Hi there.
I was engineer number 3 at Eventbrite and founding engineer at Reforge. I've created a dozen or so startups myself and have worked in many others, like Instacart. All this time, no one knew that I was a convicted felon.
It wasn't exactly a topic that came up, but it was certainly something that I never brought up. When you're a convicted felon, people look at you as if you are tainted.
I was unable to rent apartments in San Francisco. I was unable to get a job directly after being released from prison. It's funny because when you owe the state $17,000 in restitution and you can't get a job, people become extremely desperate. And that desperation can easily put you right back into prison.
So I went from homeless person at age 19 to 7-figures about 10 years later. I retired at age 38.
What I'm doing now is writing an autobiography. The main theme of it is hope.
And I want to make sure that people know about it. They don't necessarily have to be interested in it, but if people know about what it's like sleeping in a car believing that one day you will travel the world and then actually doing it, then I think I've accomplished my task in writing this book.
If you're interested, please let me know.
wmchen38 minutes ago
Thank you for sharing this. I would be excited to read your autobiography.
I find stories like yours inspiring, and reassuring in a way. I'm increasingly worried about this trend toward being tough on crime in response to growing public disorder, increasing maximum sentences, and generally taking a no-holds-barred approach because good society has been wronged.
I've been a victim myself, from petty theft to assault when I intervened to stop a hate crime, by people out on bail with long court records. After being assaulted I really did start to question my beliefs on this. But I still very much genuinely believe that people can change and should be given a second chance, even though some won't take it seriously, and for others it might take a very long time.
I've met quite a few people with criminal records, or records as youth offenders, who genuinely did become better people over time. A former classmate of mine used to deal cocaine and is now a personal trainer with a wonderful personality and sense of morality. Another used to be a lookout for a stash house and has similarly moved on from that life.
I guess that's what I find so reassuring about stories like yours. I've seen people change and move on from what was probably the worst chapter of their lives, and become people I'm genuinely glad to know. I worry that in our societal desire to be tougher on crime, we're becoming less willing to give people that chance. And I think stories like yours are a good reminder of why we shouldn't lose sight of it.
juujian22 minutes ago
People can change when you have a justice system that is aimed at reforming offenders rather than simply locking them away or punishing them. America's justice system is the opposite of that, socializing even petty criminals that incidentally land in the system into doing more crime. That's why America has so many more people locked up compared to other countries, which is significantly more expensive in the long run, too...
dansoan hour ago
I read the first chapter of your autobiography, looking forward to reading the rest. For the current audience reading this, do you mind spoiling/summarizing how you got into software engineering? Had you dabbled in it before your conviction, and did you study it while serving your prison sentence?
serfan hour ago
the fact that you're quick to tell me you're a pardoned felon but not why gives me a creepy feeling, and I say that with a lot of felon friends and family..
probably not the detail to omit to try to hook a readership..
technical aside : on low bandwidth connections your site acts really inconsistent and weird; it appears to be downloading those on-hover sound files.
[deleted]6 minutes agocollapsed
pavel_lishin36 minutes ago
Minor feedback: please don't have your site make noises. It's distracting.
Muromec8 minutes ago
>What I'm doing now is writing an autobiography. The main theme of it is hope.
Hope to work hard and win the lottery ticket when the game is stacked against you? What hope?
I'm happy for your personally, but it doesn't sound like a message of hope.
louwrentius10 minutes ago
Telling people that you are a convicted fellon without disclosing what you did is a red flag to me.
Especially if its for the purpose to drum up interest for your autobiography.
cat-whispereran hour ago
your website uses the exact tech as the openAI website that they had for Astra. Interesting
megrafan hour ago
What did you do?
pavel_lishin38 minutes ago
https://buford.bg/books/buford-versus-oklahoma-1
Doesn't go into the why, however. Presumably future chapters will.
rectang16 minutes ago
I've read it and besides the "why", I'm also wondering about the long-term impact on the person who was hit (Buford's father).
pavel_lishin3 minutes ago
I guess this means chapter one's a good hook.
readthenotes129 minutes ago
Tldr:
Hit his dad on the head with a metal baseball bat with other family members around.
84949595an hour ago
[flagged]