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Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

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

#131

Post by skrtskrt »

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.

As an ex-Catholic, all the churches I was a member of growing up took charity and things like this very seriously - there were many immigrant families that came to our churches and we would find them families that would let them stay with them until they got on their feet.

It is, however, unfortunately not universal. I recently tried to drop off some extra Christmas toys I had mistakenly ordered on Amazon to a local Catholic church and they absolutely refused to take them and distribute to a needy family. I was floored.

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

#132

Post by tucaz »

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.

Could you please help me understand what has @abinaya_rl done wrong?

I can't find harm in any way I look at it.

He offered the help he could. If the OP wants to take it, he can. He plugged his company while doing it, and others might benefit from getting to know about it.

Where's the problem? He probably did it in a different way than you would, but still. What's wrong with that?

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

#133

Post by gwbas1c »

Lots of good advice in the highly-rated responses. I can't add much to those. But, this is what strikes a nerve:

> I've not had a paying job in the last 8 years

Once you get through this, remember that idealism doesn't pay the bills.

At a certain point, if you can't make a living doing it, it's not worth doing.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't volunteer for things or avoid charity work, but consider this: You're not financially independent. What you spend most of your waking hours needs to pay the bills. It's your choice if you want to work well below your earning potential because it's something you believe in or enjoy, but whatever you work on, it has to generate enough income that you can pay your bills.

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

#134

Post by elwell »

I'm glad you chose to reach out. If you'd like another pair of eyes to proofread your resume/cv, send me an email at elwell.christopher at gmail. Also I'd be happy to talk about spiritual things, God, Christianity, if that's something you're interested in.

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

#135

Post by nvusuvu »

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.

Try the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Best of luck to you.

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

#136

Post by maffydub »

skrtskrt wrote: post #131
twoquestions wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

As an ex-Catholic, all the churches I was a member of growing up took charity and things like this very seriously - there were many immigrant families that came to our churches and we would find them families that would let them stay with them until they got on their feet. It is, however, unfortunately not universal. I recently tried to drop off some extra Christmas toys I had mistakenly ordered on Amazon to a local…

I don't know the situation with the church in question, but I've been on the other side of a similar situation...

For the last ~9 years, I've helped run a homeless shelter based out of a church in London, UK. We often get offered donations of clothes and unfortunately we have to turn them down unless we know of guests who need those specific items (e.g. men's 32-34" waist trousers or a pair of size 10 shoes). This is because otherwise we find that very few items get taken and we don't have space to store them, so it just means we have to take them to a charity shop anyway.

Please don't be upset by your offering not being accepted - it can be hard to find the right place to use it and, if the organization is run by volunteers (as the one above is), they might not have the time to manage this.

Incidentally, other shelters operate very differently from ours, and some definitely do accept clothing donations.

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

#137

Post by bwi4 »

> I don't know what's wrong with me.

There is nothing wrong with YOU. In a bad situation, it's easy to think that you must be a villain or a victim, but you are a hero/ine and you can overcome these challenges.

Connect with social services, they exist to help. Being in a stable and safe situation is going to free up that mental bandwidth to focus on next steps.

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

#138

Post by csomar »

mustacheemperor wrote: post #127
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...

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…

> For example, become a hairdresser.

I didn't suggest that. I did suggest that he/she works for a hairdresser. (probably doing errands around).

> I wouldn't hire you if you looked homeless

Not for a customer facing job. For some businesses, that would destroy the business. That's why I suggest that he/she starts with jobs that do not care too much about your current status.

> Empathy is not a constrained resources.

I have a hard time giving empathy to someone who doesn't have it. By squatting other people property, you might be risking putting these people out of their homes (maybe they are looking to rent it and are paying a mortgage/loan).

Not all properties are hold by rich people and closed to make people on the streets. Some of these are by normal hardworking people and that's all they have (or maybe less if they are borrowing money).

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

#139

Post by fapi1974 »

vasco wrote: post #20

I live in the Netherlands (Amsterdam region), I'm not Dutch so my network here isn't very large to help you with a job, but worst case I could buy you a coffee and have a chat with a fellow dev. Let me know, my email is vasco g pinho with no spaces at gmail.com.

Just wanted to say this is what I was looking for in this discussion - people actually offering to help directly. Hope you can connect with OP.

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

#140

Post by luckylion »

clarry wrote: post #22
burgerquizz wrote: post #16

I've read the comments you've written on HN. It really feels like you have a good understanding of many tech out there. I'm a bit surprised a profile like yours post this.It feels like you could easily pick up any entry level dev job? HN would always surprise me. If I were you, I'd show up in every tech meetups I could find.Talk with people, and offer free (paid?) advices for subject you feel comfortable with. After…

> It feels like you could easily pick up any entry level dev job? HN would always surprise me. Don't underestimate the extreme prejudice in tech hiring. Everyone's looking out for "red flags" and excuses to turn down a candidate. It's especially bad if you don't have either 1) recent, relevant education, or 2) recent, relevant industry experience. Open source participation might save you but not as often as you'd thi…

This isn't my experience at all, but that may be due to different companies. I'd expect that in large corporations with very structured recruitment processes, cozy jobs and high pay. They don't want deviation from the norm, so any red flags are "thanks, but no thanks".

For smaller companies (Homelessness is another beast, as might mental health issues be, but degrees don't matter nearly as much in the real world as they do in the corporate world.

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