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

Ask HN: How to find work while homeless?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 182 posts

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

#171

Post by nojvek »

I volunteer at shelters and have spoken to many homeless folks. It’s hard. I feel you.

First you gotta have a place to live so you can focus on other things like finding a job. To find a job you need an address and a bank account. To do a job you have to be well groomed and presentable. You need to get good sleep and be in a decent headspace so you can provide a service to your employer that they’ll pay you for.

Their isn’t much I can do. I just quit my job to go solo so I don’t have a stream of income.

That being said, I am more than happy to donate $100 to help you out to get your wheels moving to the next step.

We software engineers (at-least in the US) are fortunate to make plenty of dough.

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

#172

Post by fsloth »

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?

I recognize this comment may sound derogatory. I merely attempted a poetic reference to the well-documented secularization of North Europe.

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

#173

Post by kazga »

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.

That's a huge generalization for something that differs so heavily even within countries. Cities vs rural, east vs west, catholic vs protestant... Compare Poland and the Czech Republic, both V4 countries, neighbors, former Eastern Bloc, yet one is pretty much the least and the other one of the most religious countries in Europe.

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

#175

Post by webvictim »

pitt1980 wrote: post #94
goatherders wrote: post #84

If you have an internet connection: Either post on Craigslist or walk in to small business with the following offers: - I will build you a website for (small sum) - I will build your facebook page for (small sum) - I will setup your Twitter account for (small sum) On and on and on until you can generate a few hundred dollars. The world is a VASTLY different place when you have zero money versus when you have a little…

what exactly is someone who pays a (small sum) for a setup Twitter account expecting to receive?

Maybe banners, artwork, bio, follow relevant accounts, make some starter tweets with popular hashtags to get some follows back, interaction with some key people. I wouldn’t pay for it personally but someone might.

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

#176

Post by photonios »

opinionated1 wrote: post #115
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.

Second that. I‘m from Germany and attended a conference at a an Evangelical Church in the Netherlands (in Ede: https://www.schuilplaats.net/ ) a couple months ago without having booked a place to stay. At the end of the last evening session, I simply asked the pastor if he could help me and sure enough, one church member offered me an entire vacation apartment that he owns for one night for free. This is not a sugges…

This not relevant at all to this thread but I was very pleasantly surprised to see my hometown and a church I am familiar with pop up here.

OP: If you can, do go there. I am not at all religious, and you don't have to, but this is a solid place to start.

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

#177

Post by goatherders »

pitt1980 wrote: post #94
goatherders wrote: post #84

If you have an internet connection: Either post on Craigslist or walk in to small business with the following offers: - I will build you a website for (small sum) - I will build your facebook page for (small sum) - I will setup your Twitter account for (small sum) On and on and on until you can generate a few hundred dollars. The world is a VASTLY different place when you have zero money versus when you have a little…

what exactly is someone who pays a (small sum) for a setup Twitter account expecting to receive?

A functioning Twitter account and instructions on how to use it. Technologists (you, me, others here) GREATLY overestimate the technical capability of the other adults around us. If a small business does NOT have a Twitter account then it's a safe bet that they either don't have company email or don't know how to set it up. A well written profile, header and profile picture, and an explanation of hashtags and how to post is worth $50 to $100 in a lot of cases.

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

#178

Post by dominotw »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #163
dominotw wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you are really reaching here, Lower life expectancy doesn't mean "dead in a few months". Are you really saying poor ppl in Netherlands have a life expectancy of few months? Also, lol at all your other irrelevant points, I grew up in one of the poorest parts of Africa. You clearly have no idea what poverty means. Funny how ppl who lived all their lives in a first world country think they know what poverty is.

I'm saying homeless people can die on the street in fairly short time frames and being concerned that such circumstances are a genuine threat to survival isn't just someone being completely histrionic or deluded.

Yes I agree with you. I shouldnt have been cynical/dismissive in my original comment.
Post reply on HN