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My first paid developer job was writing backend code for what I would later learn was the Canadian mafia. I was doing some backend and embedded work to build su

My first paid developer job was writing backend code for what I would later learn was the Canadian mafia. I was doing some backend and embedded work to build super shitty gambling kiosks for them. They already had some person "managing" project and the Indian contract house that was building flash games for the kiosk. He was useless, so I was stuck figuring everything out. Including getting things running on a then obsolete HP Itanium Integrity server with an old insecure version of Fedora on it. Plus figuring out how this was all going to work in the Dominican Republic where power was not a given at any particular time nor was connectivity. These kiosks would be scattered across 10's of casinos down there. Eventually things got weird, and I figured out that it was probably a form of scam against their investors. Since they wanted things very insecure and unlogged. Then they wanted me to come down to the DR and help with setup there. I bounced at that point, I was unwilling to give them that sort of power over me. They were in with the former president down there and I would have been at their mercy. 10 ish years later I would hear from the "manager" again. He wanted me to help with an automated locker system. I helped a bit but once he begged me to go to an ATT store and recharge his prepaid phone I was done with him. (I did recharge his phone because I am a sucker for a sob story) If someone seems scummy, DO NOT work for them. Your gut is probably telling you something. That said, a good work ethic and a baptism by fire where you have to do everything can be an effective way to get your start.

ghostbrainalpha 5y ago
Working for the mob can be a good deal. Basically no oversight into what you are doing because they don't have the technical knowledge to judge your work. Overpay (if sometimes irregular), and easy hours. As long as you don't "know" they are doing anything illegal with your work, and no one can prove that you know what they are doing. It can work out. The worst part about it is they try to make up for their lack of technical knowledge as a manager by becoming close with you in a personal way. Source: I worked for someone convicted of multiple crimes (racketeering, assault, intimidation of a juror), but on his legitimate business.
- Joker_vD 5y ago
  When did the lack of technical knowledge ever stopped managers from oversighting the work? I for some reason don't think that "the mob" has any more lenience than the military, for example — and its pretty much the universal rule that the military believes in "tenacity prevails over everything, it prevails even over the reason" like no one else.
- johnmaguire 5y ago
  > As long as you don't "know" they are doing anything illegal with your work, and no one can prove that you know what they are doing. It can work out. ...and no personal ethical dilemmas with said arrangement. > The worst part about it is they try to make up for their lack of technical knowledge as a manager by becoming close with you in a personal way. FWIW, this happens outside the mob too.
- karmicthreat 5y ago
  Working for the mob is a tenuous deal. Because you probably don't know unless you are involved in illegal things. BUT like many business owners they are kind of desperate because they can't hire good talent easily. So it could be an option (for some people, and maybe not even good), but really unless you can deal with stress and people well it won't go well. I was able to learn to deal with both pretty quickly. And I credit some of that early experience to being able to just dive into projects I know nothing about. But it can all go sideways pretty quick. I have a feeling that is more common. Plus you don't want to be involved in an investigation.
- munk-a 5y ago
  I've heard surprisingly good things in general about working for shady organizations. Usually they treat you splendidly and go out of their way to make sure you're happy with your work. However, the techy dude who actually built the system that lets a bunch of folks rip off ATMs quite often ends up being the fall guy and losing all of their accumulated wealth. It is a gamble that can and usually does pay off but one where the expected gain is still much lower than just working in a legitimate field.
mrweasel 5y ago
There’s a Canadian mafia?
- dayofthedaleks 5y ago
  In Montreal, primarily. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizzuto_crime_family https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizzuto_crime_family
  - purple_ferret 5y ago
    even makes a location appearance in The Sopranos
- spaetzleesser 5y ago
  Mafia like groups are everywhere. The names may be different.
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  If you think the idea of a Canadian mafia is funny... You may be positively tickled by the fact that the maple syrup industry is controlled by a cartel like group that may be mafia-adjacent and there have been high-stakes maple syrup heists. https://www.google.com/search?&q=mafia+maple+syrup https://www.google.com/search?&q=mafia+maple+syrup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Heist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Hei... It's no joke, of course. That's precious stuff. And where there's money there's crime... Today [2018], a barrel of maple syrup is worth about $1,200 — that's around 18 times the value of U.S. crude oil.
  - munk-a 5y ago
    If you think the syrup cartel is impressive - you should see the Dairy Farmers of Canada (also mostly based out of Quebec - most suffocating organizations up here in Canada end up being QC based).
  - r00fus 5y ago
    The low price of crude oil is amazing given its utility. I remember hearing about how oil (given its non-sustainable nature) should actually be valued a LOT more.
make3 5y ago
recharging a crime phone in front of a camera lol
hallway_monitor 5y ago
> Your gut is probably telling you something. There are many times I have regretted not listening to my gut, something feeling "off". OP's story had obvious red flags but in all situations, paying attention to how your body (or "gut") feels is always a good idea.
- karmicthreat 5y ago
  I was kind of dumb and desperate at the time, I got better. These days I would just quote an amazingly unreasonable amount of money. If they said ok, well I could buy a whole lot of therapy and a house in Austin afterward.
  - voidfunc 5y ago
    Gotta make sure you tell them you want it upfront too before you do any work. Tho still a good idea to stay away from potentially organized crime, they have a tendency to hang around and show up again when you think you’re all done.
hlandau 5y ago
Is it bad that the strangest thing about this story to me is that the Canadian mafia procured an Itanium server and then just used it for random webdev?
voidfunc 5y ago
Is the Canadian mob polite at least?
- dennis_jeeves 5y ago
  They will apologize for not robbing you ...
tintt 5y ago
Mob is hiring backend guys now, brave new world

ghostbrainalpha 5y ago

Working for the mob can be a good deal. Basically no oversight into what you are doing because they don't have the technical knowledge to judge your work. Overpay (if sometimes irregular), and easy hours. As long as you don't "know" they are doing anything illegal with your work, and no one can prove that you know what they are doing. It can work out. The worst part about it is they try to make up for their lack of technical knowledge as a manager by becoming close with you in a personal way. Source: I worked for someone convicted of multiple crimes (racketeering, assault, intimidation of a juror), but on his legitimate business.

Joker_vD 5y ago
When did the lack of technical knowledge ever stopped managers from oversighting the work? I for some reason don't think that "the mob" has any more lenience than the military, for example — and its pretty much the universal rule that the military believes in "tenacity prevails over everything, it prevails even over the reason" like no one else.
johnmaguire 5y ago
> As long as you don't "know" they are doing anything illegal with your work, and no one can prove that you know what they are doing. It can work out. ...and no personal ethical dilemmas with said arrangement. > The worst part about it is they try to make up for their lack of technical knowledge as a manager by becoming close with you in a personal way. FWIW, this happens outside the mob too.
karmicthreat 5y ago
Working for the mob is a tenuous deal. Because you probably don't know unless you are involved in illegal things. BUT like many business owners they are kind of desperate because they can't hire good talent easily. So it could be an option (for some people, and maybe not even good), but really unless you can deal with stress and people well it won't go well. I was able to learn to deal with both pretty quickly. And I credit some of that early experience to being able to just dive into projects I know nothing about. But it can all go sideways pretty quick. I have a feeling that is more common. Plus you don't want to be involved in an investigation.
munk-a 5y ago
I've heard surprisingly good things in general about working for shady organizations. Usually they treat you splendidly and go out of their way to make sure you're happy with your work. However, the techy dude who actually built the system that lets a bunch of folks rip off ATMs quite often ends up being the fall guy and losing all of their accumulated wealth. It is a gamble that can and usually does pay off but one where the expected gain is still much lower than just working in a legitimate field.

mrweasel 5y ago

There’s a Canadian mafia?

dayofthedaleks 5y ago
In Montreal, primarily. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizzuto_crime_family https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizzuto_crime_family
- purple_ferret 5y ago
  even makes a location appearance in The Sopranos
spaetzleesser 5y ago
Mafia like groups are everywhere. The names may be different.
JohnBooty 5y ago
If you think the idea of a Canadian mafia is funny... You may be positively tickled by the fact that the maple syrup industry is controlled by a cartel like group that may be mafia-adjacent and there have been high-stakes maple syrup heists. https://www.google.com/search?&q=mafia+maple+syrup https://www.google.com/search?&q=mafia+maple+syrup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Heist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Hei... It's no joke, of course. That's precious stuff. And where there's money there's crime... Today [2018], a barrel of maple syrup is worth about $1,200 — that's around 18 times the value of U.S. crude oil.
- munk-a 5y ago
  If you think the syrup cartel is impressive - you should see the Dairy Farmers of Canada (also mostly based out of Quebec - most suffocating organizations up here in Canada end up being QC based).
- r00fus 5y ago
  The low price of crude oil is amazing given its utility. I remember hearing about how oil (given its non-sustainable nature) should actually be valued a LOT more.

make3 5y ago

recharging a crime phone in front of a camera lol

hallway_monitor 5y ago

> Your gut is probably telling you something. There are many times I have regretted not listening to my gut, something feeling "off". OP's story had obvious red flags but in all situations, paying attention to how your body (or "gut") feels is always a good idea.

karmicthreat 5y ago
I was kind of dumb and desperate at the time, I got better. These days I would just quote an amazingly unreasonable amount of money. If they said ok, well I could buy a whole lot of therapy and a house in Austin afterward.
- voidfunc 5y ago
  Gotta make sure you tell them you want it upfront too before you do any work. Tho still a good idea to stay away from potentially organized crime, they have a tendency to hang around and show up again when you think you’re all done.

hlandau 5y ago

Is it bad that the strangest thing about this story to me is that the Canadian mafia procured an Itanium server and then just used it for random webdev?

voidfunc 5y ago

Is the Canadian mob polite at least?

dennis_jeeves 5y ago
They will apologize for not robbing you ...

tintt 5y ago

Mob is hiring backend guys now, brave new world