Ask HN: How to find work while homeless? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#121

Post by AnimalMuppet » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #97

luckylion wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might depend heavily on the country and location, but that's not my experience. I'm not religious, but I know some people who are, and their churches are quite active in their local communities, doing charity work, helping the homeless and the poor in general. I live in an area that's heavily dominated by protestants, so my experience is mostly with them, I don't know how that's for catholic areas. The Netherlan…

Ok, cool, I was not aware of this. I thought they were all sadly just waiting to become obsolete. In what area are you in?

The churches that are full of people who attend church because their parents did are, as you so well put it, sadly waiting to become obsolete.

There are churches, however, where many of the people are there because they genuinely believe it, and they think that they have very good reason to believe it (and they aren't afraid of engaging with atheists who think otherwise), and they try to live out what they believe in real life. If you find a church like that, it feels and acts completely different.

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#122

Post by TurkishPoptart » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

turbostyler wrote: post #96

csomar wrote: post #13

That’s a bit surprising given that the Netherlands has a generous social system. I’ll try as a first step to ask and look for government organizations that could potentially help and give you free stuff. Next, I’ll drop tech for a while. I’ll look for any job that has low or no barrier to entries. Washing cars, cleaning carpets, collecting garbage, etc... These are jobs with little barriers to entry and that will hav…

Coming from someone who has actually been homeless, it’s entirely possible to get back on your feet with freelance work, and probably a much better idea than taking a low paying job. I spent a year homeless on the streets of San Francisco due to my mental health and the atrocious safety net we have in the US. Eventually, my mental health improved, and I met an extremely generous person who was also in tech and helped…

What kind of work were you able to do for the $12k contract?

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#123

Post by twoquestions » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:14 PM UTC

twoquestions wrote: post #52

marcus_holmes wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that might work in the US, but in Europe churches are poor and mostly attended by old ladies with networks of other old ladies.

Be careful in the US too, churches aren't so nice here.

EDIT: Looks like I'm outside the edit window.

A late family member of mine in the OP's approximate situation was taken advantage of by a local church, which gives me pause when people say going to one for help is a bulletproof-good idea.

I'm sorry for not providing context right away, the original statement on it's own was too broad.

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#124

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:15 PM UTC

wackget wrote: post #116

abinaya_rl wrote: post #51

Remote Leaf[1] founder here, I would like to offer you three months of free membership, that might help you land a remote job since you have coding skills. We hand-pick thousands of remote jobs from tons of job boards and only sends the ones that apply to you. Just ping me on Twitter and send me an email to avail this :) [1] - https://remoteleaf.com

C'mon, don't advertise your website on a post where someone's looking for help. If you truly cared and didn't just want to advertise your service you'd have PMd the OP and your comment wouldn't sound so much like a marketing ploy.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#125

Post by tarkin2 » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:21 PM UTC

fsloth wrote: post #56

jchallis wrote: post #15

Find a church - neither too big nor too small. Introduce yourself as someone willing to do assist with the IT/ secretarial / etc. in exchange for warm food and a shelter bed. Churches have very large networks. When you get on your feet, and you will, remember who helped you survive.

Churches aren't like that in Europe. They are not communities nor are they huge. A church is an office where a priest and maybe some assisting staff work, and the priest performs weekly some ceremonies. But there is really no community as such.

From my experience, church groups and events are one of the few bits of community left in Europe.

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#126

Post by pvaldes » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:33 PM UTC

Is there some good reason for you to want to stay in Netherlands?

I'm just speculating, and maybe this is not for you, but perhaps you could consider moving to a southern place.

Same problems as now, same difficulties, same police and nasty people but...

1) A little of sun and a less harsh climate can do wonders in your soul. Only for that you should consider putting some distance from dutch's winter.

2) You speak english well in the Mediterranean tourism sector, you have the 95% of the job yet.

3) An unique look can be used as an advantage. Is easier to blend in a holidays place. People feel less territorial, are more customed to see different people and more forgiving. Entertainers, performers, extravagant dresses etc... are expected. Drunk people is everywhere in the coast and can be dangerous, but with a low entry job, you can start building some safety for you, stay out of the streets and navigate most problems. Doing remote work, you can be as invisible as you want.

4) You need spending less in clothes and can dress casual more easily. You can use the sea and beach showers for free each time you need a bath.

5) Somebody lying in a street all day is a homeless, Somebody lying in a beach all day is a tourist. If you can find a safe place for your properties first (!) and keep a clean look and low profile, you could sleep all day under an umbrella. Nobody will care about it, and nobody will call the police for that. Just remain in places with more people, be careful with pickpockets, cover your skin from excesive sun with light clothes or/and sunscreen and the problem of not enough sleeping quality time is fixed.

I assume that some of this areas have a gay friendly scene also and that many people needing publicity, accounting, and web pages to promote their bussiness could find useful your computer skills.

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#127

Post by mustacheemperor » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:39 PM UTC

csomar wrote: post #87

vertex-four wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Same if you were homeless. I wouldn't hire a homeless barista that will turn off customers. To be clear, I currently have a shower, mattress, access to a washing machine, etc etc. Living in squats is pretty ok, police repression aside. I don't look like... whatever you're guessing, and nobody I'm applying to knows I don't have a permanent legal residence. Hairdressing is a ridiculously qualified job in the UK, I ha…

> Living in squats is pretty ok I think I misunderstood that from your original post. Do you mean you are squatting someone else property? If that's the case, I feel sorry for myself spending all this time writing these responses...

I hope sometime in the next week you have the time to evaluate this conversation from an alternate perspective - even to just "cosplay" that perspective, not to try and adapt it permanently - and understand why your comments can come across as extremely out of touch.

>For example, become a hairdresser.

>I wouldn't hire you if you looked homeless...You don't look homeless because you're showering as a squatter? I wish I hadn't given you any advice at all.

Empathy is not a constrained resources. It's one of the only things humans can generate in infinite supply, and that's worth taking advantage of.

Also, it seems to me OP was not saying they can't get benefits in the UK because the system is too complicated. They said the system was complicated before summarizing the complexity by explaining that without work they will lose benefits, and they are concerned they won't be able to find work. It seems disingenuous to me to read into that as OP saying they can't figure out how to get benefits.

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#128

Post by blacksmith_tb » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:39 PM UTC

cryptica wrote: post #103

csomar wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Living in squats is pretty ok I think I misunderstood that from your original post. Do you mean you are squatting someone else property? If that's the case, I feel sorry for myself spending all this time writing these responses...

Squatting is fine. Land should belong to the public anyway, just like the air we breathe.

Not to defend capitalism (and especially landlords) too much, but buildings are not just 'land' - free land wouldn't get you squats, but tents...

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#129

Post by TheFullStack » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:41 PM UTC

threatofrain wrote: post #120

TheFullStack wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This person sounds borderline suicidal and you see is as an opportunity to plug your site? okay...

This founder has provided something of value to someone with tech skills looking for entry level tech employment. And you?

Sure whatever.

Re: Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

#130

Post by Stratoscope » Fri, Feb 28, 2020, 6:41 PM UTC

wackget wrote: post #116

abinaya_rl wrote: post #51

Remote Leaf[1] founder here, I would like to offer you three months of free membership, that might help you land a remote job since you have coding skills. We hand-pick thousands of remote jobs from tons of job boards and only sends the ones that apply to you. Just ping me on Twitter and send me an email to avail this :) [1] - https://remoteleaf.com

C'mon, don't advertise your website on a post where someone's looking for help. If you truly cared and didn't just want to advertise your service you'd have PMd the OP and your comment wouldn't sound so much like a marketing ploy.

HN does not have private messaging, and OP has no contact info listed on their profile. So your suggestion would not be possible.

OP, if you want people to be able to contact you privately and you have an email address or Twitter handle they can use, add it to the "about" section of your profile. The "email" field in an HN profile is not visible to others.