Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 91 posts

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#31

Post by clubm8 »

david-gpu wrote: post #17

You ask for help, but you don't tell us the sort of information we would need to help: - Where are you? - What education do you have? - What work experience do you have? - What other marketable skills do you have, if any? - What family and friends do you have that could provide any support?

> Where are you?

Pittsburgh, PA

> What education do you have?

PhD ABD Security Informatics

>What work experience do you have?

Mozila and PARC, UX Researcher, Pentester at Tech Impact

>What other marketable skills do you have, if any?

In addition to numerous UX research papers I can code in bash and python, and do light C/C++ perl and a few others (basially, enough to understand and deploy a vuln)

>What family and friends do you have that could provide any support?

None really -- I had a small social circle and went to college in the town I grew up in, folks moved away. My family is homophobic and abusive -- I just had one of my family members make a show of giving me an Aldi's gift card and deny remembering a Halloween parade where one of the mafia types I had voted out of office wandered the parade handing out fifty cent pieces to children.

(Before we had legal casinos here).

If you want, I can send you a CV -- and I'm happy to take something other than some TS:SCI

I got the impression RAND and CERT treated my interviews as free consulting sessions, so they're no longer on my list.

Any other questions?

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#32

Post by awesomeMilou »

clubm8 wrote: post #24
lusus_naturae wrote: post #2

What keeps you from being employed as a store clerk or something like that? Is it citizenship issues? Have you tried remote work sites, or something like upwork? Is there an unemployment office near you? It might even be your location, per my understanding jobs are more abundant in urban or close-to-urban areas, but require having a car or housing in that area. What if you secured a job first via an unemployment offi…

> What keeps you from being employed as a store clerk or something like that? Is it citizenship issues? I mean, like many people I'm not best suited to working a register if I can code in bash and python. It's the typical issues when you're raised Catholic, have to rely on family for support. I'm a US citizen and eligible for an Italian passport, but I don't have the funds to continue the process.

> if I can code in bash and python

I'm sorry to reverse the take a bit here, but what makes you think that these qualifications deserve a job as an SWE? These aren't sought after languages - pretty much anyone with a pulse and three working brain cells can be a python programmer these days (no offense to any professional python devs here, but I doubt your main qualification in your CV is "python programmer"). It's the same for bash.

Do you have any formal education? Qualifications? A degree?

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#33

Post by cc101 »

For some folks finding a position as a camp host can help ease one's distress. Campers are almost always relaxed, friendly, and out to have a good time. The campground, itself, is usually a beautiful and pleasant place to be. While it's only for part of the year and doesn't solve all one's issues (food for example), it can help move one's life forward.

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#34

Post by drycobbler »

clubm8 wrote: post #23
drycobbler wrote: post #12

> I don't use hard drugs Do you use cannabis? Your writing suggests to me (not a medical health professional but a family member to a person with mental health struggles) that you might be experiencing thought disorder, which is a sign of psychosis. In some people, cannabis use (including after a long period of use with no apparent negative effects) can cause substance abuse psychosis. Thought disorder can also be a…

I'm no longer willing to, since I was harassed repeatedly when I did exactly as you describe. I'm not going to pay to turn my phone on when I'm preparing for emigration. It's been FOUR years. I can show you photos of my wounds, and photos of the laptop that was smashed. This is an economic issue, not a psychological issue. Lack of reoccuring income, paired with years of only one job offer at a time after interviews m…

It appears you are in the Bay. You may have previously been diagnosed with anxiety and CPTSD and treated for those. It’s common for people with those diagnosis to later be diagnosed with something else.

You appear to be suffering from a psychosis. California had a new law that can get you help. Call the local mental line and say you are unable to provide for your own well-being due to persecutory delusions and disordered thinking. Ask to be admitted to an inpatient program, where the doctor can give you an antipsychotic medicine. Your life will totally change for the better.

You want to do good for society, which is commendable. You can’t help others unless you help yourself first. Please get help.

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#35

Post by clubm8 »

drycobbler wrote: post #27
sshine wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you're doing anything w/ THC I would stop that immediately I would say the same. I don’t get any schizo vibe, though. Only a great deal of feeling victimised. >> am I just a signal in the noise to be discarded when I'm no longer useful? […] Why won't anyone help me? It sounds like you feel abandoned by your family and that this keeps you in such a distressed state that it prevents you from operating. It may be t…

[flagged]

>Yesterday they commented about warning the CIA. A personal preoccupation with the CIA is a common delusion for Americans.

Sean "vilerat" Smith connected me with my PhD. I worked for a CMU professor prior to grad school. I had multiple people advise me I should do NSA or State.

Please don't conflate having had too much tea with psychosis, especially when it's someone like me who literally sat down with someone from the CERT insider threat team for coffee to discuss career paths pre-Snowden.

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#36

Post by clubm8 »

drycobbler wrote: post #29
clubm8 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I understand your situation can be incredibly stressful, but have you been evaluated by a mental health professional? Yes -- part of the issue was here was that the local health care monopoly doesn't really have a vested interest in helping, since the candidate I got elected immediately went through >t might be the case that getting a handle on this, esp. if it comes to a medical intervention, might be a good first…

Call the mental health crisis line, please. You don’t need to stop cannabis because it’s bad or you are bad. Stopping cannabis will help you achieve your goal of a stable living situation with stable employment. Please try it.

I'm not on cannabis? I feel like you're telling me to not use things that help.

(I regret not keeping the alaprazolam script, but... when you take that drug, you're set up for twice the anxiety when it wears off)

I'm angry and frustrated I'm economically precarious, and have folks like you say "call a crisis line" when I tried that prior -- I was forced to rely on my (abusive) family for support.

Do you want to extend help, or be adversarial?

I can be adversarial if you prefer that.

Or maybe... crazy idea, someone connects me with a recruiter :-)

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#37

Post by clubm8 »

beebmam wrote: post #30
clubm8 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no longer willing to, since I was harassed repeatedly when I did exactly as you describe. I'm not going to pay to turn my phone on when I'm preparing for emigration. It's been FOUR years. I can show you photos of my wounds, and photos of the laptop that was smashed. This is an economic issue, not a psychological issue. Lack of reoccuring income, paired with years of only one job offer at a time after interviews m…

I don't believe you that you can't get a job, sorry. This is the best job market in my lifetime for laborers. My roommate, who hasn't worked in 10 years, got the very first job she applied for, no questions asked, $17/hour with tips, prepping food at a restaurant. There are an enormous number of job openings like this.

I just had someone reneg on an offer, and I'm sitting in a coffeeshop where half the staff make shitty comments when they don't think I can hear then because despite being just as economically precarious as them, they think I'm some kind of tech bro.

I was hoping people would be an ally, and see this is an issue solved by a referral or recruiter, but apparently you're going to troll me like I saw them troll the guy who eventually shot up tree of life.

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#38

Post by clubm8 »

strangesmells02 wrote: post #18

> I'm currently in a hotel that lacks basic anemities like a functioning shower, paid monthly by family How does a hotel not have a shower? You sound depressed and you need to get numb and stoic and practical and focus on survival. Be grateful for minor successes and when people help you but dont indulge in all these negative emotions your expressing in your post...they are delusional. All that matters to you right n…

>How does a hotel not have a shower?

The staff keep refusing to clean, and it lacks the safety bar and a few ther things.

>You need food. Look around for soup kitchens, food banks, church food lines, apply for food stamps.

The last time I tried to use those systems, they had IT errors... IT errors I could have solved, but people kept insisting I was mentally ill... because I had no job.

Can you see how this becomes circular logic quickly?

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#39

Post by clubm8 »

cc101 wrote: post #33

For some folks finding a position as a camp host can help ease one's distress. Campers are almost always relaxed, friendly, and out to have a good time. The campground, itself, is usually a beautiful and pleasant place to be. While it's only for part of the year and doesn't solve all one's issues (food for example), it can help move one's life forward.

If you have specific suggestions, I enjoy that kind of work, the main reason I don't say, work at a hostel is I lack th EU passport, as I mentioned in the thread.

Re: Ask HN: How did you escape homelessness?

#40

Post by clubm8 »

awesomeMilou wrote: post #32
clubm8 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What keeps you from being employed as a store clerk or something like that? Is it citizenship issues? I mean, like many people I'm not best suited to working a register if I can code in bash and python. It's the typical issues when you're raised Catholic, have to rely on family for support. I'm a US citizen and eligible for an Italian passport, but I don't have the funds to continue the process.

> if I can code in bash and python I'm sorry to reverse the take a bit here, but what makes you think that these qualifications deserve a job as an SWE? These aren't sought after languages - pretty much anyone with a pulse and three working brain cells can be a python programmer these days (no offense to any professional python devs here, but I doubt your main qualification in your CV is "python programmer"). It's th…

I could be an analyst.

I have a master's (PhD ABD) and have worked as a pentester, I was laid off prior to covid.

Post reply on HN