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Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless engineer?

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

#91

Post by badminton1 »

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…

You can also do your laundry in a self-service laundromat. Usually just a few cents plus the detergent.

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

#92

Post by lovelearning »

mlevental wrote: post #34
jnbiche wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're looking for a brilliant senior full stack developer. How about just a "solid, hard-working senior developer"? When you say "brilliant", most good, competent developers think of a truly 1 in 1000 brilliant developer we know, and think of how short we fall from that. In truth, unless you're doing some kind of advanced machine learning or cutting edge software work, you likely don't need a brilliant developer. A…

>How about just a "solid, hard-working senior developer"? When you say "brilliant", most good, competent developers think of a truly 1 in 1000 brilliant developer we know, and think of how short we fall from that. no one thinks that because it's pr speak. i've never met anyone deterred by "brilliant" or "ninja" or "10x" or etc.

No one? Never met? Well then, nice to meet you!

Yes, such terms in a job description - or in my case, in initial contract meetings - are red flags for me. Red enough to either never apply or show myself out with some excuse. Because my definition of "brilliant" may not match their definition of "brilliant" in terms of capability or efficiency, and I don't want to find out how high the expectations are after the agreement's signed.

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

#93

Post by icebraining »

csomar wrote: post #88

I also agree this story doesn't make sense or it is missing some stuff. Otherwise I'll be harsh: What the hell happened during 15 years? I'm based in a third-world and have been working for 7 years only and have approximately a lifetime of savings. Despite traveling to a dozen countries and buying lots of gadgets. Something doesn't add up. Or, you have a bigger problem than finding a job (gambling addiction? an expen…

I guess some of us suck at finding jobs; I'm asking for less than 3x our minimum wage (which is quite low, compared to our cost of living) as a Python dev with 6 years of experience, and companies are treating it as an extraordinary amount. I only managed to make some real savings working abroad.

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

#94

Post by cko »

Something1234 wrote: post #17
platinumrad wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A chromebook is not good. A cheap t410 or t400 would be best.

T420 on eBay with 8gb ram and SSD has been $100-150 for a while now.

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

#95

Post by [deleted] »

homelessdev wrote: post #28
codebudo wrote: post #5

Have you applied for unemployment? State benefits may not fully pay the rent but should help. You'll likely need to supply proof that you're looking for work but that sounds like your plan anyway.

Sadly unemployment was very low and I already chewed through it in under a month

[deleted]

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

#97

Post by koliber »

> 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.

This is strange. If you paid, why are you going to court?

Normally, if someone does not pay on time, they may be served a late rent notice. This is an official warning and has a deadline by which a payment must be made. If you miss that payment, the landlord can file an eviction case.

You paid. Why would the landlord take you to court?

I am not a lawyer, but even if the above is true, it seems that a judge would not allow an eviction based just on a single 3-day late rent payment.

You have a bit more time to get yourself together.

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

#98

Post by pothrowaway »

Luxyadian wrote: post #24

Sorry I am not helping. But 15 years full stack. Sounds at least 15K RMB/month here in China Chengdu. homeless in the USA? Just cannot understand how this would happen. sorry again for not helping. Maybe after you get better, some day in recent years, move to China?

(throwaway because electricity is out and I'm on mobile, no access to password database)

I'm surprised you're surprised. We get similar stories on HN from time to time and they are almost always developers in America. I'm not passing judgement but it seems OP was not able to save much month to month. Earning doesn't automatically scale with years. As most here suggest, OP should resort to contacting everyone they can expect to care. If that support network falls through then they are really left alone. It is very rough to "fall off the tracks." Homeless aren't all drug abusers.

Personally I think programming is not necessarily a safe career choice here.

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

#99

Post by csomar »

icebraining wrote: post #93
csomar wrote: post #88

I also agree this story doesn't make sense or it is missing some stuff. Otherwise I'll be harsh: What the hell happened during 15 years? I'm based in a third-world and have been working for 7 years only and have approximately a lifetime of savings. Despite traveling to a dozen countries and buying lots of gadgets. Something doesn't add up. Or, you have a bigger problem than finding a job (gambling addiction? an expen…

I guess some of us suck at finding jobs; I'm asking for less than 3x our minimum wage (which is quite low, compared to our cost of living) as a Python dev with 6 years of experience, and companies are treating it as an extraordinary amount. I only managed to make some real savings working abroad.

Are you talking about yourself? I can hardly see someone with 40k karma in hn charging less than $100/hour.

Stop selling yourself short.

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

#100

Post by icebraining »

csomar wrote: post #99
icebraining wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess some of us suck at finding jobs; I'm asking for less than 3x our minimum wage (which is quite low, compared to our cost of living) as a Python dev with 6 years of experience, and companies are treating it as an extraordinary amount. I only managed to make some real savings working abroad.

Are you talking about yourself? I can hardly see someone with 40k karma in hn charging less than $100/hour. Stop selling yourself short.

Yes, I'm talking about myself :) I know I'm worth more, but that doesn't help if the buyers with money to afford it aren't here. I'm exploring remote, we'll see what happens.
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