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Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
11–20 of 137 posts
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#12I am not in the position to offer you a job. However, I am also a self-taught engineer in the UK and I can offer you mentorship on developing yourself as an engineer, if you are interested. Feel free to reach out at alek@zvuk.net. Good luck!
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#13To add to the comments here, I highly recommend networking locally at meetups if you can - those have the best bang for the buck for first positions that I've seen for people.
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#14My girlfriend is unemployed in West Pennsylvania and is having trouble getting a minimum wage job in the area. She has her GED and a resume which contains a lot of art projects she's worked on. Are these irrelevant credits a turn off for employers? Is there anything else she can do? I'm more than happy to share the document.
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#15My girlfriend is unemployed in West Pennsylvania and is having trouble getting a minimum wage job in the area. She has her GED and a resume which contains a lot of art projects she's worked on. Are these irrelevant credits a turn off for employers? Is there anything else she can do? I'm more than happy to share the document.
What skills does she have and what sort of position is she looking for? The answer would depend a lot on what she's looking to do.
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#161. Open a github.com account
2. Use that as a base to build a public portfolio
3. There are many code golf based platform such as https://www.hackerrank.com/ - Get an account and practice. Others without account - https://projecteuler.net/
4. Also sites which may or may not be great at job hunting - https://hired.co.uk/, https://linkedin.com/
5. Go to meetups - find meetups in meetup.com or google mailing lists. Search for User Groups in your area. London is obviously the best place(sheer numbers) to do this in the U.K. but Edinburgh and other cities should have in some form or another. Universities. A lot of companies keep holding tech events in their offices - that is a good way to get a foot in the door.
6. Build something useful and demoable - search for things you have interest in.
7. Apply to early career/internship programs at companies
All the very best.
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#17Not a manager myself, and I don't have any positions in my hands, but can give you some advice: 1. Register at LinkedIn, fill in your profile as much as you can (especially "skills" section) - it will start offering you matching opportunities. Also, you can find some recruiters there - they will be very happy to make you close the vacancies they're working on. 2. I believe UK also has some startup hubs, but I know on…
Don't lie, but do fill in your empty time with something that isn't "unemployed" or irrelevant.
Something such as running your own business is a good option.
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#18What languages/platforms did you use to teach yourself?
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#19Many good suggestions here, I will add a couple of slightly different suggestions.
While you look for work, may be you can find some casual freelance gigs from upwork.com . It takes a while to get good reputation on upwork, but once you do, finding gigs gets much easier and protects you if you ever lose your job. So worth doing this in my opinion. Tip on finding work at upwork - look for work that is physically closer to you and then apply for it. Geographical proximity often is a good trust indicator and hence helps in winning work. And be patient, it takes a some time to start getting steady supply of gigs.
There is also toptal.com and few other similar sites, you will need to pass their evaluation, but once you do, they can get you some contract positions where you can work remotely for a company. They also pay well and usually there is enough work to go around.
I wish you the best of luck in your job search.
Re: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
#20In my experience, in the absence of a CS degree you need a portfolio, though posting on HN may be a good shortcut. While you're job hunting, if you haven't already, start building something moderately technical. You don't have to build anything that cures cancer, but if you can build a reasonably complex project consisting of at least two independent modules (say, a frontend and a backend) with a modern stack, you sh…
With a bit of luck, you might also be able to angle in from some other position. I originally worked in customer support, found opportunities for automation, built a couple small tools on my own time, convinced management I was more efficient automating than doing support directly, and that snowballed. No engineering degree or prior portfolio to speak of. But I was also quite lucky and the company (and support department in particular) is constantly strapped for engineering talent.