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

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

#31
post #18

I don't know how are things in Canada. But when the bad times come, here in Colombia we sell Empanadas! ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empanada ) (A proverb say: What is the thing that sell most? A empanada!) I need to self-fund my own startup, and I have not access to angel investors. So I start selling BBQ related things in the streets. I do this only in the weekends, in the night, right now. In a strike of luck,…

In Canada I'd imagine you need a permit and/or access to a commercial kitchen for selling homemade food. I know you do here in upstate New York.

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

#32

Start by removing any negative connotations from your CV/bio: http://brandonhsiao.com/ Things like "I will not work with Windows hosting" and "Honestly, strictly speaking, any semi-competent hacker is capable of using any documented framework" make us associate you with someone who is stubborn and over-confident. The latter may be just, but I doubt it given your situation. I apologize if my words are harsh, but as it…

Also, the word "hacker" has a very different meaning (criminal who breaks into computer systems) in most of the world (e.g., to your potential customers) than it does within the software development community. So definitely don't refer to yourself as a hacker.

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

#33
post #12
post #3

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 cas…

> 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. Embassies aren't "get out of jail free" cards. Sure, it's better than nothing - but they get tourists without a return ticket home so often that there are strict policies on these sort of things. E…

I'm not an expert, but I don't think the US gov't ever just gifts you a ticket home. They could probably help you receive a wire transfer from friends or family, but it's very unlikely they would buy you a ticket.

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

#34
post #28
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the advice. I'd like to take your suggestion to radically raise rates to prevent this from happening again. What do you suggest I do to get in touch with/market to/work for clients willing to pay that much?

The only thing you have to do to hit $100 an hour in e.g. Python programming, which you appear to do, is to stop taking gigs which pay less than $100 per hour. People express disbelief at this, and it is headdesk inducing to me. For general Python contracting work, go to people who already employ Python programmers, demonstrate competence, and then ask if they are hiring or know anyone who is. This can be virtually o…

Sorry to ask what are probably silly questions, but: how do I, uh, find these people? Like where do they gather? Should I look up local businesses in my area, call them, and talk about their problems?

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

#35
Are you sure you cannot speak to mummy and daddy plus any other relatives, e.g. siblings? They may be the only people that can immediately arrange for you to have money for outgoings, as hard as it may be to pick up the phone to ask for help, they might just be worried about you and more than willing to help in any way possible. Of course you could be an orphan, disowned or with parents living on less than a dollar a day in the Global South, but I find it hard to believe you have no friends or family to help you.

If you are going to speak to them, one thing you can do to make things easier is to get the ball rolling with work. If you get your CV out today then you should be hearing from recruitment agencies tomorrow. If someone is going to put you forward for a telephone interview then that might be enough to persuade family that you are worth investing in.

Assuming that someone in the family can help you out you can pay them back with direct debit over six months or so, plus you will owe favours in return. This does mean doing a day job, i.e. getting out the door very early and getting back late with no life to yourself except the weekend.

You can also look for local work with rubbish pay doing things most people don't want to do. Pretend you are a student and that the job is perfect for you, in that way they will overlook any intellectual aspect of your character. The benefits of a local unskilled job are many: you can take on a challenge and 'win' (factory production lines are ridiculously fast to the uninitiated), physical hard labour does get you fit up to a point where you are just permanently run down, the travel can be easy and inexpensive saving you 1-2 hours per day, the camaraderie can be better than any office, you can get paid weekly, you can get paid for overtime, uniform/overalls are provided and although the experience may be utterly intolerable there will be retrospective enjoyment. Just pretend that you are going 'undercover' much like George Orwell in 'Down and Out in London and Paris' and all will be survivable.

If in an inane factory job read the trade press and look for vacancies that can combine the low--skilled in-depth knowledge of the job with programming. For instance, if you end up working in a bar then keep your eyes peeled for vacancies with the company that supply the POS software. If they want people to be support staff then they are willing to hire users (that know the software already and understand the pressures of their customers). A support role - picking up the phone and logging calls will lead to a second line role by which time you will have gained people skills and become a customer service focused person. That is worth more on your CV than any programming TLA's or half-baked open-source project contributions. It may not be rocket surgery and it might be hard work, but all I am saying is that a dead-end job really need not be dead end at all if you are prepared to be slightly enterprising about it.

It may take six months to a year of having to work at rubbish jobs before you can climb out of the hole into something nearer your true calling but that is not so long in the bigger scheme of things. As mentioned you will learn things along the way that they just don't teach in university.

Expecting to exchange programming services for money shows a slight lack of grasp of reality, in truth it is exchanging your labour or your time for $$$.

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

#36
post #17

Quick money? Well, Vancouver is Bitcoin capital of Canada. And Bitcoin payments are immediate. Also, there should be plenty of places to buy food there using Bitcoin. Here's a list of just some of them: http://www.bitcoiniacs.com/merchants/ So to earn money, go check out: https://coinality.com/ and http://www.reddit.com/r/Jobs4bitcoins They both post programming jobs. And Bitcoin payments are immediate. Just watch ou…

Wow, that is awesome. Wait, that actually sounds like a solution to my biggest problem right now.

This is not it. To all intents and purposes bitcoins are a fictional currency with no relevance to the real world of getting food on the table. Do not pursue some displacement activity based on selling tulip bulbs!!!

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

#37
post #21

Your immediate resolution is to either borrow money, to solicit donations, or to delay payment on your expenses. Your longer-term resolution, which I hope to share both with you and people whose present position resembles your position back in February (so that their position in October does not resemble your position as of this moment), is to improve the management of your business or, if you are unable or unwilling…

10,000 times this. I do freelance work, and THIS advice is the advice that has helped me the most. Be, act, and appear a consummate professional at every front. Quality of clients, size of projects, it all depends on acting the correct part. Might drop the term freelancer as well, although thats a little more controversial. It has appeared to me lately, that freelancer has begun to give the impression of cheap roll-o…

This. Be a consultant. Bill by the hour.

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

#38
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that is awesome. Wait, that actually sounds like a solution to my biggest problem right now.

This is not it. To all intents and purposes bitcoins are a fictional currency with no relevance to the real world of getting food on the table. Do not pursue some displacement activity based on selling tulip bulbs!!!

No one is suggesting that he sell them. I'm suggesting he earn them, from anyone around the globe, and then use them to pay for food at one of the many restaurants and/or groceries in Vancouver that accepts Bitcoin.
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