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Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

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Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#31

Post by refulgentis »

fartfeatures wrote: post #13
random42 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of red flags?

Replied above. Also to add: * Completely new ycombinator account created 3 hours ago, no past history. * Anonymised email service. * Pseudonym. None of that is suspicious on its own necessarily but it is part of a pattern.

fartfeatures might be a sock puppet account of an 11 year old, no email, pseudonym, and childish bodily functions name. 5 month old account with barely any history of commenting anywhere but this thread, and very low karma for a 5 month old account. Concerning.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#32

Post by jddj »

refulgentis wrote: post #26
jawns wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They tried to build their product from it and I wasn't able to tolerate that If I heard this while I was interviewing a candidate, I would write a note to myself: "Be prepared for more of this." > I also brought up the fact I had security concerns in regards to their systems when I went in person but that was brushed aside/ignored If I heard this while I was interviewing a candidate, I would wonder whether they lac…

This reflects a viewpoint usually rectified by moral quandaries explored in elementary school, certainly middle school, fiction. Much less, this gem, argumentation that you'd expect a 12 year old in debate class to be able to skewer if they wanted a B. >> I'm going to go and try to find/steal some food now > Again, they're facing dire circumstances, which might mitigate their culpability, but they're also being quite…

While I agree that the food thing is neither here nor there, I didn't find the warning absurd. Once you've been through one of these difficult cases and seen the impact that it can have on the other employees it's hard to unlearn that lesson of caution.

This person needs social and professional help, and the situation is very unfortunate. But based on the content of the OP if you bring them into your workplace (the assumed context here in this particular thread) without those two things then you should be sure you know what you're doing.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#33

Post by refulgentis »

jddj wrote: post #32
refulgentis wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reflects a viewpoint usually rectified by moral quandaries explored in elementary school, certainly middle school, fiction. Much less, this gem, argumentation that you'd expect a 12 year old in debate class to be able to skewer if they wanted a B. >> I'm going to go and try to find/steal some food now > Again, they're facing dire circumstances, which might mitigate their culpability, but they're also being quite…

While I agree that the food thing is neither here nor there, I didn't find the warning absurd. Once you've been through one of these difficult cases and seen the impact that it can have on the other employees it's hard to unlearn that lesson of caution. This person needs social and professional help, and the situation is very unfortunate. But based on the content of the OP if you bring them into your workplace (the a…

Yeah sure that's reasonable.

"it's a red flag if an employee ever stole food for a meal / camped at a hospital while homeless" isn't.

Upper-class a-human inanity unrecognizable by 90% of the populace. I wouldn't believe it was a real person making an honest argument if I hadn't self-made my way from inner city Buffalo startup to Boston at Google, and found out how sheltered people can be.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#34

Post by mattbee »

fartfeatures wrote: post #24
mattbee wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did ChatGPT write this? Yes, OP has troubles, they have spelt them out. Your "concerns" have zero insight, they are an appeal to heartlessness. Who are you writing them for?

Yes I ran my comment through and asked it to take the rough edges off. I have no desire to worsen someone else's experience and my attempt at a comment was too cold. I simply want to warn people to have their guard up whilst helping.

Well simply don't. It was unkind and degrading, with the kicker that you didn't even write it yourself.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#35

Post by [deleted] »

refulgentis wrote: post #25
js4ever wrote: post #14

Maybe try to go back to the company interested in your AGPL project? Giving them full rights is way better than being homeless

Don't do this. It's better than starving to death, freezing to death, or being destitute the rest of your life, but subjectively, and objectively based on the comments, you'll find a way through, those aren't even close to likely outcomes. I don't know how to say this in a convincing way, but, you only have one chance to either affirm your values or discard them. Sort of a "better to fight standing than die on your k…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#37

Post by Last5Digits »

refulgentis wrote: post #33
jddj wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that the food thing is neither here nor there, I didn't find the warning absurd. Once you've been through one of these difficult cases and seen the impact that it can have on the other employees it's hard to unlearn that lesson of caution. This person needs social and professional help, and the situation is very unfortunate. But based on the content of the OP if you bring them into your workplace (the a…

Yeah sure that's reasonable. "it's a red flag if an employee ever stole food for a meal / camped at a hospital while homeless" isn't. Upper-class a-human inanity unrecognizable by 90% of the populace. I wouldn't believe it was a real person making an honest argument if I hadn't self-made my way from inner city Buffalo startup to Boston at Google, and found out how sheltered people can be.

Thanks for this bit of sanity. I was losing my mind trying to think up an explanation as to why that comment wasn't flagged or inundated with comments pointing out the sheer stupidity and inhumane arrogance.

I don't want to be overly dramatic, but this has genuinely lowered my view of HN as a whole, and I'll think twice about reading the comments here from now on.

If I were to show this to any well-adjusted person I know, they'd probably think less of me for even being in the same community and profession as the person who wrote that comment.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#38

Post by loa_in_ »

fartfeatures wrote: post #29
Repulsion9513 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Extended Unemployment Despite Skills: They claim to possess in-demand technical skills but have been unable to secure employment for six months. This discrepancy is concerning and warrants a deeper understanding of the reasons behind it. It does indeed. Do you have that deeper understanding? Are you familiar with the job market for devs in Alberta? Have you attempted to understand what reasons there may be for that…

The goal of my comments is to encourage vigilance if choosing to help. I have not set out to encourage people not to help. I was also specifically asked to elaborate when I tried to be vague and point to generic red flags.

I don't think you understand that the "generic ted flags" you seem to stand behind are very much wrong and dehumanising.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#39

Post by jddj »

refulgentis wrote: post #33
jddj wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that the food thing is neither here nor there, I didn't find the warning absurd. Once you've been through one of these difficult cases and seen the impact that it can have on the other employees it's hard to unlearn that lesson of caution. This person needs social and professional help, and the situation is very unfortunate. But based on the content of the OP if you bring them into your workplace (the a…

Yeah sure that's reasonable. "it's a red flag if an employee ever stole food for a meal / camped at a hospital while homeless" isn't. Upper-class a-human inanity unrecognizable by 90% of the populace. I wouldn't believe it was a real person making an honest argument if I hadn't self-made my way from inner city Buffalo startup to Boston at Google, and found out how sheltered people can be.

Yeah, neither of those things make any difference to anything.

I also feel incredibly heartless for adding my own "be careful" message to this person's eager response to someone's plea for help, but there it is.

Re: Ask HN: How to survive as a homeless programmer in the winter (AB, Canada)?

#40

Post by fartfeatures »

mattbee wrote: post #34
fartfeatures wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I ran my comment through and asked it to take the rough edges off. I have no desire to worsen someone else's experience and my attempt at a comment was too cold. I simply want to warn people to have their guard up whilst helping.

Well simply don't. It was unkind and degrading, with the kicker that you didn't even write it yourself.

I respect your opinion but disagree, my original comment was a lot clumsier.
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