Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011, 9:27 pm
Free Software More Than a Hobby
Filed under: 
hroughout my career I’ve always had many eggs in the basket. I’ve usually had multiple jobs and I was never fired; I always succeeded in job interviews (since 2003), except the ones with Google, which came to me three time (I never approached them regarding a job). One thing I’ve learned over the years is that one must choose a job one enjoys, otherwise it’s a chore. I never accepted a job that I disliked. I have been working in two jobs simultaneously several times (simultaneously as in overlapping months/years), sometimes on top of already being a full-time Ph.D. candidate/student. I still work two jobs and I very much enjoy both; it’s like leisure as there is a sense of achievement. Besides all of this, as a hobby I maintain some sites that promote freedom; I was never paid for this. This is part of my reading of material; it’s like a learning experience which also proved beneficial to many others — those who share interests with mine. Being enthusiastic about freedom comes very naturally.
After many years wanting to be running an independent business on the side I’ve decided to start creating a professional site. The original idea was to come up with a new name (and domain), but after much consideration I came to the conclusion that giving visibility to a new name and new site would be a lot of work. As this new blog post from Forbes correctly indicates, reputation matters a lot when seeking business. That’s why I decided to stick with my surname and in the coming days/weeks there will be a formal announcement regarding my third job, in which the work capacity cannot be guaranteed (depends on clients). The focus is affordable scientific computing solutions that put the client in control. In essence, it is about spreading free/open source software and charging for the scarcity, which is skill and (wo)man hours. There is nothing unethical about it.
Together with some friends (I shall add people to the appropriate pages), a new logo, CMS theme, and a soon-to-be redirection (dupe of index.htm will ensure all the older pages remain accessible), schestowitz.com will soon have a sort of relaunch. The site no longer attracts about 3,000 visitors per days like it used to (back in the days when it was regularly updated), but we shall see if it takes off not just as a personal workspace with a lot of informal pages. I remain very much committed to all my jobs; starting something as my own ‘boss’ will just be something on the side.
March 4th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
Congratulations and good luck with this. Hospitals in particular need good free software consulting.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
Thanks for the encouraging words.
February 5th, 2017 at 7:14 pm
JMG,You missed the point of my comment entirely. This is not a moral judgment, I am mapping the reality of politics to material culture.It is only within the framework of progress that democracy is imbued with such sentimental attachment as yours. Within that framing, democracy has been responsible for a lot of progress in the United States, starting with a document that codified slaves as 3/5 of a person.I could care less about hooting as to whether Israel should exist or not in a moral argument. Did I say Israel? I mean democracy. Whether my point is valid with respect to your post is a separate question as to what is in my back pocket.