My Story as a Homeless Developer • Hacker News Board

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#21

Post by freddy418_sc » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:05 PM UTC

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.

"My interest in computers and programming was more like an intense obsession. It affected my ability to focus at school." "Undiagnosed mental-health problems led to some fairly poor decisions." "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.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#22

Post by SwellJoe » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:05 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #11

DoreenMichele wrote: post #5

Looks like this was written today. He's apparently still homeless and he closes with a request for feedback. So I'm just going to leave these links here (disclosure: they are my sites): https://www.pocketputer.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ (Same look, but different site) https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ This is listed on the Links page of PocketPuter.com, but I'm going to put it he…

It seems like the biggest issue is not that he doesn’t have the skill set to find a job but his (admitted) mental illness. He needs someone to help him through that first. No, I don’t have any answers, but I do know how hard it is to do well at a job if your mind isn’t clear.

Being homeless is so detrimental to mental health that it's impossible to address it without addressing the material conditions that have led to mental illness being unmanageable. In other words, this is the same catch 22 that has countless homeless folks trapped in a cycle of despair.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#23

Post by agumonkey » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:06 PM UTC

sulam wrote: post #17

agumonkey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do you live in a cold climate ? I wonder if it would be just ok in a warm place with near zero crime rate.

There is no such thing as a near zero crime rate for homeless people. Also, just being warm is not sufficient. Homeless people need so much more than that, it's daunting. A short starter list: * food & water * access to shower * laundry * medical care * dental care * education * legal advice / support * the list goes on... (disclosure: 16 years of on-again, off-again homelessness as a child and a 6 month period of tr…

One week I measured how much water I needed to clean myself top to bottom: two glasses.

I eat low and don't feel hungry (although I don't suffer cold which drains energy fast)

I agree that it can be daunting but I think it's not the quantity it's the regularity of supplies.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#24

Post by eric_b » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:06 PM UTC

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 many 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 any job vs. a programming job? Establishing a place to live, getting consistent income, and then 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.

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.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#25

Post by dragonwriter » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:07 PM UTC

freddy418_sc wrote: post #21

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. "My interest in computers and programming was more like…

> "My interest in computers and programming was more like an intense obsession. It affected my ability to focus at school." It makes perfect sense; an obsession makes it easy for you to focus on the subject of obsession, and hard to focus on other things. As school likely mainly consisted of things other than programming, an obsession with programming would naturally adversely impact overall focus at school.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#26

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:07 PM UTC

freddy418_sc wrote: post #21

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. "My interest in computers and programming was more like…

[deleted]

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#27

Post by jessehorne » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:07 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #5

Looks like this was written today. He's apparently still homeless and he closes with a request for feedback. So I'm just going to leave these links here (disclosure: they are my sites): https://www.pocketputer.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ (Same look, but different site) https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ This is listed on the Links page of PocketPuter.com, but I'm going to put it he…

Thank you so much for this response. All of those blogs look super interesting and I'm looking through the spreadsheet now. I wanted to write similar material a while back. I still do. I likely will end up doing that and will get in touch when I do, if that's okay!

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#28

Post by scarface74 » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:08 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #16

scarface74 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the biggest issue is not that he doesn’t have the skill set to find a job but his (admitted) mental illness. He needs someone to help him through that first. No, I don’t have any answers, but I do know how hard it is to do well at a job if your mind isn’t clear.

I spent nearly 6 years on the street. Practical solutions for helping me solve my actual problems was the best thing for my head space. I wrote some of it down. Most of that can be found in the above blogs of mine. I'm not at all unfamiliar with mental health issues. This is what I deeply and sincerely believe works. If you disagree, perhaps you could hook him up with a better solution instead of raining on my parade…

Your advice shouldn’t be about “your parade”. It should be about him. He’s had plenty of jobs in development and he admitted that his issues are due to him not being able to handle for instance a dissolved relationship. There will always be strsssors and challenges in life, if he doesn’t have the tools to deal with them,he will stay in that cycle.

Give him credit for admitting he has a mental illness. There are too many people that won’t do that much.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#29

Post by andrei_says_ » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:08 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #16

scarface74 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the biggest issue is not that he doesn’t have the skill set to find a job but his (admitted) mental illness. He needs someone to help him through that first. No, I don’t have any answers, but I do know how hard it is to do well at a job if your mind isn’t clear.

I spent nearly 6 years on the street. Practical solutions for helping me solve my actual problems was the best thing for my head space. I wrote some of it down. Most of that can be found in the above blogs of mine. I'm not at all unfamiliar with mental health issues. This is what I deeply and sincerely believe works. If you disagree, perhaps you could hook him up with a better solution instead of raining on my parade…

Thank you for providing the resources you did. I am grateful that your homelessness is behind you.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#30

Post by modells » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 9:08 PM UTC

huebomont wrote: post #10

modells wrote: post #2

.

wtf is this women advice... (i don't actually want to hear how you justify it)

That's too bad because it's my opinion, not yours. The purpose is that people in hard times need to focus on getting one's life in order before bringing anyone else into theirs, not on love as a panacea or escape because the drama and chaos will lead nowhere good. The overriding principle is no one else can save them and it's an unhealthy mindset, they must be their own "hero."