurant ATM's in my hometown. After a few days, I spent a lot of money in bars, paying people I didn't know drinks, then stopped. Basically, I withdrew around 60k$ in 3 days from various ATM machines.
Couple months later, 4 RCMP agents knocked at my parents door with a warrant, seized all my material and cash. The Journal de Montreal newspaper created an article on me back then.
At that point, I felt horrified. My parents were panicking, my mother stopped talking to me for at least a year. Everyone in my hometown knew I did fraud, it was a nightmare. So, I decided to move to Quebec city and finished my studies.
At 20 years old, I created a video game demo in C++ using OpenGL. I sent my demo to various game companies and landed a job as a junior video game developer at Beenox, a studio owned by Activision. I worked on a video game called Bee Movie, from Jerry Seinfeld.
The same year, I went to court, got sentenced for 2 years of prison in society, with 3 years of parole and 250 hours of community work. Basically, I could leave the house only for work and for medical purposes. During those 2 years, I worked a lot of over time: that was my way of not dealing with this.
Then, I quit the video game industry and began working for web companies. I worked with several CMS (Typo3, Drupal, Mambo CMS, NukePHP, etc.) to create websites for the company's customers. I worked there for 2 years. I personally really disliked being a consultant: we were working mainly for government agencies.
At one point, I created an invoice for a government agency where I had to quote a mysql database with backups for a year. So, it was 1 database on a server, where multiple other databases from other customers were hosted as well. Our original price was around 80$CAD for the year. So, I sent my service proposition and the government's project manager called me and told me that I had to increase my price otherwise he would look like a fool: he approved the same project for 20k$, the year before, with CGI. So, I got pressured and had to create a proposition at 10k$.
This reminded me of when I did fraud. I felt like I was de-frauding the government, but this time, I was the only one that thought it was bad. I couldn't live feeling like if I was de-frauding people again. So, I decided to leave that market.
I then worked online for various startup companies. I created MVP websites for small american companies. Most projects were 2-4 months long. This was a lot of fun but it was very unstable.
In 2011, I accepted a job at Manwin Canada. They are now called Mindgeek. Basically, they own pornhub, youporn, brazzers... and a ton of other porn related sites. They liked my resume and got hired very quickly. I handled multiple positions there, including Software Developer, Lead Developer, Senior Developer. I worked creating the new software architecture of Youporn, which was a lot of fun: it was the first time I had to deal with 20M unique visitors per day.
In 2012, I got arrested because I forgot to do around 10 hours of community work in my fraud-related sentence. I spent 2 weeks in jail before being sentenced, then got sentenced for 1 month in prison, during week ends. I served 2 week ends and the jail decided to release me for good conduct.
Then, I left Manwin to work for a company that was creating an advertising network in the porn industry. I worked there for 3 years then worked for several companies, worked on big data solutions, created the software architecture of complex systems under heavy use: it was a lot of fun.
However, after working on these platforms for a while, I realized that I wasn't really helping people around me. Nowadays, most people are closing their stores, losing their jobs because of automation platforms. Basically, I felt like I was part of the problem, not the solution.
For that reason, I am now working on open source softwares: I want to help small companies compete against the big platforms by giving them the necessary tools to fight properly. You can read more about it on our website. If you like the idea, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter or on /r/irestful .
I'd like to be part of a company that will help small businesses combine their efforts to keep their market and keep resources in their communities, while serving their customers better. That way, every actor is happy in the process: business owners, customers and employees. Obviously, I can't raise funds from venture capital investors. So, I want to work with small businesses: I ask for donations from small businesses to help me help them. You can learn more about it on our contribution page.
Please, ask me any questions related to my life experience, my work experience, the company I am building... or anything else!
Thanks in advance, Steve
50fal3 karma
Did many of the respective "actresses" hang out around the development warehouse?
irestful6 karma
No. Models were shooting in Las Vegas. The development was done in Montreal. In the development's building, it really looked like a normal office with sporadic porn on people's screen. But otherwise, you wouldn't know the company was in the porn industry from what it looked it.
It just looked like most startup companies actually. People were working in open spaces.
errgreen8 karma
I am still reading through your website, there is a lot of information there so thanks.
How 'user' friendly is your Marketing Software? By 'user' I mean the person you refer to as the 'site owner' using the software.
With the emergence of small businesses in the Marijuana industry in Colorado and Washington state, do you think a small business would need an established website and market, to make use of this software?
Im not a developer, but I do find this all very interesting.
irestful7 karma
I am still reading through your website, there is a lot of information there so thanks.
Thanks! Let me know if you have more questions... I'm here for that :D
How 'user' friendly is your Marketing Software? By 'user' I mean the person you refer to as the 'site owner' using the software.
The goal is to enable people that never did marketing before, be able to use the software by themselves and operate it properly. So, it MUST be easy to use.
With the emergence of small businesses in the Marijuana industry in Colorado and Washington state, do you think a small business would need an established website and market, to make use of this software?
No. They would need to create a web presence. In the Specific Industry section of our website, I show that I plan to create a set of softwares for this kind of sites (e-commerce). But they wouldn't need to be well established.
In fact, I always recommend that small business owners create a small website first (can be just a blog), to show their customers that they are knowledgeable in their niche. Then, use a marketing software to discuss about what they do on social networks and create a presence using facebook groups, twitter hashtags, youtube, reddit comments, blog comments. Then, they should add a newsletter to their website and begin sending weekly newsletters. The goal here is to create valuable content to help people, so that these people find them knowledgable and give them their trust, to turn them into customers, at one point.
Then, when they have a good online presence, they should begin selling products online, use their customers base on facebook, twitter, reddit and their newsletter to sell properly, using the marketting software.
Then, when they know what their market really wants to buy, create paid advertisements to scale their operations.
Vazmanian7 karma
God bless you, sir. Do you enjoy your life? I truly hope you experience nothing but success in your life
irestful8 karma
That's very nice of you, thanks! I do enjoy every seconds of my life. Thanks again!
irestful13 karma
Not that much actually. When I was a kid, porn was an easy way to make money online: it was not accessible online so sales on paysites were easy to make.
The reason why I worked with Manwin and later for the advertising network is mostly because I wanted stability. Those companies were big and able to provide me with the stability I wanted. Like I said in the AMA, I am a felon, so I got a lot of offers that ranged from 90k$ to 180k$ per year, but they all got blocked when they did a criminal background check on me.
But personally, I'm not a big porn user/customer and don't particularly enjoy it.
EDIT On top of that, creating a software architecture for projects that receives 20M+ (for youporn) and 200k QPS (query per seconds) on the REST API of the advertisement network is awesome. I had to fix hard problems and I felt very good about it. In my area, only porn can bring such projects, unfortunately.
ColorsByVest7 karma
I had to fix hard problems and I felt very good about it.
Your users can relate. ;p
goin_nil5 karma
What are your preferences for each?
smartphone (Apple, Android, Windows)?
laptop (PC, Apple, Linux)?
Coke, Pepsi or other?
Real books or ebooks?
irestful7 karma
smartphone
I like Android because its open source, but I prefer Apple for connectivity reasons. I have few apple products at home, but work with a ubuntu laptop.
laptop
I use both ubuntu (so linux) and a macbook air. The only thing I was is a Unix system to work. I dislike windows.
Coke, Pepsi or other?
I'm a big fan of Dr. Pepper. But between Coke and Pepsi, I prefer Coke... Coke Zero.
Real books or ebooks?
I prefer real books.
EDIT Grammar
AsianFetish692 karma
Wait a sec, You're a Québécois. I heard that all Québécois like Pepsi best; that's why other Canadians call them "Peppers". Is there no truth to this?
irestful2 karma
Yes, I am Québécois. Our restaurants sells Pepsi a lot more than Coke... but I do prefer Coke over Pepsi. It's the first time I hear about Canadians calling us "Peppers". Good to know! :D
Cheers!
forsayken3 karma
That's the first time I've heard the term "peppers" before too. I don't live in Quebec either.
irestful1 karma
I have friends in Toronto and they never heard about "Peppers" neither. Oh well ;)
JPong1 karma
I have always heard it was just Pepsis. Peppers sounds stupid.
Of course, the reason for this is traditionally, Pepsi was cheaper than Coca-cola. Given some of the historic economic troubles of the French in Quebec, they went with the cheaper option and thus were derided for their choice in the obviously inferior product.
Remember boys and girls, when insulting people, you don't give a rat's ass about trademarks.
irestful1 karma
Of course, the reason for this is traditionally, Pepsi was cheaper than Coca-cola. Given some of the historic economic troubles of the French in Quebec, they went with the cheaper option and thus were derided for their choice in the obviously inferior product.
This is actually a very good explanation. It totally makes sense!
Treacherous_Peach1 karma
As a northern Vermonter, we called you Queebs. Namely because of how annoying it can be to drive in the spring and summer with hundreds of Quebec dudes biking down the center of a tiny dirt road for a hundred miles.
irestful1 karma
That's interesting. We have those as well.. we probably live near each others, I'm 35km away from the Vermont border. Its probably the same people that bike like that on each side of the border. hehe
Never heard the term Queebs thought. I might steal this from you :P
FaygoFreak5 karma
If you're still answering, how do you feel about the mistreatment of felons? In the stripping of some rights for something that may not be relevant anymore, if at all, and voting rights.
irestful6 karma
Well, I am located in Canada. In Canada, you still can vote even if you are a convicted felon: I voted in the last elections.
However, when you are a convicted felon, it is very hard to find a job somewhere. I built expertise that made me find jobs/positions even if I was convicted. However, most people that were in my situation didn't have that luck.
I feel that there is a problem in our society: when you are a convicted felon, it is normally very hard to find jobs when you get out of prison/jail. So, most of them go back to crime to survive. I feel that these people should be better supported.
On the other hand, I understand companies not willing to risk their security by hiring convicted felons. Some of them are not dangerous, other are. They just don't want to take any chance and I understand that.
Therefore, I have no solution for this problem, unfortunately.
EDIT When you are a convicted felon, it is harder to travel to the United States, as a Canadian. I found it very hard to not be able to visit the USA for 10 years.
CuriosityKat91 karma
What exactly were you convicted of? I'm not very computer literate, so I couldn't glean what the felony was. It sounds like you served fairly little jail time all things considered, which I find interesting. I usually hear of felonies as giant insurmountable burdens, but you seem to have come out fine. :)
irestful2 karma
I got charged for fraud (debit card fraud) and using computer hardware for malicious activities.
I didn't do that much jail because I was young and because I was in Canada. Doing the same thing in the USA would probably have given me 5-10 years in a real jail/prison. At least, according to my lawyer back then.
CuriosityKat91 karma
Ok that makes sense. Thanks for the reply, I usually don't get any if the AMA is over a few hours old. :)
irestful1 karma
Thanks for the reply, I usually don't get any if the AMA is over a few hours old. :)
You are welcome! Ill personally going to reply to everyone that asks me questions, even in weeks. I get them in my notifications, so I just answer them. There's no end date/time here ;)
gypsyG4 karma
Hello, I currently work as a software developer/tester at a typical 9-5 company making decent money. I'm growing restless though and looking to start my own business, or atleast find a job that allows more flexibility. Any advice? Any computer science fields that you think are really 'heating up' that I should look into? (I found data mining very interesting but kind of overwhelming to approach from a startup perspective)
irestful9 karma
Well, if you don't have any actual idea of what you want to build, I wouldn't create a startup if I were you. Instead, I would try to join a company that moves fast, in a market that interests me.
You will then discover that the company you work for might do things badly, that some of their actors (partners/customers/users) are unhappy with what they do. If you think you can fix this problem, I would then proceed with a quick MVP of what you want to build and execute it, then launch it online. If there is interest, I would then try to focus on launching a startup based on this MVP.
I personally believe it is a bad idea to just quit a job without assurance that your startup might work.. specially if you don't have any startup ideas. That might create unstability in your life, which is bad for both your personal and professional life.
If you plan to switch to work in a startup company but don't really want to move to a big startup hub city, I recommend We Work Remotely and Remote.io.
Hope that helps you out! Good luck!
Jinkyu3 karma
Hi! Would you be interested in talking with my Software Engineering Ethics class over skype or something about your experiences? I believe it would be a really interesting and helpful experience for us.
irestful3 karma
Sure! I'd be very interested in helping. Please contact me by email to schedule this.
vbroskas3 karma
As someone who is looking to change careers from chemical engineering to programming/web design, and is currently only at a beginner level....Do you have any advice or recommendation on the best way to get my foot in the door, what languages are essential to learn first, etc?
It sounds like you have done some really exciting and cool things during your career. Congrats on making such a good comeback after being convicted!
irestful12 karma
If you are first learning how to write web softwares, I recommend you Code Academy. At first, you should learn everything from frontend to server side softwares.
So, I recommend you to learn Javascript and NodeJS. I also recommend you to learn Python and Java. I personally enjoy writing code in PHP. I'm coming from a C/C++ and Java background so I deliver quickly the products I need to build in PHP.
I recommend you to learn how to use a command line terminal, with linux commands as soon as possible. You will need this during your whole career.
At last, when you are comfortable in few languages, read about software architecture, design patterns and unit testing. Martin Fowler is your friend, read about him and is 4 friends.
At last, learn some frameworks, including Symfony (PHP), Spring (Java), Django (Python), AngularJS (Javascript) and React (Javascript). Learn React Native specially if you want to build mobile apps at that point.
Then, when you have a good background of these technologies, you should pick another specialty and mix it with your new programming background. You said that you were a chemical engineer, so it might be a good idea to create softwares for that field. I don't know that specific field, but you do :)
Oh, and while learning, apply to jobs all the time. Don't wait until you are "good" to apply. In your mind, you will never be anyway. Apply, show them what you created so far and at one point, you'll land a job.
At last, don't follow trends. Use technologies that makes you deliver products quicker. At the end of the day, this is what matters.
Good luck! :)
vbroskas2 karma
Dude, thanks for all the great advice!! I've been working on codecademy, and freecodecamp along with some python courses on coursera, so it's good to hear I'm on the right track. There is actually a PHP focused bootcamp through the university in my hometown that I can attend for a reasonable price, so I plan on attending this summer.
Thanks again for all the great advice, best of luck with your new start-up!
irestful5 karma
I'm glad I could help. If you ever need additional help, please send me an email. I'll be very happy to help you with more specific information while you learn and/or when you have questions.
Good luck with your studies! Remember, never give up! :)
vbroskas1 karma
Thanks Steve, that means a lot! I'll take you up on that.
Another question: In addition to small businesses, do you see your company ever pairing up to work with non-profit organizations?
irestful2 karma
In addition to small businesses, do you see your company ever pairing up to work with non-profit organizations?
Yes I do. If non profit organizations needs open source softwares to operate/market, I will be very happy to help them out, specially if they have to compete with other big well-funded non-profit organizations.
Squishfish252 karma
Do you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? What's your favorite food?
irestful3 karma
Do you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?
I really hate jelly, so nope.
What's your favorite food?
Poutine.
irestful5 karma
How often have people dismissed you because of your criminal past, and how do you deal with it?
During the first few years, it was very hard to deal with it. I felt shameful and wished I never did it, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Over time, people forget... now a days, I rarely hear about it. From time to time, a see a former friend from my hometown and we quickly chat about it but it is very rare.
How good does it feel to prove them all wrong when you're successful?
I personally don't feel like I need to prove anything. I did mistakes in the past, learned a lot from it and don't feel like I should prove people wrong. If someone doesn't like me because of my past, I totally understand it. It was very wrong after all.
irestful3 karma
Yes, it does go away. Stay focused on what you do in your life, and at one point you will realise that nobody is talking about it anymore. At least, this was my personal experience.
Good luck! Hope you're doing well...
SoUpInYa1 karma
What js and php frameworks do you use? In general, what is your opinion of frameworks?
irestful3 karma
I personally like tiny frameworks... In PHP, I like to use Spark PHP for REST APIs. I also like Twig for templating.
In javascript, I like BackboneJS. When I build complex 1 page application I like to use AngularJS.
I personally like to use frameworks when it makes sense to use one. I also like to hand-pick open source packages using composer and build my own stack that way. I'm really not a big fan of taking a big framework, like Symfony/Laravel, that would help me build everything. I personally believe in cherry-picking right tool for the right job.
theburncan1 karma
I love Quebec city! I worked there for a year. I know Beenox. Question did you ever go to that Lebanese place on Rue St. Joseph? I used to see software guys there all the time from Ubisoft and such. Man they had good shish taouk!
irestful1 karma
Wow I feel like the world is so small! I don't know any labanese place on St-Joseph. Back then I was more an Ashton fan 😀
When I was at beenox we used to hangout at Linox. They brew their own beer, its an awesome place!
I assume you left Quebec city... Are you now in Montreal?
theburncan1 karma
Ya small word for sure! Oh Man, Ashton... Poutine Dulton!!! The best! No in VanCity now. But hope to visit Montreal again some time (only been once).
irestful1 karma
Poutine Dulton!!! The best! Indeed! :)
If you ever come to Montreal, hit me up. Ill show you around!
irestful1 karma
How has your work and criminal history affected your dating life?
It didn't, really. I was with my ex for 5 years, and I;m with the same woman for 7 years now. I'm pretty stable in my love life.
irestful1 karma
I really enjoy solving problems. I feel like programming is a bit like creating puzzles, where each small puzzles is a piece of a bigger puzzle.
So, you begin by solving few small puzzles, then take each of these puzzle and solve a bigger one... then take those bigger ones to solve an even bigger one, etc.
This is what I really like in my work :)
Symbiosis1011 karma
Hi do you remember the good ol' days of BADCOW ? I was in that scene as well , your story hits on a few levels with mine . My days of that stuff r over for a long time though as well . Good for u on your achievements !
irestful1 karma
Vonologic1 karma
As someone who's currently in college pursuing a CS degree (freshman), I noticed that you never mentioned schooling throughout your post. It seems like you definitely prefer doing things on your own. To be quite honest, I don't feel capable of doing even a fraction of the things you described, with the exception of some HTML & Java/C++. With that being said, what's your opinion on school vs self teaching?
irestful1 karma
I went to CEGEP (school after high school) for 3 years to get a degree in computer science. But personally, I didn't learn much tere, since I already knew how to program, and they don't teach much about software architecture.
I registered to Laval University, in Quebec city, after getting that degree, because I though I would need it to be a video game developer. However, I got my job at Beenox before going to University, therefore I accepted the job offer and never went to University.
I personally learn faster when I do it using books and the internet, rather than normal traditional school. However, its not the same for everyone. I believe that everyone should learn the way they are the most productive.
Keep in mind that learning alone will take more work and energy though. Its a lot of long hours trying to figure stuff out. But I feel like its a lot more rewarding and the knowledge stays more in my head when I experience learning that way.
demonofgod1 karma
U are great man! How did u find time to learn so much/study so much? Any pointers towards how to keep learning? Thanx..
irestful1 karma
You need to create a calendar and stick to it. During a given day, I always execute the plan I created the day before.
That way, you stay focus on the short them success.
And then, you create longer plans for an overall overview of want to want to achieve. But when you are working on a day-to-day basis, you only think about the current day's plan.
I found that to be easier to focus.
Kruppstahl941 karma
Hi mate, did you make pornsites in English or French and is there a difference at how to design them? And is it still profitable for a young programmer with almost zero ressources to make a porn site? best greetings
irestful1 karma
Hi mate, did you make pornsites in English or French and is there a difference at how to design them?
I made them in english. There wasn't that much traffic in french porn back then. More recently, I worked in companies that translate the content of their websites, so it was in both. It doesn't change anything in the software architecture thought.
And is it still profitable for a young programmer with almost zero ressources to make a porn site?
No, its very hard to make money in porn now a days. If you create a video site, you will lose money. The big sites makes money but its because they can buy their bandwith at bulk price. Its the same reason why youtube is profitable for google, but it was not for the founders of the site.
If you want to make money creating websites, you should take a niche you like and develop a website around it. When you have traffic, listen to your visitors and you'll find something to sell to them, in order to make money.
The key is to create something you like, and build traffic first.
irestful3 karma
I don't really feel guilty about it because I was just building websites/softwares. I also don't particularly enjoy or hate porn.
I do believe that there is countries where females are forced to do porn videos and that disgust me. But, that was not my reality. I also don't feel bad about porn in general.
GhogDushy1 karma
Doesn't the forced porn thing happen here too? I actually have no idea, thats just what they tell us in school.
irestful3 karma
In the US porn companies abide by the US laws. They need to have contracts signed by models for consent. Most big sites have enough girls willing to do porn anyway. I'm not saying girls never regret it thought. But at the time of doing the shoots, they are willing to do it.
irestful2 karma
If you are not technical, get technical, or share your ideas with someone that you already know, that is technical, in hope to make join the ship.
Build your MVP up front, then release it and verify that there is interest around it.
Create a solid user acquisition strategy, that is re-usable over and over. It must also be cheap to acquire users. Then execute it and record your metrics around it: how many new users per week are you getting, what's your conversion rate, what's your recurring rate, how long does it take to have a return on investment (ROI) on your users.
Also, even if you are not paying yourself, calculate what the ROI would be if you were getting paid. Then, when you pitch your startup to investors, mention all your metrics and explain them that your actual ROI is lower because you actually didn't pay you to achieve these results. But, they will appreciate that you calculated it like if you were.
Its a lot easier to get funded when you have a base product (MVP), a growth strategy that you prove works, and actual metrics.
tropchan1 karma
Can you tell us more of the vision... How does it differ from low cost tools like Shopify/Wordpress that are meant for small businesses etc? I get the problem you are trying to solve. Just unclear on what your solution is. Thanks!
irestful2 karma
How does it differ from low cost tools like Shopify/Wordpress that are meant for small businesses etc?
Basically, we want to create applications that are de-coupled from each others, but connect together easily. Wordpress is totally the opposite of what we want to build.
With wordpress, when creating a project, you need to create/use wordpress plugins. This code can only be used on that platform, therefore it is coupled to wordpress. Its a very bad idea to use this platform as your central base of information because its hard to connect a third party application to it, and give different access to it...
If you create a marketing plugin on wordpress, for example, you don't have anything to share part of your data to a third-party actor. You can't specify a scope to that actor. You also can't allocate an x amount of resources to specific actors.
Shopify locks you on a private platform. They lure you with great pricing but as soon as you grow, you will pay more expensive fees. On top of that, Google might buy them in the future. So, the future of the platform is uncertain. Google is known to buy platforms and then close them. So, its a danger to invest money to customize a complex website on top of private platforms, because if they close at one point, your own project will stop working.
In other words, we want to create softwares that are built on top of RESTful APIs, that are de-coupled but easy to share data between them, make it easy to allocate resources and permissions to certain actors... all this, open source under the MIT license, so that nobody is locked in the application.
tropchan1 karma
Makes sense! I feel like a lot of little businesses have no clue on what tech is best for them. What is out there. How to set it up etc.
How do you plan on getting it into their hands / make it easy to fill the gap?
Good luck with it all! Montreal is a great city that I had the good fortune to live in for a little bit.
irestful1 karma
I feel like a lot of little businesses have no clue on what tech is best for them.
I also feel the same, and I think this is normal. Small businesses are already experts in their own field. They cannot be experts in multiple fields, otherwise they would be generalist. Therefore, they need to be helped by others. However, in the web industry, a lot of developers that serve small businesses are not really experts. They are more "improvised experts". Therefore they, very often, give bad advices to these small businesses, unfortunately.
At least, this is my opinion/impression on the small business software development market.
How do you plan on getting it into their hands / make it easy to fill the gap?
I plan to make the softwares easy to use, easy to connect together and easy to customize. Then, I plan to create a lot of tutorials about how to use them and be creative with them. Then, Ill promote those tutorials online.
The goal with this campaign will be to get adoption from integrators/designers that create websites for small businesses.
Then, Ill take the stories of those small businesses to create interview articles and promote them to other businesses in their market, online.
Its going to be a long process, but I strongly believe the values and principles behind iRESTful are strong and worth promoting.
Good luck with it all!
Thanks, this is very appreciated!
Montreal is a great city that I had the good fortune to live in for a little bit.
The more I reddit, the more I feel like the world is very small. Are you still in Quebec and/or Canada? Otherwise, in which city are you now?
wendycaroline9111 karma
I write a blog (and did an AMA about Cystic Fibrosis on Sunday) and would love to make money off of it. Not a fortune or anything, but enough so that I can ease up on traditional work and be home more to focus on my health. Do you have any suggestions or articles to read on how to go about that? I have Adsense and Amazon Associates currently. Here is a link to my blog: [The Living, Breathing Wendy](www.thelivingbreathingwendy.com). For anyone who wants to subscribe, I write about what it is like to live with Cystic Fibrosis (a genetic lung disease).
irestful1 karma
If I was you, I would write stories about how you live with your sickness and how people can fight it. What kind of fight you need to do everyday in order to live a good life.
Then, I would create e-books with the stories and sell them on my blog. Then, I would keep on building my online presence using my blog, but I would also create a facebook page and twitter account. On social networks, I would join groups and pages related to your niche and talk to people as much as possible.
This will build up an audience for your blog. Your articles would receive more traffic and your audience will buy your e-books to read your full stories.
You should bookmark the iRESTful website and like our facebook page. You would probably really like using our marketing software to promote your articles.
Oh, and continue doing AMA's on reddit, of course :)
EDIT Basically, you should sell your own e-books rather than using advertisement networks. Also, it might be a good idea to create t-shirts with effective slogans related to your niche on them, then post them on your blog and social network accounts. This will be seen as content and the people that follow you will love to buy and wear them. If you want to do that, have a look at Tee Spring.
Just remember that items for sale (e-books, t-shirts, coffe mugs, etc.) must always be joined with an effective story in order to sell them to your audience. Otherwise they will see it as spam.
wendycaroline9111 karma
I never thought of doing e-books! Right now I get most of my traffic from Facebook groups. I do have a Facebook page [here](www.facebook.com/thelivingbreathingwendy). I will certainly look yours up. I love supporting people.
Cool, I think I might be on the right track already. I will look into doing e-books, though. Such a smart idea! THANK YOU!
irestful2 karma
You are welcome! Please, send me an email with your results after trying it. I'd like to stay in touch with you and help you further, after your first tests. Possible? You can find my email at the bottom of my website... or you can always send a PM to my facebook page.
Btw, good luck with your health. I find you very brave to share your experience about it openly on the internet. People need people like you to better understand such sickness. Its very important! Keep up the good work!
wendycaroline9111 karma
Thanks, I'm glad to find kind people like you in the world! You can always contact me on my blog too. Feel free to subscribe, of course. ;)
Dooker11 karma
Wow! I can't believe you started to make money at only 14. What drove you towards profiting from porn at such a young age? Also, how much money were you making monthly back then?
irestful1 karma
What drove you towards profiting from porn at such a young age?
The first goal was to not have to work at local businesses to get pocket money. Obviously, the amount of money grew bigger. When I had enough money to do whatever I wanted (and that my parents allowed), my second goal was just to increase traffic numbers. At one point it ends up being a game: you always want more traffic, day after day!
Also, how much money were you making monthly back then?
I was making a lot more at 14 than at 21, from my video game programmer position. I'm uncomfortable saying specific numbers thought. Hope you understand ;)
Dooker11 karma
Of course. That's crazy though. I find that to be an interesting reflection on society. What would you recommend as a good way to make ethical money while still in high school?
irestful1 karma
What would you recommend as a good way to make ethical money while still in high school?
I really encourage everyone in high school to learn web programming and begin creating websites in niche they like. To learn web development, I encourage you to take the free classes of Code Academy.
I also encourage you to read the 100$ startup book. This will guide you on how to create businesses at very small costs.
But whatever you do, don't do porn sites and stay away from crime! Nowadays, mainstream websites makes more money than porn anyway. Hope this helped you out!
irestful1 karma
Do you write unit/functional tests using code, or do you manually tests projects?
danfrom831 karma
I do not write Automation Scripts, I have experience executing w SOAPUI, etc.. but mainly 5 years of Manual testing Mobile, Webapps, Hardware, Some light SQL, And Linux..
irestful1 karma
We are not hiring right now, but we never know. E-mail me your resume... if we need one in the near future, Ill email you.
Good luck!
alucard3331 karma
As a a software engineer, what does your job entail for you to do daily?
How hard was it for you to get a job?
irestful1 karma
As a a software engineer, what does your job entail for you to do daily?
Well, I wake up in the morning, read /r/programming and Hacker News. I also read some startup related magazones like Tech Crunch.
Then, I pick up my task list from my last day, execute them one after the other. At the end of the day, I document my work and create my next day's task planning.
During the evening/week ends, I also read programming and business related books.
How hard was it for you to get a job?
It was actually quite easy. If you really want to work somewhere, try to please them by building something for them, then introduce yourself and how you find their company great. If they find your "gift" interesting, they will want to meet with you.
However, a lot of companies don't want to open their critical code base to me because of my criminal background. This still happens today. Of course, there's exceptions.
bow_down_whelp1 karma
Way late so not expecting an answer, but this is one of the most interesting ama I have seen and you seen to have done a lot in a short amount of time.
Do you feel that being arrested prosecuted and convicted has made a difference or do you think your mature attitude now is just part of growing up? Did you ever meet the person who's details you cloned cause you seem like a nice guy and decent sort, just maybe unaware of how deep you were in
irestful1 karma
but this is one of the most interesting ama I have seen and you seen to have done a lot in a short amount of time.
Thanks, that's very appreciated!
Do you feel that being arrested prosecuted and convicted has made a difference or do you think your mature attitude now is just part of growing up?
No, I really believe it made a difference. I believe that it made me think more about life, about the people around me and about what's right/wrong vs what's legal.
Did you ever meet the person who's details you cloned
No, I never. I was living in Quebec, they were in New York.
just maybe unaware of how deep you were in
I totally wasn't. At the time, I didn't feel like these people were real people... according to me, they were just online accounts. I didn't realize that what I was doing was affecting real people's life. Which is very sad when I think about it.
bow_down_whelp1 karma
I understand your perception of accounts not being real people. I am a similar age to you and grew up programming my amstrad 464 to play games and change colours but I never made the jump to actual coding. Had I done so I may very well have done something similar as at that ages judgement I belive judgement is impaired and I think it's also a general problem with anomitity of the Internet.
Thanks for answering my questions. You should write a book, I'd read it.
WhiteHarem0 karma
You Could Develop An Internet Service Called Ideas Expert Or Electioneering?
RemoteViewingTrainee-1 karma
what is the best way for a lone programmer to make money online?
irestful3 karma
Well, do you simply want to make quick money on the side, build a business or modify your career to work remotely?
_420CakeDay-7 karma
You are convicted felon because you tried to sell Kiddie porn and somebody reported you on fraud charges, then you decided not to complete your community service?
irestful6 karma
No. I am a convicted felon because I did phising and reproduced debit cards to withdraw people's money 13 years ago. I never dealth with underage porn. Where exactly did you read that in my article?
_420CakeDay0 karma
Sorry I did not read your article. But I did read the Court's decision on your case. I guess it was some years ago so you must have forgotten
TakeawayIsNiceM89 karma
Do you like pancakes?
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