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Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

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Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#51

Post by yapcguy »

I hate this story. It's pure exploitation.

Firstly, and most importantly, Leo is still homeless.

Second, who the hell is Patrick McConlogue? This whole charade is like the film Trading Places, it's like those awful Bum Fights videos, it's Patrick using a homeless person as an object of amusement.

Some aspects of the story seem implausible, e.g. how does a homeless person afford to pay the developer fees, or supply a valid home address and tax ID number for validation by Apple and Google, but I guess it doesn't really matter given the overall story.

I think people like Patrick, along with the 'everybody can code' movement, do all programmers a disservice. It makes a mockery of those who treat software development as a true profession and craft.

Finally, nobody seems to be talking about Leo's homelessness and how he's going to survive a bitterly cold winter, it's all about a stupid bloody app.

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#52

Post by kingnight »

vertis wrote: post #45
felipe wrote: post #35

Homelessness is a serious and complex issue rooted in mental health and poverty, and the "mentor" behind the homeless coder reduced it to a game, just to show that all one needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of some privileged narcissistic clown. Stories like this are actually a disservice to the cause of technology as an agent for social and environmental change.

Poverty (in the US) is rooted in income and intelligence, and income is tied to education[1]. Please explain to me how directly getting in and spending time educating someone is 'turning it into a game'. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#Fa...

This seems like a cart before the horse situation. If someone was willing to invest in Grand to educate him to program, why would they also not invest in his overall wellbeing? Why did he have to be continue to be homeless to accomplish this if he had someone helping him out?

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#53

Post by tomasien »

bottled_poe wrote: post #41
kenrikm wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I purchased without the intent to use it, I consider it as more of a donation.

That would be a donation to Apple or Google then. If you really cared, you'd take real action.

Don't tell people how to care. God I hate this comment so much, care however you want. Care a little bit and give him $0.70, care a lot and try to something, care any way you want.

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#54

Post by logicallee »

felipe wrote: post #35

Homelessness is a serious and complex issue rooted in mental health and poverty, and the "mentor" behind the homeless coder reduced it to a game, just to show that all one needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of some privileged narcissistic clown. Stories like this are actually a disservice to the cause of technology as an agent for social and environmental change.

What if all a homeless person needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of a privileged narcissistic clown, and you're wrong that mental health and poverty on the other side of the scale are enough to tip it in the direction of enduring homelessness?

If this is the case how would we know it - what data points would show it? And how might a report on those look?

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#55

Post by dhaivatpandya »

jrs99 wrote: post #32
vertis wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm not sure it's a 100% reliable method though. Depends how recently the person has eaten (etc).

I'm assuming they bought him a chromebook. That's like saying do you want $100 cash or a $250 chromebook and coding lessons.

But unless he mentioned that when the decision was made, that should not affect the results.

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#56

Post by smtddr »

yapcguy wrote: post #51

I hate this story. It's pure exploitation. Firstly, and most importantly, Leo is still homeless. Second, who the hell is Patrick McConlogue? This whole charade is like the film Trading Places, it's like those awful Bum Fights videos, it's Patrick using a homeless person as an object of amusement. Some aspects of the story seem implausible, e.g. how does a homeless person afford to pay the developer fees, or supply a…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795

(seriously, you again?)

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#57

Post by grannyg00se »

felipe wrote: post #35

Homelessness is a serious and complex issue rooted in mental health and poverty, and the "mentor" behind the homeless coder reduced it to a game, just to show that all one needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of some privileged narcissistic clown. Stories like this are actually a disservice to the cause of technology as an agent for social and environmental change.

How did he reduce it to a game? According to the story the "narcissist" actually sat with this guy for many hours teaching him how to code. He gave his time and effort to teach someone new skills. New wealth was earned. Pretty great really.

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#58

Post by felipe »

chill1 wrote: post #42
felipe wrote: post #35

Homelessness is a serious and complex issue rooted in mental health and poverty, and the "mentor" behind the homeless coder reduced it to a game, just to show that all one needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of some privileged narcissistic clown. Stories like this are actually a disservice to the cause of technology as an agent for social and environmental change.

Wow.. Where do I begin with your comment? I very rarely get upset about comments on the internet, but yours is particularly revolting. When was the last time you stopped in your day-to-day life to try to help someone? And, I don't mean give money to a homeless person or donate to a charity. I have imagined myself doing what the "privileged narcissistic clown" -- as you call him -- did in this story. I haven't done it…

I have a very close family member who went missing and eventually was found homeless. In the course of the investigation we found that several people exploited and took advantage of him for personal gain.

If you study the issue (like we did) you will find that this is a common and recurring problem, as homeless people are mentally vulnerable and open to narcissistic individuals.

Nothing against helping others -- I myself volunteered for social-change tech ngos for several years. My problem is in exploiting a vulnerable person for personal gain, which this guy is obviously doing.

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#59

Post by [deleted] »

felipe wrote: post #35

Homelessness is a serious and complex issue rooted in mental health and poverty, and the "mentor" behind the homeless coder reduced it to a game, just to show that all one needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of some privileged narcissistic clown. Stories like this are actually a disservice to the cause of technology as an agent for social and environmental change.

[deleted]

Re: Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now

#60

Post by yapcguy »

smtddr wrote: post #56
yapcguy wrote: post #51

I hate this story. It's pure exploitation. Firstly, and most importantly, Leo is still homeless. Second, who the hell is Patrick McConlogue? This whole charade is like the film Trading Places, it's like those awful Bum Fights videos, it's Patrick using a homeless person as an object of amusement. Some aspects of the story seem implausible, e.g. how does a homeless person afford to pay the developer fees, or supply a…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6441795 (seriously, you again?)

What is your point exactly?
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