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

My Story as a Homeless Developer

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 322 posts

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#71

Post by freddy418_sc »

jessehorne wrote: post #43
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…

I am thankful for your response. The longer story would be fairly juicy, I guess. I want to write more on it but it is painful and I am embarrassed by many decisions that I have made. I've been to jail several times for activism and for someone else, for example...but I've never been because I did something considered immoral, I guess is the right way to put it. I want to write on these things and your response motiv…

"painful and I am embarrassed by many decisions that I have made."

This I get. One of the hardest mental blocks that I had to get around was thinking that it would be deeply embarrassing and triggering if I talked about my decisions and experiences. That I would be "found out" and "be exposed as a fraud".

It is quite the opposite. Talking about your experiences is extremely liberating. You can be who you are, you don't have to make anything up to fill in the gaps, and it is just in general much easier than worrying about conforming to some expectation. AND you will be much more interesting, because you have lessons to pass on that somebody else may find valuable and apply to their own lives.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#72

Post by jondubois »

hnal943 wrote: post #19
jondubois wrote: post #4

I was 'homeless' for a few months (in the sense that I didn't have a home) but for most of that time I had a high enough income that I could afford to stay in AirBnBs. It was a scary experience. At one point I had lost my job, I was about $6000 in debt, in a foreign country, with a 'dependent' spouse (also without job) and I only had about $1000 left on my credit card. When I hear entrepreneurs talk about how much th…

Do you mind sharing more about your circumstances? I'd like to understand how someone with a high income could become homeless.

I left Australia with the aim of relocating to Europe permanently and I traveled around Europe for a couple of months while staying at AirBnBs and working freelance for a US company (remotely); then for about 6 months I lived in Moscow (Russia) but the work started drying up (and I didn't have much savings left at that point).

I was running out of money and couldn't find a job as a developer in Moscow due to language barriers (also, developers don't get paid very well over there) - I tried to apply for jobs in London from Moscow but recruiters were ignoring my resume (probably because I was in Russia and didn't have a UK phone number). So I decided to fly to London and rent various AirBnBs (changing every week or so) while desperately applying for jobs and attending interviews. Thankfully my risky strategy worked out in the end and I managed to get a decent job and found an apartment in London.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#73

Post by loco5niner »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #48
Avshalom wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by many jobs. Outside of standing outside of home depot I don't know many jobs that don't require a permanent address and a phone number and an email. Entry level employment is like 99% massive corporations that make no allowances for the realities of hard lives.

Entry level employment is like 99% massive corporations This seems unlikely, given that the majority of jobs in the US are provided by small businesses.

simile often involves hyperbole.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#75

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #40
sulam wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There is no such thing as a near zero crime rate for homeless people. Some things that increase safety on the street: Don't take any disrespect off of anyone. Push back or walk away at the first insult. Otherwise, it escalates. Try to stay clean and look middle class. Short hair and cleanliness can get you mistaken for a tourist. It helps. Camping in a wooded area is a good thing. Don't sleep too close to housing. Th…

> Don't take any disrespect off of anyone. Push back or walk away at the first insult. Otherwise, it escalates.

Pushing back is a fast way to get arrested. No one questions a cop tackling a "crazy homeless guy" who was having an altercation with a fine, upstanding citizen.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#76

Post by gigel82 »

jriot wrote: post #44

Sounds like you never learned how to do anything outside of coding. There is more to succeeding in life than being able to code.

Have you looked at the GitHub profile? Don't want to be harsh, but it looks like he never really learned how to code either, which is kind-of sad. I'm not a stickler for education, but there's something to be said for at least finishing highschool; you learn how to learn if nothing else.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#77

Post by homeaway2 »

patientplatypus wrote: post #67
fipple wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No house and staying in Airbnb’s isn’t “homeless.”

You are objectively wrong. A homeless individual is defined in section 330(h)(5)(A) as “an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.…

In the US, different government departments define homelessness different ways [1]. How and why they came to do that would be a very interesting read. I had looked into this to see what it would take to legally check the "I'm homeless" box on the ACA exemption form, which I believe was under the HHS rule you posted. But that's different from what it would take to get housing assistance from HUD, and that's probably even different than how the average person would define "homeless".

[1] https://www.nhchc.org/faq/official-definition-homelessness/

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#78

Post by gm-conspiracy »

There was a PDF I saw many years ago, posted to craigslist, that was written by a homeless man, but consciously choosing to be homeless.

It had an interesting description of various strategies used.

I think he lived in Hawaii and would eat "free" Burger King by rummaging through the trash during a sweepstakes and finding the coupons for free food.

He also rented a small storage unit to keep his possessions (including a laptop), and had a gym membership for showering.

Anybody else come across this?

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#79

Post by RobertRoberts »

eric_b wrote: post #49
Avshalom wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by many jobs. Outside of standing outside of home depot I don't know many jobs that don't require a permanent address and a phone number and an email. Entry level employment is like 99% massive corporations that make no allowances for the realities of hard lives.

You sound pretty out of touch. In Iowa there is an enormous agriculture industry - an industry not known for asking a lot of personal questions about origin or current status. If you can show up and do the work (and maybe pass a drug test), you're hired. And often paid cash. Outside of agriculture, there are the usual suspects. Bars, restaurants, cleaning jobs, roofing, painting, other forms of low skill construction…

I was homeless for a while and I can confirm, if you want a job, you will get one. Period. Employers are permanently desperate for good help.

I know felons with difficult histories that find work, if they can then anyone can.

Re: My Story as a Homeless Developer

#80

Post by 2kool4skool »

jessehorne wrote: post #53
blondie9x wrote: post #18

Homelessness needs to be addressed nationally. Doing it on a city and county level is not effective enough at addressing this national crisis. The problem is deep and all American cities are impacted by it. We need to look together at it and come up with solutions that address housing affordability, addiction, mental illness, medical disease and insurance issues, and a basic standard of living. We need a central plac…

I love this response. It reminds me of the problem of organizing in Anarchist circles. There's two big camps that exist. 1. Insurrectionism 2. Platformism Insurrectionary Anarchism promotes distributed affinity groups and a sort of anti-organization methodology. They are the types to start community farms or food not bombs in their community and worry less about things they aren't directly connected to. It overlaps a…

I am currently building microshelters for the homeless in my spare time. The idea is to fill the city with them and piss rich people off.
Post reply on HN