Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer • Hacker News Board

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#121

Post by alistairSH » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 2:47 PM UTC

forgetsusername wrote: post #91

jzwinck wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two kinds of background checks. The official kind done by a dedicated team with access and knowledge to retrieve city, state and federal data. And the HR kind, where someone without an investigative background and education spends ten minutes doing web searches and online "stalking" to see if the candidate has any untoward elements in their past. The first kind costs hundreds dollars per candidate. The seco…

> There are two kinds of background checks. IBM. Wells Fargo. Frontier Airlines. T-Mobile. Experian. Daimler Chrysler. These are some of the companies listed in the article. They are some of the biggest in the world. They don't seem to me to be the type of companies that take the latter approach to recruitment, possibly opening themselves up to discrimination legal issues.

They probably do both. The official background check may come back clean. But, as soon as the HR guy or hiring manager put his name through Google, they see "So and so convicted of dealing crack."

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#122

Post by mfoy_ » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 2:58 PM UTC

lsiebert wrote: post #76

johncolanduoni wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And doesn't allow you to take permanent residence and a job? Also, that's likely $70 he doesn't have.

That was supposed to be my point, that just the passport is a lot of money, but apparently I failed.

Just goes to show how deeply people here cannot empathize with being poor. You said "passport is like $70 bucks" which people down-voted assuming you were were being naive and dismissive of the problem where you were really pointing out an even more immediate challenge.

The takeaway from all this being: This man's potential employers are unlikely to even begin to be able to fathom the challenges he faces day-to-day.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#123

Post by itgoon » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 3:02 PM UTC

forgetsusername wrote: post #91

jzwinck wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two kinds of background checks. The official kind done by a dedicated team with access and knowledge to retrieve city, state and federal data. And the HR kind, where someone without an investigative background and education spends ten minutes doing web searches and online "stalking" to see if the candidate has any untoward elements in their past. The first kind costs hundreds dollars per candidate. The seco…

> There are two kinds of background checks. IBM. Wells Fargo. Frontier Airlines. T-Mobile. Experian. Daimler Chrysler. These are some of the companies listed in the article. They are some of the biggest in the world. They don't seem to me to be the type of companies that take the latter approach to recruitment, possibly opening themselves up to discrimination legal issues.

It may have been contracting agencies. They can be pretty uneven, in my experience.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#124

Post by eternalban » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 3:15 PM UTC

buro9 wrote: post #120

eternalban wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you seeing a therapist?

No, she's a film lecturer. Jokes aside, really I've found the best method for handling what has happened in life is just to share openly and honestly with others, which is what I've done here as well. I haven't personally found as much benefit from professional help as just sharing and reflecting.

A good therapist will be that reflector. Also don't discount the value of sharing with a person who has seen pattern-x n-times. Further keep in mind that non-professionals will cuddle when perhaps a spank is in order.

Wish you all the best and success and happiness.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#125

Post by win_ini » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 3:18 PM UTC

etivrusky wrote: post #69

Top kek. This article is full of shit. If your skills are worth _anything_ in security then you can make easy money via bug bounties or vulnerability acquisition programs. Most web companies pay thousands of dollars for trivial XSS vulns and you want to tell me that this poor chap can't help himself? Yeah right.

I'm always happy when the up voting system works and the most useless, least constructive comments make it to the bottom. As the other commenter said - the universe of offensive pen testing is a small one compared to the IT security playing field.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#126

Post by kuschku » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 3:20 PM UTC

chatwinra wrote: post #95

This just backs up why I think Finland's recent move[1] to give every citizen a basic salary is the way forward. You'd then give everyone that basic level of security and enable them to progress in life. Yes there are potential flaws with the Finnish scheme (some people on benefits may ultimately lose out, and millionaires getting the same amount as poor people) - but crucially it would probably stop most, if not all…

Germany has something called "Grundsicherung", which is even below unemployment benefits, but can be gotten by anyone, even without having a place of residence. That means if your homelessness is not based on mental issues or being too proud to accept help, you have at least a possibility to get out.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#127

Post by ithkuil » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 3:21 PM UTC

sdrothrock wrote: post #65

ithkuil wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A crappy background check system that reports him as an ex-con/drug dealer when he's been exonerated The article states: > Three months after his conviction, though, the King County deputy whose testimony led to Simmons’ conviction, James Schrimpsher, was fired for dishonesty in a different drug case [..] Simmons insists he didn’t sell drugs and believes he was profiled [..] he served the full prison term at the Wa…

> This means it has not been exonerated. The background check superficiality is not what this case is about. The article also says > What’s alarming about Simmons’ story is that his drug-dealing conviction was eventually stricken from the record. He was retroactively exonerated in 2010 . . . He is listed on the National Registry of Exonerations as being wrongly convicted. which seems to directly contradict your claim…

oops, I'm sorry, I guess I just skipped that paragraph.

I was put off by the wording of "Simmons insists he didn’t sell drugs and believes he was profiled."; this wording seems to me like a personal claim and not a fact.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#128

Post by ctdonath » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 3:21 PM UTC

aianus wrote: post #29

cshimmin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, for one thing the charge was for selling crack cocaine...

Sounds like an entrepreneur to me.

While the morality & legality may be deplorable, I do respect the can-do entrepreneurial aspect. Way back, my nurse-in-training GF cared for a man who was seriously ill and permanently bedridden; I was deeply impressed that despite the debilitating conditions he _still_ was able to create and operate an, er, undocumented pharmaceutical distribution service.

There is a way, if one chooses to have the will.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#129

Post by realisation » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 3:46 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #66

exhomeless wrote: post #59

I was homeless for about a year and a half. The first 6 months were spent sleeping on the streets, and when possible, in a shelter - but realistically, in the area where I was, most shelters were not really a safe place to be, and the few that were filled up early. The remaining time, I crashed at a drug dealers house and helped sell in return. I didn't have much more than the belongings that fit in a mid-sized duffl…

> It's possible to get out of the situation if what got you there isn't addiction or mental illness - the system does little to help, and without being resourceful it's easy to get stuck in that position for a long time. But it can be done. Glad it worked out in the end for you! I have a small issue though with the "it can be done" thing. Getting to have 10 top 10 hits at the charts can be done too. The question is h…

There's two parts to this issue. One is being successful by typical worldly standard. The other are emotional scars. Maybe, it's not necessarily feasible for everyone to achieve hoisting themselves from homelessness into a white collar above average paying job. Maybe that's not possible. But this is besides the point.

What is eminently more possible is achieving emotional worthiness. When a person is rejected, however that came to be, this activates a physiological response in them which causes them to perceive scarcity, which wreaks havoc on any number of processes in daily life that, building up, can rip a person down.

What are the antidotes to this response? In my experience, gratitude is a strong antidote, when & where you can find it.

Re: Being homeless a struggle, even with a $100k job offer

#130

Post by rdancer » Wed, Dec 09, 2015, 4:00 PM UTC

dmichulke wrote: post #113

rdancer wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Homeless people and people who are vulnerably housed in the UK have pretty lousy treatment from "services", a lot of which is provided by faith and voluntary groups. Local council has to put you up in some accommodation. That's what we pay taxes for, so that people who happen to be evicted didn't end up in the streets. There's plenty of money on the table, and all you have to do is ask. You have to work the system,…

Now I understand your indignation with this and I totally agree with it. Yet, I believe the "system" is not the only culprit here, it's also you who is complicit - you say the system is good and still it didn't help in this concrete case. Now I know it's hard to not pay taxes so I wouldn't expect you to. But for starters you could admit that the system works poorly, is intransparent, doesn't adapt and covers only wha…

You make some great points, but are you replying to the right comment?

For those, who are not of the biblical persuasion, "help thyself, and God will help thee" is a principle that says that you can count on a lot of help, but you have to do a little yourself first; that little is very hard, and no-one can do it for you.