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Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

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Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#1

Post by _g2lm »

I'm a full stack freelance web developer with several projects all heavily delayed. Meanwhile I'm living overseas in a country where I don't know anyone (Vancouver, British Columbia), have $60 USD left in my bank account, and only have rent paid for another 2 days (at a hostel). Food here is pretty expensive and runs about $15/day even if you really try to save, especially if you don't have a permanent place for groceries.

It seems to me my best bet of making money is exchanging programming services for money as usual. How do I make this kind of trade last-minute?

Resume is in profile if that helps give advice. Also, this is a special case, but I have no one to borrow money from.

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#2

Post by junto »

First thing I would suggest is to edit your podt and let people know which city you are in. HNers that are local to you might be able to give you a sofa for a few nights or ask you to pop by their office for a chat or informal interview. You could be in my city, but since it isn't immediately obvious I'm not going to then bother to contact you via your HN profile to ask.

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#3

Post by rwallace »

Exchanging programming services for money is a great idea in the long term, but it typically takes on the order of months until the first chunk of money arrives, which means it's far too late for that alone to help you right now. What you need right now is an emergency bail out.

You say you're in a foreign country, and you don't have any family back home who could help with the price of an airline ticket? In that case I would suggest going to your country's embassy and explaining your situation.

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#4

Post by jcmurrayii »

Rough situation.

I am not sure you will be able to find anything in the programming area on such short notice that will pay out that quickly.

However, this might be a case where you look outside of that, and take more pedestrian approaches to get you the cash needed to ride out the rough patch.

Day labor, its not programming, and it doesn't pay much, but it could be enough to put food in the belly, and a roof over the head. I know in the US there are all kinds of day labor companies, and construction will occasionally hire for unskilled on a job site, and pay cash.

Recruiters/Staffing/Temp: Find someone that has a client base of people that need software staff augmentation immediately. I am not sure it would solve the problem in 2-3 days, but you might get very lucky.

Original response was dead on though. Hard to say what can be done without knowing where in the world you are.

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#5

Post by danielschonfeld »

Couchsurfing.com for the immediate housing problem, maybe even make a friend you can lean on for the first week and try to get them back with a nice dinner once you got some cash flowing again.

If cost of living/food is a sustained problem, try to save up and fly to a place where that won't be your noose around your neck. Perhaps southeast asia once you've saved a bit. Again couchsurfing for a softer landing there as well.

If you freelance, I see no reason why you need to stay in a place that costs a lot to live in. Move elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#6

Post by [deleted] »

junto wrote: post #2

First thing I would suggest is to edit your podt and let people know which city you are in. HNers that are local to you might be able to give you a sofa for a few nights or ask you to pop by their office for a chat or informal interview. You could be in my city, but since it isn't immediately obvious I'm not going to then bother to contact you via your HN profile to ask.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#7

Post by _g2lm »

danielschonfeld wrote: post #5

Couchsurfing.com for the immediate housing problem, maybe even make a friend you can lean on for the first week and try to get them back with a nice dinner once you got some cash flowing again. If cost of living/food is a sustained problem, try to save up and fly to a place where that won't be your noose around your neck. Perhaps southeast asia once you've saved a bit. Again couchsurfing for a softer landing there as…

It doesn't cost that much actually; once I find a permanent place and buy groceries etc. I can live off maybe $600-$700/month. The issue is really just that I need money last-minute.

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#8

Post by steven2012 »

I don't understand by what you mean by "overseas". Are you not legally allowed to work in Canada? Why are you listing your money in USD? Sounds like you made a couple of bad decisions and you need to find yourself a full time job.

If you really have no money you should probably use your credit cards until you find a permanent job. Or ask your friends or family to loan you money while you are getting yourself back on your feet.

Re: Ask HN: What to do as a programmer about to go homeless

#10

Post by webmaven »

junto wrote: post #2

First thing I would suggest is to edit your podt and let people know which city you are in. HNers that are local to you might be able to give you a sofa for a few nights or ask you to pop by their office for a chat or informal interview. You could be in my city, but since it isn't immediately obvious I'm not going to then bother to contact you via your HN profile to ask.

From http://brandonhsiao.com/, it looks like he's in Vancouver.

[EDIT: Ah, The OP has updated his post]

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