Interview with Vadim88

This week's interview is with our very own Vadim88! Check out his profile: here
Enjoy the interview:

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Bitter: To begin, let's hear a bit about yourself. What is your name, where are you from, how did you get involved with the IPS community, and what are some of your interests besides development?

Vadim: Well my full name to who ever wonders is Vadim Gavrilov, I am 20+ years old and I currently reside in Israel (In the Middle East). The first time I ever saw IPB and IPS other products (At the time there were the IP.Topsite , IP.File Manager ) Was back in 2004 when I registered as a member at a PHPBB forum, I then saw that the community lacks in some features that were really important for the forum I used to browse, Quickly I suggested the forum admin to move to IPB's forums software since it was way better then the Old PHPBB, We first ported to the Old IPB 1.2 then I saw that there were lots of stuff needed to be done manually and i was the only one who had some knowledge about coding and PHP so I took the job and started modifying the sources files, Without even knowing I registered at IBplanet (IZE today) and stated asking bunch of questions like "where is this .... how do I change that..." and before I knew it i released my first modification that was called back then "Ban Page" (That actually won a reward) and from there i just continued coding more and more and just getting better up until now that i have currently over 80 modification submitted free at Invisionmodding.com. IZE, and the official IPS forums. Of course there are few Paid modifications that go pretty well too, And i am doing lots of custom jobs for customers now days.

Besides IPS i do programming for a living and today i work at an IT company as a project leader for a busy website application that deals with Renting, From the smallest thing such as SIM card up to renting cars, The website was built from scratch by me for over a year and is still under heavy production to add more features that will make the system even better. As some of you may notice from the pictures at my profile when I am not at work or not coding i am most of the time at the Gym, Doing my thing, I have been doing sports since i can remember myself, From swimming since 4th grade up until the age of 17 when i was a professional swimmer and even won a few medals and awards, Then i started to do more Exercises and Weights, I been doing them for two years now to whoever wonders how long it took me, And i am not done yet growing. Of course i just LOVE going out on weekends, When ever there is a party you will find me there.

Well that's all about myself as short as i could.

Bitter: Since you live in Israel, (Yisrael if you want to get technical with Hebrew), do you find it difficult communicating at times with a majority of the people on the internet, specifically in IPS communities, that live in other countries/time zones?

Vadim: No, Not really, I mean I do login most of the time at night and when it's like 10PM here over at the East Coast in USA it's somewhere between 11 AM and 1 PM , So I think I am online when most of the members at the IPB communities are online.

Bitter: so you said you were a professional swimmer. What changed your mind to work more with computers instead of swim as a career (or swim less rather than most of the time)?

Vadim: Well, I were, I mean since the days I swam professionally up until today I gained like 15 KG of Mass, So it's very hard to do both, Swimmers muscles are long and narrow that's what makes them light weight and fast, People who do weights a lot there muscles starts to get shorter wider and heavier, Doing both is impossible. Since the first grade I have had a computer and I always wanted to know how that incredible thing built, I might got a little bit off of my original goal but I am really happy with what I am doing now for a living.

Bitter: Yeah, I understand. Swimming is something that needs a lot of commitment and takes up a lot of time and effort to keep in good swimming shape. So of course now you are known in the IPS community, but for those who are not aware of some of your work, can you pick a couple modifications you are proud of that you have created and explain a little about them or any future modifications you have in development?

Vadim: Sure, one of the most popular modifications I made is actually a paid modification, It’s the "Custom Forum Blocks". The modification is quite simple, What it does is it adds a sidebar to the Board Index / Forum Index / Topic Page with a custom blocks that can be manageable trough the ACP. One of the greatest thing about it is that you can actually choose wich groups can see what blocks, You get to choose the place the blocks will be shown from 3 different places like the Board Index / Forum Index / Topic Page, You can set the order that they will be displayed, You can add custom content for each block you make and create as many blocks as you want. In addition I have added the ability to add a certain 'key' to the block title that will trigger a function and the custom block will be replaced with a custom modified block. For example if you enter the word 'topiclist' in the block title when creating a new custom block it will show a block with the latest topics from the forums. Other triggers such as 'postlist' that will show latest posts made in the forums. 'memlist' that will display a block with the latest members that registered the forum. 'sitenav' that will show a site navigation panel that you can add edit and delete links from the acp in the component section. It makes the owner of the site to have the ability to show certain blocks with certain content only to certain members based on groups and based on the page they are located in. Sounds nice isn't it? You can watch some screenshots at the Modifications for sale forum. Others that made some noise are "Status Update' that adds to the board a status bar for each member that can change his status when ever they want, Then other members can see what he does. Sort of like Facebook and twitter does it... . "Rewards" that adds the ability to have members awarded for certain things they did, you can add edit and delete awards from the acp quickly and easily. There are plenty more that can be found at the resources sites. I am currently out of coding since I am waiting till IPB 3 will come out and then we will see what can be done with the new forum software. Hopefully even better easier modifications.

Bitter: That's great. I've noticed a lot of people have slowed down on the modifications lately because of IP .Board 3's release coming in a few months. Is there anything you are particularly excited about for the new board version?

Vadim: Well there are two perspectives me being excited off. First as a user perspective I a really excited with the new layout IPB will be made, From what I have read there will be a complete new board index page and the ability to add/edit and delete sections from the skin is lot easier then what it is today. Another thing which is important as well is the complete multilingual support which I find very important for software such as IPB since it gone such a long way till the place it is today. From a developers perspective I am really excited about the new Hooks management system that will make modifications so much easier to develop and install.

Bitter: By 'easier to develop' do you think there is a possibility that the less intimidating board environment would encourage people who haven't developed for IP .Board before, to make modifications, skins, etc. once IP .Board 3 is available?

Vadim: Of course, If something is easy to manage, Edit and control why would anyone refuse to share his work and knowledge with the rest of the community he belongs to. If I could code IPB modifications as a full time job….I would. But it’s far from what I can handle right now.

Bitter: Yeah, I see what you mean. If I was better at coding and knew more languages, I'd probably give it a shot myself. So you mentioned that you have a lot going on right now between the IPS community and your own life going on. I have talked to a lot of people who want to spend time working on IP .Board whether it is management, developing, etc. and they have a tough time scheduling things and managing their time. Is there any advice you could give to someone who is an aspiring developer or wants to get involved with the IPS community more, but doesn't exactly have the time and still wants to get their foot in the door somehow?

Vadim: Well that depends on the persons schedule I imagine, I for example do my IPB coding most of the time only at weekends. Only then I find the time to take a few hours sit back and finish up what ever I need to do regards IPB modifications, Custom works, Managing boards and maintenance. I don't like to sit down for a couple of minutes start coding and then see that I need to go out or what not and break my coding sequence right away. Programming can be very exhausting and as a programmer sometimes I find myself sitting and coding for several hours straight. That's something you have to work with. Not sure as in a good advice for aspiring developers but I think If you really do want to start you will sure find the time to do that.

Bitter: Indeed. I suppose time management all depends on what you are doing with IP .Board, and whatever else is going on in your life as well. Now with IP .Board 3 coming in the next few months, do you think people who use other companies for their forum software such as vBulletin would consider switching? Or would it take something more like a price drop to convince those who can't afford the software?

Vadim: Hmm, That very depends on the site owner, If he uses other forum software and he finds it as a good software, Then why should he replace it? Of course dropping the price will bring more customers but I don’t think that will be an option at IPS since there were a lot of work put into the new IPB and they even dropped a whole product to make this one developed faster and better.
Overall it will be a really great piece of work.

Bitter: I agree. I mean, I am glad I got my license back when the price wasn't so steep, and hopefully they don't change the renewal fee at all, but in my opinion, I probably would have bought the software still even if I didn't have a license already, just because I find it totally worth purchasing, despite those who illegally obtain it because they don't want to pay. Well it has been great talking to you and I am sure the IPS community will see a lot more of your work in the future. Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.

Vadim: Thanks again for taking the time to interview me. Its midnight already have to go to get some sleep for tomorrow.

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Stay tuned for more interviews in the near future.

Bitter.