Building from Zero After Addiction, Prison, and a Felony I spent ages 14–16 in a maximum-security juvenile prison, became a felon at 19, lost almost everything to addiction, and later rebuilt my life through software, open source, and a few people who took a chance on me. I've wanted to write this for a while, but kept finding reasons not to. It felt too personal, too risky, and too easy to misread. Recently, I decided on two things: After seeing Preston Thorpe speak publicly about his own background, I wondered how many others like us were silently lurking in tech I'm far enough in my career with enough contributions to OSS and community involvement, that I think I'll probably be alright I wrote this for anyone quietly wondering whether they have no chance at a future. Below is the much-condensed life story of my struggles with addiction, poverty, and incarceration + life after being a felon. My hope is that it serves as encouragement to others who are in similar circumstances that things CAN get better.…