If you're scrolling this on July 16, 2025, amid another wave of AI layoffs and "replacement" headlines, buckle up. This isn't your typical "AI is coming for your job" rant. It's my raw story of turning trauma into tools, and why I built Tinkerly.io - not for glory, but for myself, and now for you. To fix the world's problems in this critical window before AI swallows everything whole. To democratize software dev, slash costs, and prove that devs aren't replaceable—they're irreplaceable when armed right.
Let me start with the unfiltered truth: I created Tinkerly for me. Fresh off parting ways with a tech company where I helped land a massive raise (think eight figures), I could've coasted. But complacency? Nah. I craved more—the freedom to tackle big messes without corporate chains. So I started anew, the hard way. Tinkerly.io is ethical AI dev automation: Prompt-based scoping, transparent pricing, knowledge transfer, and high splits for devs (we're talking 70-80%—no agency stiff-arming talent). It's built to get custom software costs down fast, so SMBs and enterprises can innovate without bleeding cash.
My background? Not your Silicon Valley pedigree. I'm a high school dropout from Orlando, FL, who survived a near-fatal car accident at 17—exploratory laparotomy, post-op pain meds that spiraled into opioid addiction courtesy of Purdue Pharma's playbook. Divorced family, empty home, working tables with a baby on the way. I clawed out by brute force: Became a certified sommelier, hustled an iPad app for interactive cocktail menus in 2011 (piloted at my restaurant, scaled to Disney's Bluezoo on a Verizon hotspot—check the 2011 Disney Food Blog write-up). That grit? Trauma-informed neurodivergence—hyper-vigilance as pattern recognition, allostatic load as unbreakable focus.
Then came the heart wars: Right Ventricular Dysplasia, 3 million PVCs a year, 1,400+ VT runs, heavy meds, an ICD that shocked me three times with cold-hard reality. Seven ablations by 39, until Pepin Heart Institute's Farapulse (off-label magic from pioneer Steven Mickelson) restored homeostasis in December 2024. Arrhythmia stole my dreamer spirit; survival forged IDGAF tenacity. When you've beaten Purdue and stared down death, fear evaporates. AI panic? Bring it—I shine in chaos.
Right now, I see it everywhere: Friends, colleagues, brilliant devs getting replaced by AI. Panic in DMs: "What am I gonna do?" C-suites eyeing tech over people. It's predatory, like Purdue all over again. But AI is happening - adapt or fall behind. That's why Tinkerly exists: To help devs (and everyone) prove replacement is ridiculous. Build, break, burn it down, rebuild. Resources are endless - Claude, Grok 4, Daft for distributed ML. Prove your value: Turn AI into your ally, not enemy.
Enter Orkestra - my rough draft open-source CRM, built as Tinkerly's internal beast but fully public domain (https://github.com/BTMMatty/orkestra). No bloat like Salesforce ($150+/user/month - why in 2025?). NLP-prompted everything: "Summarize lost deals Q2," auto-hierarchies, agentic workflows augmenting humans (predict churn, auto-notes). I didn't build it to brag - it's proof: Custom dev is lightning-fast now (1-2 weeks solo, per my Grok DD). SMBs/enterprises, ditch bloat - own your stack, save $50k/year. Devs, fork it, improve it - tell me how to make it epic. For my team, it's game - changing; for the world, it's a weapon against AI displacement.
This is bigger than code. It's grit winning. Overcoming Purdue taught me systems can be beaten; heart shocks proved nothing's impossible. Tinkerly/Orkestra/Perswade Watson are my keys to the kingdom—passing mentor wisdom (C²PS: Credibility, Commonality, Problem, Solution) to every sales agent/dev out there. World's on fire? Shine brighter. Adapt, build, win.
What do you think, dev.to? Fork Orkestra, join Tinkerly's mission (high dev splits, ethical AI), or share your AI survival story below. Let's democratize dev—together.
DM for collabs; raising $1.5M seed to scale this revolution.
Peace, Matty - daft_pixie ✌️🧚♂️