Hey Jesse,<p>I'm also formerly homeless, and now the cofounder of <a href="https://LambdaSchool.com" rel="nofollow">https://LambdaSchool.com</a> (YC S17). We have a nonprofit fund designed specifically to help out homeless software engineers looking for a job.<p>I'd love to put you in a cheap airbnb or apartment, hook you up with Lambda School's career services team who will help review your resume, get your github and portfolio in shape, practice interviewing, and help you land a job. We've already seen multiple success stories (for example David <a href="https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/homeless-man-handing-out-resumes-in-bay-area-lands-software-engineer-job/1386955148" rel="nofollow">https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/homeless-man-handing-out...</a>, who is now making almost $100k/yr).<p>Generous donors have allowed us to continue to grow the fund after Lambda School's original $50,000 contribution.<p>I know how hard it is to focus on getting a job when you're just trying to survive, so let's try to eliminate that distraction. Hit me up at austen@lambdaschool.com and let's help you focus and get to where you need to be.<p>PS if anyone on HN wants to donate to the fund it's here - <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/lambda-perpetual-access-fund" rel="nofollow">https://www.gofundme.com/lambda-perpetual-access-fund</a>. Generally we can help someone who knows how to write code go from homeless to hired with a couple thousand dollars all-in.
As the author discovered, reliable transportation and a permanent residence are often prerequisites for many office jobs. However, I do know that in Iowa there are <i>many</i> other kinds of jobs, lots of which would pay a wage sufficient to get back on one's feet, and have more lenient requirements. Perhaps the author needs to get <i>any</i> job vs. a programming job? Establishing a place to live, getting consistent income, and <i>then</i> going after the programming job would be a better idea perhaps? Sucks to take a step back, but sometimes that's the only way to go forward.<p>I have a family member going through this same thing and struggling with similar issues. The author is right, it won't be easy to rise above the situation they find themselves in, but the key thing is to stop making bad decisions and take small but incremental steps to improve. Big bang "remote programming job" might not be in the cards. But farm laborer could be. Which may be a step in that direction.
Looks like this was written today. He's apparently still homeless and he closes with a request for feedback.<p>So I'm just going to leave these links here (disclosure: they are my sites):<p><a href="https://www.pocketputer.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.pocketputer.com/</a><p><a href="https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/</a> (Same look, but different site)<p><a href="https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/</a><p>This is listed on the <i>Links</i> page of PocketPuter.com, but I'm going to put it here on HN for maximum exposure (not mine, just an awesome resource):<p>List of Remote Jobs and Gigs Platforms<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JfNAbUX_lN9K3MCNHO15GJtJ5qpk7H9Cl3xTBwv2FR8/htmlview" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JfNAbUX_lN9K3MCNHO15...</a><p>Best.
> The calls usually go something like this.<p>> Me: “First thing, is I am looking for a remote position just long enough to allow me to save for a vehicle.”<p>> Recruiter: “Sure. <i>spends 20 minutes gathering as much information about me as they can</i>”<p>> Recruiter: “We’d love to move forward with a position but you do not have a vehicle and the position requires you to have reliable transportation.”<p>Why would do you that? The recruiter and employer don't care if you unicycle, hitchhike, swim, or teleport to work. The conversation should be about your skills, experience, professional goals. The recruiter won't feel good about shopping you around if you make it sound like you're going to quit once you've saved a couple grand for a used car.
Good news for op. I know a homeless developer who is not so lucky (yet?).<p>Emmanuel (we call him Mani) is a 50 (or 60?) year old homeless man who would smile and shake our hands every day when we showed up at our local library to hold coding hours. He came in to every single office hour from (4-8pm) to learn as much as he could and literally never missed a day in the 3 months pilot that we were there.<p>We learned from the librarians that for the past year, Mani has been coming to the library right when it opened (9am) and stayed until it closed (8pm) every day (including the weekend), trying to teach himself how to code. He was hoping to launch his website so he could make some money off ads. With a notepad++ on his usb drive, he coded every day piecing little things together. We taught him basic JavaScript and simple server stuff and helped him get his website up! <a href="https://newsgusher.garagescript.org/" rel="nofollow">https://newsgusher.garagescript.org/</a><p>Our office hours has ended, but Mani is still plowing away at the library. If you want to meet him, you can find him at Downtown San Jose Public Library on the third floor.
The author kind of glosses over a lot of conflicts with friends, family, employers, and briefly mentions mental health problems. It sounds like that could be contributing a lot to his struggles.<p>I burned out of my first job because of poor mental health, which I didn't prioritize because work was all-consuming and being sick makes it hard to seek out help. I took a few months off before interviewing, and realized that I needed to get a job and really fight to break the cycle I'd been trapped in.<p>I don't have any great suggestions for the author getting back on his feet, but once he does he should prioritize building a 6-month safety net and working through whatever he's struggling with. Yoga, running and medication all helped me.
Get a job: don’t tell or show recruiter how desperate you are. Don’t tell recruiter you’re homeless. Work on portfolio of projects. GitHub.<p>Shelter: Get a van. Live in it. Boondocking is better than the cardboard box or couch surfing.<p>Food: Noodles. Vegetables. Rice. Chicken.<p>Tech: android tablets can run Linux and can support mouse and keyboard. Tablets are easier than laptops to charge. Laptops can do more. Trade offs.<p>Security: get some money into bank account ASAP. Make it a regular habit. Any money you’d put into alcohol etc put it into bank account. This is your safety net. Start from zero.<p>Street address: get a mailing address. Parents/friends may be able to help. You only need to visit. post office box can help as well but costs money.<p>Relationships: be careful. Your safety net is likely not strong enough to tolerate much failure. Counter argument: having someone else around can help in little ways.<p>Decisions: think critically. Need versus Want.<p>Mental health: read autobiographies. Read fiction. Read. Improve all gaps that seem easy to fix. Understand that homelessness is a hole you can dig yourself out of.<p>Health: teeth, hair etc hygiene is king. Drop any kind of drug other than coffee. Alcohol etc will make you an easy target.<p>Small steps.
This may sound a bit harsh, but dude you need to lower your standards. In the coding and startup world we created a cult like impossible dream to fulfill.<p>I have a startup that went through some very low lows. I had just quit my cushy job and had saved enough money to last for 2 years, but not my co-founders. When we ran through our funding, things became harsh. I funded everything out of my pocket.<p>The CTO couldn't afford his apartment anymore so I paid for his rent. Not long after, I got a family emergency and couldn't afford it anything anymore. I told him to get a part time job to help out. He squarely told me no. "Every successful startup founder lived in a van and dined on Ramen."<p>I stopped paying his rent. He moved into the office. I urged him to get a job because I couldn't afford it anymore. He refused. I stopped paying the office rent. He went homeless.<p>He lived on the generosity of strangers, though he went days without eating. He refused to get a job. As long as someone was helping him, he wouldn't work. We had to trick him to help him, a friend gave him some space to live together, then later told him that he needs to participate on paying rent. Only then he started looking for work.<p>There are a lot of conflicts the OP only mentioned in passing and didn't go into details. There is a lot more to this story, maybe the mental health issue nullify anything I say here. But thinking your story is like that of every unicorn tech founder can lead you to make terrible decisions.<p>Sometimes you have to be humble and make sacrifices to be able to move forward.
I was 'homeless' for a few months (in the sense that I didn't have a home) but for most of that time I had a high enough income that I could afford to stay in AirBnBs. It was a scary experience. At one point I had lost my job, I was about $6000 in debt, in a foreign country, with a 'dependent' spouse (also without job) and I only had about $1000 left on my credit card.<p>When I hear entrepreneurs talk about how much they risked to build their startup, I roll my eyes.<p>Once you've had to to do whatever it takes just to be able to afford to keep a roof over your head, what a lot of people call 'risk' actually doesn't seem risky at all. Would they have ended up sleeping on the streets if it didn't work out? It doesn't seem like it.<p>I understand now that difficulty and hardship are highly subjective. Probably some people would look at my experience and think that I had it easy.
Been there done that. Worked a lot of other jobs too to survive (driving forklift, welder's help, construction) - got too injured to continue that so went back to fighting to work office jobs.
Eventually succeeded. I spent 20 years in that half way world of not enough to survive, not enough to stay off the streets but I'm off now and have been for 7+ years now.<p>The first employer that got me off the streets I didn't tell I was homeless. I worked for them for a month crashing out in friends' couches until I could move into a tiny apartment walking distance from the job.<p>(there's levels of homeless. I only spent weeks on the streets themselves and about a year living out of an old beater car I could keep functional)<p>I don't really have anything to add, other than try to work other stuff. Unless you live somewhere ridiculously expensive (like - oh - my last city of Vancouver BC) - you'll probably be able to drag yourself out with even a minimum wage warehouse job or the like, and get yourself set for going back into main career.<p>My favourite warehouse job I worked for a year. Every day saying how great my vacation was going ;)
(half of that was living in a car. But I made it)
Op First thing, I dont think I can ever understand the pain you are going through. I just wish you the best , remember you are in one of the high demand field and it would be very easy for you to bounce back.<p>Next I would suggest you stop looking for remote jobs and temporary gigs. Those things are only useful when you already have roof over your head and food to eat. Based on maslow hierarchy of needs, your number one focus should be to get roof/food etc. I see you are creating side projects but I would ask you to focus on getting a full time job which can give you reliable salary. This may require mind shift but its not written in stone.<p>Third thing I would say is that past is gone. Its literally gone, it only exist now in your memory so hopefully you can let go and create path forward. Seems like you are already step ahead because you are taking responsibility for all that has happened. I would also suggest you try to change your environment and get to a bigger city where you can find more jobs and some better city resources.<p>Good luck
Hang in there, you're still young and healthy. It gets better. You can become a programmer, and there are jobs out there.<p>Now, some harsh advice: You are being completely unrealistic in your expectation of a remote position while you live in rural Iowa.<p>Problem 1: Where you are located<p>_____________________<p>Get out of Iowa. Seriously. The tech-hub effect is real and Iowa has very few job opportunities for programmers. Source: I grew up in rural Iowa and I know how to use Linkedin.<p>All of the places I've chosen to live in my life have been VERY foot-traffic friendly. Examples of such cities: Denver. Chicago. Portland, Or. San Francisco. Austin. Columbus. Kansas City, MO. Minneapolis. Somewhere you can walk and live without having a car. Places that have companies hiring programmers. You can save a ton of money by not having a car and just using public transit and walking.<p>Problem 2: Transportation:<p>___________________________<p>I have NEVER owned a car. I lived in Chicago for 10 years. I took public transit or biked. Saved me thousands of dollars over the years. Why do you want to spend $300/mo on car payments for an asset that is constantly deprecating and has poor resale value while you are struggling to keep a roof over your head?<p>Problem 3: The Remote Position<p>____________________<p>Some harsh advice on this remote position notion: You need to look for another job while learning coding on the side if you want to stick to your guns as a remote developer. I'll enumerate the reasons below:<p>1. Nobody wants to take a chance on an unproven 20-something programmer for a remote position. Remote positions tend to be for people with a proven track record.<p>2. Your Linkedin is not filled out enough to compete for remote positions. You don't seem to have had any real programming positions for an extended period of time. You should be going for entry level positions currently.<p>3. You have no formal education, which can often be substituted for actual work experience. Google touts that they hire TONS of people with no formal degree. Almost 15% (on certain teams)! Yep, degrees don't matter if you're willing to roll the dice on being part of that lucky ( Or extremely brilliant ) 15%!<p>4. Remote positions are still relatively rare. By limiting yourself to remote positions you are excluding yourself from most possible jobs.<p>Edit: On the list of great cities to move to, Des Moines is also a viable option.
One thing I found interesting straight off - by the cartoons and tech described (Pentium ii as a hand me down computer, internet connections at school and at homes) the author is at least 10 years younger than me - yet they started using the same language I did: qbasic.<p>Being poor rather than middle class put them about a decade behind on the tech curve.
One thing that could help is using youth hostels, when I lost my apartment I was able to find a $25 a day youth hostel where I stayed for 3 weeks but I was able to hold on to my office job without anyone finding out I no longer had my own place.
Every government should be addressing homelessness with "housing first" approaches.<p><a href="https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/" rel="nofollow">https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/</a><p>Being homeless is HARD and does not make it any easier to address any of your other problems.<p>We should all be telling our elected officials we want a "housing first" approach.
There was a PDF I saw many years ago, posted to craigslist, that was written by a homeless man, but consciously choosing to be homeless.<p>It had an interesting description of various strategies used.<p>I think he lived in Hawaii and would eat "free" Burger King by rummaging through the trash during a sweepstakes and finding the coupons for free food.<p>He also rented a small storage unit to keep his possessions (including a laptop), and had a gym membership for showering.<p>Anybody else come across this?
Hey Jesse, I can sympathize with your situation, and I've seen you get some really solid advice in other comments here so I'll just add my 2¢ about presenting yourself.<p>I have a couple of probing questions, and I mean no offense, just to provoke thought:<p>1) What good is atheism as a worldview if it prevents you from communicating, and even receiving help you desperately need?<p>2) Why would a recruiter or potential employer care about your past, living arrangements, or financial troubles?<p>You sound like a smart, driven guy, but I think you're letting your situation and your beliefs cripple your potential right now. You don't have to _change_ those things, they're real, but you might want to limit who you share them with, or in what context, especially until you can find the help you need.<p>Wishing you the best!
Thanks for sharing man, I hope it gives you hope that so many people are engaging with your story. I'm from Iowa so I know how brutal the winters can be, can't imagine what it's like without a roof over your head. Fortune landed me in San Francisco at the right time, but it wasn't so kind to my brother. He's making ends meet back in Iowa, but just barely.<p>The advice I would offer is self love and hustle. Anytime you hear that voice saying you fucked up, acknowledge it and let it go. Today is a new day full of opportunity. Have you tried grabbing gigs on Upwork or Freelancer? If you've got the chops, most gigs would pay well enough to get you rent in Iowa pretty quick. Keep your chin up, and keep hacking!
This guys code on GH is quite a bit better and broad than plenty of actual hires I've been part of. Kind of ridiculous someone who's gone as far as understanding and playing with cellular automata off their own back can't find stable work. Also someone presenting code in Lua, PHP, Python, JS and Ruby... you're lucky if someone has 100 lines of pure copy paste Python on GH.
Hey dude
Just read your story. I'm sorry that it ended how it did but I am really amazed of your strength and determination! I mean, wow, to go through that and still keep on fighting? That takes character!
I'm certain things will change to the better. Our industry need more people with your determination. Keep up the hard work, Jesse.<p>All the best from hopefully a future colleague
I recently quit web development and decided to get regular work. It just wasn't working out for me in my town/country (not in the US). My catch 22 was no experience, no chance. I couldn't even offer my services for free to get that experience, because companies just didn't need/want me.<p>I could have easily been homeless during the 2 years after I graduated, but thanks to the social welfare system, I was taken care of as a job seeker.<p>I'm now interested in something I call self startup ideas, which is currently making games for (mostly) mobile that might take off. This is only a hobby I allocate a couple of hours a day to though. Otherwise I'm doing unskilled labour for minimal wage.<p>I've had mixed feelings about my experience as a web developer. It was something I had so much passion for (even before I went to study it), but now I'm kind of glad I've walked away, as it has been a source of so much toxicity in my life recently. Kind of like kicking a really bad habit.
Hey Jesse, I am throwing a couple of random ideas here:<p>- <a href="https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/how-would-you-make-an-extra-500-in-one-month-97a9a74efc" rel="nofollow">https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/how-would-you-make-an-ext...</a>, most interesting I found the "teach chinese kids english"<p>- Small freelance gigs, as a native english speaker you have distinct advantage - <a href="https://www.upwork.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.upwork.com/</a>, <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.fiverr.com/</a><p>- Probably not an option because of initial costs but there is a huge shortage for developers in Europe, especially CEE where costs are low and wages growing fast. Even call centers would gladly pay $1000+/month just for your english.<p>- Drop me a line (email in profile). I don't have anything right now but sometimes I'm looking for some help for side projects.<p>Good luck!
Look at the bright side: at least he can pass background checks, there's no mention of a criminal record.<p>There's a guy in his 40s on freenode/#SDL who is constantly ranting about being unable to find work because he was involved in some gang stuff in his youth giving him a criminal record.
Hang in there. More of us have been in this situation or close to it than you know. Hopefully at a developer meet up you will find that first rung of the ladder.
Hi Jesse,<p>I want to recommend two books for you to read. One is about developing your monetary power. The other is about developing your career capital.<p>"Early Retirement Extreme" by Jacob Lund Fisker.<p>"So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport.<p>You might be homeless right now because you haven't been protecting your personal power. The personal power to command a good salary. The personal power of having money in the bank.<p>You might have been giving away your power and depending on other people. Try to watch out for that.<p>The more you build your career capital, and the more you build your bank capital, the more free you'll be.<p>Imagine having money in the bank that lets you walk away from a shitty job. Imagine having the savings that lets you take a few months to find a new & better job.<p>We know you have skills. Your linkedin profile could be improved, some more detail on what you did at each job, and include some of your portfolio in there.<p>You can find work on upwork.com or other sites. Setup a profile on there, set your hourly rate at $20/hr, and start from there. On your profile, highlight the fact that you're in Iowa and fluent in english.
> I was still stubborn and would not agree to believing in the almighty bearded creator in the sky, so one of the two shelters would not help me.<p>I know it’s really common but it still shocks me when charities make receiving support contingent on believing whatever they happen to believe.
Someone hook this human up with some gainful employment and attempt to assist him in auto-stabilizing. He sounds like he would be a real asset given a relatively small investment.<p>FWIW, I can't think of any other country this is possible in besides the USA.
Why not work any job first and get your life straight? McDonalds, cleaning, Kirchenhelp whatever.<p>Than with a small flat, internet and a computer you have enough to try again a career in it.
This article makes no sense to me. It feels like there is something wrong with this dude and he still hasn't figured out what yet. I guess this article is for soliciting pity. But his real story seems extremely juicy. He should write about the details there. All of the interesting decisions and events that got him to where he is was glossed over in this article.<p>"My interest in computers and programming was more like an intense obsession. It affected my ability to focus at school." <- this makes no sense. To me, programming is an exercise in formulating a plan, executing the plan, and verifying the outcome. Every step requires focus. How do you "study" and "program" without being able to focus?<p>"Undiagnosed mental-health problems led to some fairly poor decisions." <- what health problems? what decisions?<p>"Relationship issues for a now twenty year old developer proved to be too much. Emotionally I was devastated when that relationship ended. It affected me and I had no one to help me through the emotional stresses of the situation. It affected my work. It affected my activism." <- Every sentence here is interesting. If he went into detail and wrote about this, it would fit the title and it would grab my attention.
A similar story is pdxHomelessDev from last month. Some people on HN helped him out but I never heard if he got off the streets. His gofundme hasn’t updated. <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/homeless-dev-support" rel="nofollow">https://www.gofundme.com/homeless-dev-support</a>
So it sounds like you'd rather be homeless and not lie to others than stay in the religious-affiliated shelter and lie to them about your belief.<p>Have you thought about this deeply? Seems like perhaps the experience of being kicked out by grandma because of your atheism has perhaps poisoned religion to you to the extent that now you're so headstrong about denying it that you are missing a huge opportunity to get some stability by simply nodding your head and saying what they want to hear at that shelter. Might be worth sacrificing your principles temporarily to find a place to stay. If you can't do that, try finding a church that will you help you if you agree to at least hear them out - maybe you don't need to profess faith but they'll at least accept you listening to their beliefs (even if deep inside you know nothing they say or do can change your mind, letting them feel that possibility and try might be enough for them to shelter you).<p>The truth is that small towns are probably one of the worst and best places to be homeless, but a lot of that 'best' comes from churches. So if you're going to lock yourself out from their help, you probably would be better off street begging or something in SF or NYC or some larger city with government assistance for homeless and staying in a non-religious shelter there. Because small towns don't have that government infrastructure, but they do have churches with foodbanks and religious families looking to get someone back on their feet if they can feel that they've turned that person into a Christian.<p>If you're so passionate about secularism - you could lie about believing, live at that shelter, get your life together, and in 10 years use the income and resources you have then to advocate for secularism or atheism.<p>My other piece of feedback is remove the secret keys from your GH account (I saw some on your IRC bot), you may be missing out on lots of potential work because that's a huge security flaw (or some other word greater than flaw) - no company will want you to work for them if they think you could expose secrets to the world wide web.<p>Last - try to do less experimentation with code and more experimentation with your job application process.<p>If you are repeatedly starting phone screens with your story about needing a car and it isn't working, try something different. You're not going to find many articles on the web telling you to lie about yourself, your history, your reasons for resume gaps, or your home situation. But most people aren't as desperate as you are. Maybe get creative with the truth and sell yourself as something you aren't.<p>Have you considered just making up an address or choosing a random house address when you put down your place of residence on an application?
Homelessness needs to be addressed nationally. Doing it on a city and county level is not effective enough at addressing this national crisis. The problem is deep and all American cities are impacted by it. We need to look together at it and come up with solutions that address housing affordability, addiction, mental illness, medical disease and insurance issues, and a basic standard of living. We need a central place where all homeless can have these issues addressed and can work to help advocates and other homeless people in the community to recover. The solution is needed now.
>keeping a charge was almost impossible<p>Hey Jesse, pick up a solar panel. You can get waterproof two usb port that'll crank out 20-30 watts ~$50. I'd recommend an ARM laptop too. They're cheaper and Intel is generally too power hungry anyway. A Samsung Chromebook Plus used on swappa would be really nice. It has a really bright display so you can still see it outdoors in the sun. For data, T-Mo is unlimited for $30/mo pre-paid.<p>Put your panel in the sun, sit in the shade at a park, tether your phone for internet, and you're golden. You can strap the panel to your backpack and charge on the move too.