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

Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 192 posts

Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

#1

Post by homelessdev »

TL;DR I'm about to get evicted because I ran out of money and can't seem to land a job. I'm also in a bit of a rush, so i apologize for any grammatical errors.

I have been a web developer / software engineer for 15 years (fullstack, 5 languages).

I am living in Colorado with my wife -- I quit my job In Jan due to issues I had with the way our company was treating customer data. This turned out to be a foolish move as it has proven difficult to find a new job (I had something lined up when I quit, but it fell through).

I did land a contract between then and now, but in order to survive I had about 1.5 months to find a new job and that hasn't happened.

I was 3 days late on my rent this month and now have to appear in court to explain why i haven't paid. I fully expect that to lead to an eviction.

I've never had an issue finding a job prior to this so I'm quite frustrated with myself.

I don't own a good laptop (i use a desktop) and have about $400 to survive on. I've tried upwork but can't drum anything up quick enough / at all. I have multiple interviews lined up but I'm not hopeful at this point. I have things I can sell but I'm not sure how quick I can turn them around. My wife has a job but its only a couple days per week so not enough to survive on... she has another interview on monday but no clue how it will turn out of course. We own a car and are currently planning on a shelter (car is second plan).

The questions I have for HN are: what are my best options for survival? any pro tips on how to live on the streets and still land an engineering job?

Thanks in advance guys

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

#2

Post by auslegung »

This sucks! I'm so sorry to hear man. I've spent a lot of time with people who are homeless, which has caused me to think about this very question though I haven't had to put any of this into practice so grain of salt.

- Get a membership to a cheap gym so you can use their shower (and potentially wifi) if the shelter doesn't work out. In many areas it's possible to get a membership for $10-20/month. Clean your clothes in the shower with you.

- Try really hard not to feel desperate during interviews. We make worse decisions when desperate. Easier said than done :(

- You may need to buy a laptop, which will suck, but hopefully you can find something good enough and very cheap on Craigslist? If you can't get a laptop, consider public library or internet cafes (if those exist there).

- Food is going to be tough. Canned beans will become a close friend. Also canned soups/stews. Peanut butter, cheap produce. You may be able to find edible plants nearby. Free samples at grocery stores? Bulk sunflower seeds are cheap. Lifted most of these food ideas from a thread on reddit btw.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

#3

Post by platinumrad »

auslegung wrote: post #2

This sucks! I'm so sorry to hear man. I've spent a lot of time with people who are homeless, which has caused me to think about this very question though I haven't had to put any of this into practice so grain of salt. - Get a membership to a cheap gym so you can use their shower (and potentially wifi) if the shelter doesn't work out. In many areas it's possible to get a membership for $10-20/month. Clean your clothe…

I'm not convinced that OP needs a laptop but a $100-150 old Thinkpad or low end Chromebook will get you pretty far these days.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

#7

Post by noarchy »

DavidThi808 wrote: post #4

Please apply at www.WindwardStudios.com. We're looking for a brilliant senior full stack developer.

Thank you for letting OP know about the opportunity. I do hope your interview process is more streamlined than some of the horror stories we hear about on HN. OP is probably not going to be benefited by having to jump through many hoops.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

#9

Post by megaman22 »

Why would 3 days late on your rent involve a court date and eviction?

If I recall, the last few leases I signed had clauses like a $25 late fee for up to a week overdue. And as a landlord, at least here in NH, if somebody doesn't pay immediately, and you want to get rid of them, you have to deliver a written demand for rent, which allows X number of days for response, before you can commence eviction proceedings.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

#10

Post by araes »

- Public libraries can help with the job search if they offer free internet access

- If you don't mind camping, its an extremely cheap way to live, and a gym / YMCA will help before interviews.

- If you have any friends / family, ask them if you can crash. Have a friend who lived this way for ages.

- If it comes to it, there are often abandoned structures that are reasonable for keeping rain off. Lived in an abandoned office building for a month at one point. That one was really lucky. Had a gym, water, and electricity still!

- Apply, apply, apply. Set a goal. X applications a day, where X is probably 3+. Beat that goal every day.

- Be humble, but not desperate. If its reasonable and will pay bills, worth it.

- Be willing to move. Frankly, CO is really expensive. People scoff at AL (cur. loc.), but it has NASA, Army, most 3 letter agencies, and every gov't contractor known to man. Also, rent is $400-600 and a house can be found for $30000-40000 if you're not picky.

- Sell all your stuff. Flea markets, craigslist, ebay, whatever works.

- If you get a job - save. There is no reason to lose a job and then only have $400.

- Send me a msg (email in profile) if the AL thing sounds reasonable. Used to be in software and a contract mgr., can at least look at whats around. Can't promise, as I left to walk the earth a while back.

Post reply on HN