131–140 of 322 posts
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Entry level employment is like 99% massive corporations This seems unlikely, given that the majority of jobs in the US are provided by small businesses.
simile often involves hyperbole.
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I'm not sure how to efficiently parse a GitHub profile but in what way does it indicate he never learned how to code?
Most of the projects are straight forks with no additions, or puerile flatline dumps of boilerplate - generated structures with little to no meat. I don't want to put anyone down, he's obviously in a tough situation, but I maybe would've left the GitHub link out, it doesn't add anything (positive) to the story.
I looked at the GitHub expecting to genuinely find actual examples of really bad code due to your statement, but that is not what I found, mostly I found a pretty empty GitHub, which is not too interesting, I know lots of perfectly good coders with empty GitHubs or no GitHubs at all.
> maybe would've left the GitHub link out, it doesn't add anything (positive) to the story
That is another matter, unrelated to you saying they "never learned to code" without, what it looks like, any evidence.
Emmanuel (we call him Mani) is a 50 (or 60?) year old homeless man who would smile and shake our hands every day when we showed up at our local library to hold coding hours. He came in to every single office hour from (4-8pm) to learn as much as he could and literally never missed a day in the 3 months pilot that we were there.
We learned from the librarians that for the past year, Mani has been coming to the library right when it opened (9am) and stayed until it closed (8pm) every day (including the weekend), trying to teach himself how to code. He was hoping to launch his website so he could make some money off ads. With a notepad++ on his usb drive, he coded every day piecing little things together. We taught him basic JavaScript and simple server stuff and helped him get his website up! https://newsgusher.garagescript.org/
Our office hours has ended, but Mani is still plowing away at the library. If you want to meet him, you can find him at Downtown San Jose Public Library on the third floor.
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There is no such thing as a near zero crime rate for homeless people. Also, just being warm is not sufficient. Homeless people need so much more than that, it's daunting. A short starter list: * food & water * access to shower * laundry * medical care * dental care * education * legal advice / support * the list goes on... (disclosure: 16 years of on-again, off-again homelessness as a child and a 6 month period of tr…
One week I measured how much water I needed to clean myself top to bottom: two glasses. I eat low and don't feel hungry (although I don't suffer cold which drains energy fast) I agree that it can be daunting but I think it's not the quantity it's the regularity of supplies.
This measurement is meaningless without calibrating for how dirty you were to start with. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you were mostly clean and presentable, wearing freshly cleaned clothes daily, only needing to wash off some sweat and skin oils.
A person living rough on the streets will probably be wearing dirty clothes for days or weeks, and constantly be exposed to the elements. The grime accumulates, and unless you've reproduced these conditions in your experiment, your figures are unrealistic.
Good news for op. I know a homeless developer who is not so lucky (yet?). Emmanuel (we call him Mani) is a 50 (or 60?) year old homeless man who would smile and shake our hands every day when we showed up at our local library to hold coding hours. He came in to every single office hour from (4-8pm) to learn as much as he could and literally never missed a day in the 3 months pilot that we were there. We learned from…
>keeping a charge was almost impossible Hey Jesse, pick up a solar panel. You can get waterproof two usb port that'll crank out 20-30 watts ~$50. I'd recommend an ARM laptop too. They're cheaper and Intel is generally too power hungry anyway. A Samsung Chromebook Plus used on swappa would be really nice. It has a really bright display so you can still see it outdoors in the sun. For data, T-Mo is unlimited for $30/mo…
Any link or suggestion for laptop solar chargers? I want one.
https://www.amazon.com/SOKOO-Portable-Efficiency-Reinforced-...
https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Waterproof-Efficiency-Cellph...
https://www.amazon.com/Balight-Outdoor-Foldable-Powered-Char...
28W basically gives you an fourth panel, but your backpack is probably 3 panels tall.
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Hey Doreen! Do you mind if I get in touch? I ran into a young homeless man (who has a felony on his record) in a big box parking lot in Central Florida the other day. He has an AC HVAC technician license, and is having a hard time finding someone who will hire him, and I'm looking for suggestions into how best to help him not just get back on his feet, but maximize his available skillset by getting back into an AC HV…
I'm not actually super good at job hunting, so emailing me could be a total waste of time, but you are more than welcome to email me anyway. My email is in my profile. Edit: There are job hunting resources for felons in specific, such as this: https://www.70millionjobs.com/
As someone who has careened on the edge of homelessness, due to mental illness, but thankfully not yet fallen into it straight out: thank you for your replies and posts in this thread :)
Kind regards.
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I left Australia with the aim of relocating to Europe permanently and I traveled around Europe for a couple of months while staying at AirBnBs and working freelance for a US company (remotely); then for about 6 months I lived in Moscow (Russia) but the work started drying up (and I didn't have much savings left at that point). I was running out of money and couldn't find a job as a developer in Moscow due to language…
You could have just purchased a UK phone number, couldn’t you?
By the way, Russia is a particularly bad choice. Russians are not permitted to work in London, it's outside of Europe and there is no immigration agreement. The resume won't survive the first pass from HR.
I'm also formerly homeless, and now the cofounder of https://LambdaSchool.com (YC S17). We have a nonprofit fund designed specifically to help out homeless software engineers looking for a job.
I'd love to put you in a cheap airbnb or apartment, hook you up with Lambda School's career services team who will help review your resume, get your github and portfolio in shape, practice interviewing, and help you land a job. We've already seen multiple success stories (for example David https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/homeless-man-handing-out..., who is now making almost $100k/yr).
Generous donors have allowed us to continue to grow the fund after Lambda School's original $50,000 contribution.
I know how hard it is to focus on getting a job when you're just trying to survive, so let's try to eliminate that distraction. Hit me up at austen@lambdaschool.com and let's help you focus and get to where you need to be.
PS if anyone on HN wants to donate to the fund it's here - https://www.gofundme.com/lambda-perpetual-access-fund. Generally we can help someone who knows how to write code go from homeless to hired with a couple thousand dollars all-in.