ISZUDDIN
ISMAIL
I run the JOMLAUNCH Asia Virtual Conference where we talk to solo developers, bootstrappers, side hustlers, digital nomads and all the likes and get them to share their stories.
I also teach PHP & Laravel online in Malay language at Kelas Programming.
my story
Click on the year to expand
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2001
Caught the Internet Marketing Bug
My earliest exposure to internet marketing was through Ken Evoy’s ebook Affiliate Masters (SiteSell.com). And I also subscribed to Allan Gardyne’s newsletter (AssociatePrograms.com), which is now run by Jay Stockwell.
Over the years, I also come in contact, and did some works with:
- Lynn Terry (clicknewz.com)
- Andre Chaperon
- Willie Crawford
- Paul Smithson (XSitePro, Intellimon)
- Eliza Steeple (LearnPianoOnline.com)
- Peter Koning
Graduated from UTM
I completed a 4-year degree programme at University of Technology Malaysia (UTM). I studied Computer Science.
Programmer at Datarunding
I graduated from college with a degree in Computer Science. And I started as a programmer at a small software house. I stayed for three months,.
CoolComputerCases.com
My first affiliate marketing site. It was only 2-pages. Made my first affiliate commission from CommissionJunction.com. It was $13.
Current Status : Sold it some time ago
I made other websites too during this time, dwelling with SEO for Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, Lycos, Excite and DMOZ directory.
2002
Programmer at HRSC
This was a startup. We developed HR systems in Perl to rival some of the big names in the industry. I stayed for about a year.
2003
System Support at Tahan
I joined Tahan Insurance as System Support Executive. I supported the HR and Payroll system because of my knowledge in HR from the previous company.
I can code and I like internet marketing, so I thought that maybe I can share a few things. This was a blog and a newsletter.
Current Status : Online but some what abandoned
2004
Married
Tied the knot this year. We are happily married with three kids.
Current Status : 3 kids and happily in love
2005
diyminisite.com
One of my better projects, which is a membership site, which grew to a few thousands members. Offered tools and resources to building mini sites.
Current Status : Abandoned and offline
DIYeBookCover.com
Offered guide and resources on how to design your own ebook cover (virtual book product mockup).
Current Status : Abandoned and offline
2007
Full-Time Internet Marketer
I took the jump and resigned from my job to work full-time on Internet Marketing.
2008
OptinDesign.com
A collection of templates for newsletter subscription form.
Current Status : Abandoned and offline
Top Performer Affiliate
XsitePro was a web design software by Intellimon Ltd (Canada) to make building mini sites easier. I promoted this software as an affiliate in the previous years and achieved Top Performer status.
DIYMINISITE.COM Version 2
An update of the DIY Mini Site with more content and resources.
Current Status : Abandoned and offline
MinisiteGallery.com
A gallery website that offers free downloads to mini site templates.
Current Status : Abandoned and offline
Mighty Minisite Template
I created a set of HTML file templates for building direct response mini site landing pages. I sold private label rights so that others can sell them and they don’t have to pay me any royalty. A lot of people are still selling them.
Current Status : Many are still selling them
2009
UploadNSell.com
Before there was Gumroad, I made UploadNSell.com. You simply add your PayPal email address and upload your files, and you are good to go. You can start selling digital products online.
Current Status : Sold and offline
Netpreneurs Online Classroom
Before there are a swarm of virtual online events in 2020 with Zoom and video conferencing, I already organized an online event with a teleseminar platform. I called in Netpreneurs Online Classroom. I had four speakers talked on the four separate teleseminars.
They were :
- Lynn Terry (ClickNewz.com)
- Peter Koning
- Dave Navarro (The Launch Coach)
- Brian D. McElroy
Current Status : Offline
2011
Freelancing
My main channel for marketing up to this point was Email Marketing. I saw a decline in response in my emails, and revenue suffered. I think it is due to the rise of Facebook and I wasn’t fast enough to adapt. I started freelancing offering PHP and WordPress related works.
From previous Internet marketing days, I had local and international clients. Universiti Sains Malaysia and Eliza Steeple of LearnPianoOnline.com to name a few.
This was a client, a friend of a friend. It started as a freelancing gig. But 1-year through the project, he offered me to be CTO for his new startup, and considered me as a co-founder. I thought that this could be a new experience to better understand the startup world. We build the Kindle of SEA, with the biggest collection of local digital publications in the region.
This was about the time I sold UploadNSell.com.
E-Sentral.com is where I really developed my IT skills again:
- deploying cloud servers on AWS, with Autoscaling load balancer, S3, Route53, database backup operations, etc
- developed our version 1 Android ebook reader app with Cordova / Phonegap
- Developed a kiosk application for Windows with NWJS
- Scripted and automated backup for the database.
- Planned the development workflow with Git Deploy on AWS Autoscaling infrastructure.
- Designed and developed the ebook repository encryption and distribution mechanism
2012
Agreed by the creator Syafiq Zainal, we renamed a Facebook group geared towards Programming as JOMWEB. We ran workshops, meetups, etc for local programmers and developers.
Because of E-Sentral.com, I got more serious with programming. That is the reason why I am pulled towards this group, to learn more about MVC frameworks, server management, Git & version control and more.
2014
BEE Award
BEE stands for Broadband Empowered Entrepreneur, an award by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). I represent E-Sentral.com to receive this award.
Flashy Flashcard Android App
As a personal side project, I developed Flashy Flashcard Android app, which is a flashcard app showcasing pictures of animals and their names. My kids were the voice talents.
Current Status : Google removed from Google Playstore because it was not updated to meet new requirements.
2015
A few years prior to this, I developed and gave away for free Simple IPN, a PHP script to easily selling digital products using PayPal. Later I developed a new script called DIPPEC, which is short for Digital Products PayPal Express Checkout. Obviously, it is using the newer PayPal Express Checkout API.
I’ve sold this directly online, and later put it up on CodeCanyon.net and in 2020, sold to a Belgium company.
Current Status : Sold and still online
First JOMLAUNCH
Initially organized by Nazrol Hafiz. JOMWEB took on to continue running the event. JOMLAUNCH is a 1-day event. It was organized to encourage developers to build and launch their projects because we see a lot of developers either hide their personal projects or never completed them.
We went on to organize the following
- JOMLAUNCH 2 – 2015
- JOMLAUNCH 3 – 2016
- JOMLAUNCH 4 – 2016
- JOMLAUNCH 5 – 2017
- JOMLAUNCH 6 – 2018
- JOMLAUNCH 7 – 2019
A project made together with NEF. It is an online media aimed to highlight local tech companies and also news within the industry.
Current Status : Live
2018
Resigned From E-Sentral.com
It has beed +/- 8 years at E-Sentral.com. I needed new challenges and decided to resign from E-Sentral.com.
Taming Tech acts as the brand guardian for JOMWEB and JOMLAUNCH. And we organized more JOMLAUNCH events.
Taming Tech also offers web & mobile development services, as well as training related to PHP programming and web development.
RunCloud is a cool server management panel. They are also a presenter at JOMLAUNCH4. You can deploy a secure, optimized LAMP server without breaking a sweat. I have been sharing a lot about RunCloud and also an ambassador for Malaysia.
2019
Featuring some of our successful members from NEF, we developed an online video course website. Aspirasi Masterclass contains some of the best teachings on business and entrepreneurship by Lilyana Latiff (MYNEF, now Beta Foundation), Linda Rasip (Dropee), Izzairi Yamin (Zepto Express), Arif Tukiman (RunCloud), and Nadhir Asharif (The Lorry).
Current Status : Live
I have been a member for a while now. Somehow this year, I became the President of Malaysian Association of Bumiputera ICT Industry and Entrepreneurs, or NEF for short. It is an association of tech startups and companies by the Bumiputera ethnicity in the country.
ARBSA stands for ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards, is a competition organized by New Entrepreneurs Foundation (in Malaysia) for the startups in the ASEAN region. I am currently the Ambassador to represent Malaysia.
2020
With NEF, we initiated the Malaysian Tech First Campaign, to promote local tech companies within the nation. We ran a few online shows on Facebook Live.
Together with JOMLAUNCH 8, we organized the JOMLAUNCH Asia Virtual Conference, a 6-day affair done fully online, due to Covid-19. Speakers include local and international solo developers such as Kyle Gawley (UK), Asep Bagja (Indonesia), Ryzal Yusoff (UK/Malaysia), Takuya Matsuyama (Japan), Warren Leow (Malaysia) and Fajar Siddiq (Singapore).
2021
Kiddocare provides on-demand babysitters. I plan and manage the tech side of the business.
This is where I create my online video course, teaching PHP and Laravel. The course is delivered in the Malay language. At times I also conduct a 4-week guided online learning program.
Here we are today!
current
Things that I am working on right now. Feel free to get in touch with me on any of these projects.
Kelas Programming
This is where I create my online video course, teaching PHP and Laravel. The course is delivered in the Malay language. At times I also conduct a 4-week guided online learning program.
Taming Tech
We do custom web and mobile development, also training related to programming for government and corporates. From PHP, Laravel, Codeigniter, Git and API development, you can be sure that you are in good hands.
jomlaunch asia
JOMLAUNCH Asia is a community for indie hackers, indie makers, digital nomads, solo developers, side hustlers, bootstrappers and all the likes in Asia. Once a year, we put on a conference with sharing from successful solo developers from around the region.
JOMWEB is a community of programmers and developers in Malaysia. JOMWEB is where JOMLAUNCH started. We talk about programming languages, frameworks, infras, technology and more.
I was the President for Malaysian Association of Bumiputera ICT Industry and Entrepreneurs, or NEF for short from 2019 to 2021. I am still serving as an exco now. It is a community of tech startups and companies by the Bumiputera ethnicity in the country. We learn from each other and also do engagement with various government agencies to voice any concerns with regards to the Industry.
my stack
These are my preferred stack. But I believe that what’s more important than the tool is the things that you build with it. I always say, “Don’t tell me what you know, show me what you’ve made”
PROGRAMMING
- PHP
- jQuery
- VueJS
- Laravel
- Codeigniter
- HTML & CSS
- WordPress Theme & Plugin Development
DESIGNING
- Affinity Designer
- Elementor Page Builder
- Bootstrap Studio
SERVER
- Ubuntu LAMP stack
- RunCloud Server Management
- Experience with AWS on EC2, S3, SES, ELB, Route53
- Experience with DigitalOcean on Spaces, Droplet, App Platform
tools I use
These are products that I use and recommend. It is safe to assume that I earn commission on some of my recommendation:
- TransferWise – a money transfer service that makes sending money globally fast and cheap. It is a good way to receive money if you expect payments from abroad.
- PlaceIt.net – from video ads, intro videos, logo designs, t-shirt mockup videos and images and a ton of other graphics for all my projects, I use PlaceIt.net.
- RunCloud – for cloud server management. I can quickly configure and setup my LAMP stack from DigitalOcean, Linode, etc be it for WordPress or for any other PHP application.
- Screencast-O-Matic – for recording programming tutorials and demonstrating software from my computer. Once recording is done, Screencast-O-Matic also has a nice video editor to smoothen the rough edges.
- DigitalOcean – for cloud servers and static storage. You can also quickly and easily deploy apps and static sites with their App Platform. I mostly use it with RunCloud for my PHP-based apps.
- Ivacy VPN – Protect yourself when online, and also watch online TV networks not available in your country. 2000+ servers and 100+ locations.
- Affinity Designer – I do all my designing with Affinity Designer now days. It is a cool piece of software at affordable price.
- Elementor Pro Page Builder – These days, I use WordPress with Elementor Pro, like for this site here. You can build almost any web design layout with Elementor Pro. And it makes implementing a design easier with the Theme Builder.
- Boostrap Studio – This helps speed up my web designing using drag-and-drop designing based on Twitter Bootstrap CSS framework. I use this to design landing pages and also web application UI.
- Laragon – for my local development environment. Even for Windows, it mimics close to what Linux server is on production. Apart from Apache, MySQL and PHP, it also comes with Composer, Putty, HeidiSQL, and Git.
- Fusio API Gateway – when you need to deploy a REST API server with PHP. Fusio comes complete with JWT Authentication, rate limiting, usage statistics and more.
- Airmeet – for running virtual events. This is what I use for JOMLAUNCH Asia, and I am glad that I found them. If you are running a virtual event, check them out.
Martial arts
Most of the details I’ve mention here are about my technical skills and experience. I don’t consider myself a martial artist. I don’t think I train enough. But I would like to share about it as a way to show respect to my teachers. And I just love the art.
Silat Gayong Malaysia
I trained the art with Cikgu Kahar Redza when I was in school. I completed the white belt, continued training for three years, but never went for the green belt grading.
Jeet Kune Do Concept (PRISMMATEC)
Cikgu Saiful Zelwany was the one that exposed me to the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do by the late Bruce Lee. It started when I was in college. We lost contact after three semesters. And we continued again probably after 10 years or so. I helped organized a seminar on knife fighting. PRISMMATEC covers weapon training, western boxing, kick-boxing, trapping & close quarters, grappling, body mechanics in fighting, and individuality in technique execution,.
Buah Pukul Lian (Solok Saga)
I trained for some time under Cikgu Hisham at Gombak. I never completed the training but I like the art. Lian is like the Malay version of Wing Chun. Some say that it may have the same origin. It is a close quarters fighting system.
Kali Balintawak
Master Jacob Samson is a master with the Kali Balintawak art. Kali Balintawak is like a close quarters stick fighting technique from Philippines. While I didn’t completed any training, I had a few sessions with Master Jacob Samson which opened my eyes to the art.