
My Story as a Homeless Developer - jessehorne
https://medium.com/@jessehorne/my-story-as-a-homeless-developer-5874731c42ed
======
austenallred
Hey Jesse,

I'm also formerly homeless, and now the cofounder of
[https://LambdaSchool.com](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...](https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/homeless-man-handing-out-resumes-
in-bay-area-lands-software-engineer-job/1386955148), 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](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.

~~~
Ahmed90
Sorry about the thread highjacking! But do you work internationally, like all
the way in the middle east? I'm one of the local dev community leaders in my
country, and there is just so much space for proper training and education,
also a huge supply of fresh out of CS school youngsters who have no idea what
to do in a troubled country with an education system that's stuck in the 90s.

So I would like to ask you a few questions if you allow me to shoot you an
email? :)

~~~
DoreenMichele
_who have no idea what to do in a troubled country with an education system
that 's stuck in the 90s._

[https://clementecourse.org](https://clementecourse.org)

Years ago, I read a book about the program. It's designed to educate people in
terrible circumstances. I am thinking you might find it a useful resource.
Among other things, they designed a schedule that helped minimize the damage
from missed sessions, iirc.

Best.

~~~
Ahmed90
Thanks

------
eric_b
As the author discovered, reliable transportation and a permanent residence
are often prerequisites for many office jobs. However, I do know that in Iowa
there are _many_ other kinds of jobs, lots of which would pay a wage
sufficient to get back on one's feet, and have more lenient requirements.
Perhaps the author needs to get _any_ job vs. a programming job? Establishing
a place to live, getting consistent income, and _then_ going after the
programming job would be a better idea perhaps? Sucks to take a step back, but
sometimes that's the only way to go forward.

I have a family member going through this same thing and struggling with
similar issues. The author is right, it won't be easy to rise above the
situation they find themselves in, but the key thing is to stop making bad
decisions and take small but incremental steps to improve. Big bang "remote
programming job" might not be in the cards. But farm laborer could be. Which
may be a step in that direction.

~~~
Avshalom
What do you mean by _many_ jobs. Outside of standing outside of home depot I
don't know many jobs that don't require a permanent address and a phone number
and an email. Entry level employment is like 99% massive corporations that
make no allowances for the realities of hard lives.

~~~
eric_b
You sound pretty out of touch. In Iowa there is an enormous agriculture
industry - an industry not known for asking a lot of personal questions about
origin or current status. If you can show up and do the work (and maybe pass a
drug test), you're hired. And often paid cash.

Outside of agriculture, there are the usual suspects. Bars, restaurants,
cleaning jobs, roofing, painting, other forms of low skill construction,
landscaping/yard work, and with the unemployment rate so low, other jobs are
becoming available as well. Many of these jobs have someone who drives, and a
passenger or two to help with the work when they arrive. I know several folks
who do not have licenses due to DUIs, and they are gainfully employed without
owning a car, in places where cars are almost a necessity.

I never said it would be easy - but it certainly is doable.

~~~
komali2
The implication is that the majority of homeless are just lazy, yea? Just pick
apples!

I've been exactly there. You're not making minimum wage when you show up to
the farm to pick apricots all day.

Bars - need a bartender license. Yes, you do, nobody is risking it in 2018.

Restaurants, sure, but again, you're not making minimum wage, and if you whiff
of hobo you're not working front of house and getting tips.

Cleaning jobs are usually cornered by some immigrant class . If you're an
immigrant and have friends/family with the hookup or maybe can speak their
language, congrats, you're in (not making minimum wage). If not, move on.

Roofing - you need to bring your own tools. Speaking from experience. Also,
this isn't just a "show up and do it job," the shysters that manage to sell
shit crews to homeowners never last long, so you'll have to get on with a crew
that know what they're doing, and they're not going to want to bring someone
on that wants to just do it long enough to "get their feet under them" and
then bail. Decent pay, sure, but it's a "career."

Painting - this means standing outside of home depot, just like OP said. Not
minimum wage.

Other forms of low skill construction - like what? It's not "low skill," the
immigrants you see doing it get trained up by their cousins on the job, and
once again, it's bring your own tools.

Landscaping/yard work - market cornered by immigrants and highschoolers.
Nobody wants a random hobo mowing their lawn. Maybe you can get on with an
immigrant crew. Non-minimum wage.

>unemployment rate so low

Yea, because people are being paid like it's still 1991 (the 2009 raise was
putting a finger into a ten meter diameter hole in a dam).

This guy didn't have a family to support him. That's how the immigrants do it,
in case anybody is wondering - they stay with families, get jobs due to
families, and afford life here because they're all supporting eachother.
Random hobo programmer dude is going to have a MUCH harder time scrabbling out
of the hole.

Yea, you can scrabble a life, but you're not building a ladder out of the hole
for yourself. I'd argue, if you can program, the 3.75/hr you'd make for 3
months is meaningless if you can instead spend that 3 months homeless but then
pull a programming job for even a month.

~~~
lozaning
At least in CA there is literally no such thing as a 'bartending license'. The
requirements for getting a job as a bartender in california start and stop at
convincing a bar owner to let you tend their bar.

~~~
isaiahg
Even if there's no license, there no way someone can just walk into a bar and
get a bartending job. I should know, I went to bartending school. Bartenders
are almost always hired from lower level employees. Usually you start by
cleaning tables, then you work your way up to a barback, and then you can move
up as a bartender.

~~~
lozaning
Hence my caveat about needing to convince a bar owner to let you be a
bartender. Never said it was easy, just that there is no such thing as a
bartenders license.

------
DoreenMichele
Looks like this was written today. He's apparently still homeless and he
closes with a request for feedback.

So I'm just going to leave these links here (disclosure: they are my sites):

[https://www.pocketputer.com/](https://www.pocketputer.com/)

[https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/](https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/)
(Same look, but different site)

[https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/](https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/)

This is listed on the _Links_ page of PocketPuter.com, but I'm going to put it
here on HN for maximum exposure (not mine, just an awesome resource):

List of Remote Jobs and Gigs Platforms

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JfNAbUX_lN9K3MCNHO15...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JfNAbUX_lN9K3MCNHO15GJtJ5qpk7H9Cl3xTBwv2FR8/htmlview)

Best.

~~~
scarface74
It seems like the biggest issue is not that he doesn’t have the skill set to
find a job but his (admitted) mental illness. He needs someone to help him
through that first. No, I don’t have any answers, but I do know how hard it is
to do well at a job if your mind isn’t clear.

~~~
DoreenMichele
I spent nearly 6 years on the street. Practical solutions for helping me solve
my actual problems was the best thing for my head space. I wrote some of it
down. Most of that can be found in the above blogs of mine.

I'm not at all unfamiliar with mental health issues. This is what I deeply and
sincerely believe works.

If you disagree, perhaps you could hook him up with a better solution instead
of raining on my parade.

~~~
Timmah
You can disagree without offering a solution. His comment was with the aim of
addressing the underlying problem. OP could get a dev job tomorrow and lose it
within a week if mental health issues impede his ability to function on a
team. Your parade isn't as important as OP's predicament.

~~~
DoreenMichele
These two claims conflict:

 _You can disagree without offering a solution._

 _Your parade isn 't as important as OP's predicament._

You and the other commenter are offering nothing of help to the OP. Your
entire focus is on taking me down for some reason.

Meanwhile, my opening comment offered actual resources to try to help the OP.
If you think that addressing his problem is the most important thing here,
then you could do the same thing I did and leave comments aimed at being
helpful instead of comments aimed at shooting me down.

~~~
justinclift
Hmmm, my reading of Scarface's comment was that it's more just trying to be
constructive "He'll need to work out the mental health issues too..." kind of
thing, rather than negging your comment.

But, maybe I just need more coffee. :)

~~~
jakeinsf
I think this is a perfect illustration of what happens.

The (mentally ill) person does something which they intend as a benefit and
people react. The (mentally ill) person feels attacked, often where no attack
was intended.

This is the problem that needs to be addressed, as has been stated.

The reason (mentally ill) people don't have jobs is because they can't keep
them, due to their illness, not that they can't find them.

I'm not trying to attack anyone in this thread by using the term mentally ill.

I suffer from something that has been variously diagnosed as
aspergers/bipolar/borderline/crazy/mentally ill and I understand this pattern
completely.

I was homeless for 3 months when I lost my job because of problems interacting
with other employees. I seem to be too sensitive or maybe I'm imagining
slights. Whatever the cause, the result is I have serious problems maintaining
any relationships with anyone, even my family members.

I can be highly functioning for months at a time and I did have a 10 year
relationship with someone, so I'm not beyond help and I'm not an awful person
(though I feel like one despite my best efforts at positive affirmations!) but
something seems to build inside me until it erupts in a stream of negativity
that most people would rather not have to deal with, and so they don't.

My parents were both alcoholics, so I'm sure that is part of it, but being a
slave 8 hours a day is very difficult for me, and always has been.

I'm 54 years old and on the verge of homelessness again after working IBM and
Intel, among other industry giants.

There is no safety net in the US for unmarried males without dependents. It is
assumed we are immune to struggles and should be able to lift ourselves up by
our bootstraps.

I applaud the efforts of people like AustenAllred who are attempting to find
market solutions to problems like homelessness. Bravo!

~~~
cobar
I can relate to this as I'm quite sensitive and when I was younger had an
incredibly hot fuse, largely related to being socially awkward, getting teased
in school, and not knowing how to deal with it. That carried on into the work
environment and left me adversarial and feeling isolated.

For me the problematic dynamic came from having things upset me and build up
until I would get so angry it would explode outward. I grew up learning to
hold it in, so I had no idea I could talk about problems with people. It
wasn't so much letting go of the anger as talking about feelings and
difficulties with people allowed me to avoid hitting that breaking point and
over time, the anger and resentment has faded. Additionally, those
conversations led to a level of trust where I feel like I can reach out to the
person when something comes up or even strongly supported by them.

Coming from alcoholic parents, you might want to check out Al Anon. I found
that and Codependents Anonymous invaluable as places where I was surrounded by
people struggling with many of the same social issues I did. Also, it was
unique in that it's an environment where talking about these sort of things is
encouraged and invited, in public I tend to find that people find these topics
uncomfortable and unwelcome.

------
anothergoogler
> The calls usually go something like this.

> Me: “First thing, is I am looking for a remote position just long enough to
> allow me to save for a vehicle.”

> Recruiter: “Sure. _spends 20 minutes gathering as much information about me
> as they can_ ”

> Recruiter: “We’d love to move forward with a position but you do not have a
> vehicle and the position requires you to have reliable transportation.”

Why would do you that? The recruiter and employer don't care if you unicycle,
hitchhike, swim, or teleport to work. The conversation should be about your
skills, experience, professional goals. The recruiter won't feel good about
shopping you around if you make it sound like you're going to quit once you've
saved a couple grand for a used car.

~~~
paxys
Or maybe driving to different locations is part of the job requirements?

~~~
jakeinsf
Most jobs in the states ask if you own a car because if you don't then the
likelihood is that you will either be late for work because of unreliable
public transportation, or you would miss work because the person who is giving
you a ride can't do it every day. So if you don't have a vehicle, you simply
aren't hired because they predict you'll cause them problems.

------
songzme
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 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/](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.

~~~
jtchang
Wow that website loaded so fast. It kinda grows on me. Reminds me of the web
back in the 90s when all HTML was coded mostly by hand.

------
jmcgough
The author kind of glosses over a lot of conflicts with friends, family,
employers, and briefly mentions mental health problems. It sounds like that
could be contributing a lot to his struggles.

I burned out of my first job because of poor mental health, which I didn't
prioritize because work was all-consuming and being sick makes it hard to seek
out help. I took a few months off before interviewing, and realized that I
needed to get a job and really fight to break the cycle I'd been trapped in.

I don't have any great suggestions for the author getting back on his feet,
but once he does he should prioritize building a 6-month safety net and
working through whatever he's struggling with. Yoga, running and medication
all helped me.

------
adiusmus
Get a job: don’t tell or show recruiter how desperate you are. Don’t tell
recruiter you’re homeless. Work on portfolio of projects. GitHub.

Shelter: Get a van. Live in it. Boondocking is better than the cardboard box
or couch surfing.

Food: Noodles. Vegetables. Rice. Chicken.

Tech: android tablets can run Linux and can support mouse and keyboard.
Tablets are easier than laptops to charge. Laptops can do more. Trade offs.

Security: get some money into bank account ASAP. Make it a regular habit. Any
money you’d put into alcohol etc put it into bank account. This is your safety
net. Start from zero.

Street address: get a mailing address. Parents/friends may be able to help.
You only need to visit. post office box can help as well but costs money.

Relationships: be careful. Your safety net is likely not strong enough to
tolerate much failure. Counter argument: having someone else around can help
in little ways.

Decisions: think critically. Need versus Want.

Mental health: read autobiographies. Read fiction. Read. Improve all gaps that
seem easy to fix. Understand that homelessness is a hole you can dig yourself
out of.

Health: teeth, hair etc hygiene is king. Drop any kind of drug other than
coffee. Alcohol etc will make you an easy target.

Small steps.

------
throwawaytote11
This may sound a bit harsh, but dude you need to lower your standards. In the
coding and startup world we created a cult like impossible dream to fulfill.

I have a startup that went through some very low lows. I had just quit my
cushy job and had saved enough money to last for 2 years, but not my co-
founders. When we ran through our funding, things became harsh. I funded
everything out of my pocket.

The CTO couldn't afford his apartment anymore so I paid for his rent. Not long
after, I got a family emergency and couldn't afford it anything anymore. I
told him to get a part time job to help out. He squarely told me no. "Every
successful startup founder lived in a van and dined on Ramen."

I stopped paying his rent. He moved into the office. I urged him to get a job
because I couldn't afford it anymore. He refused. I stopped paying the office
rent. He went homeless.

He lived on the generosity of strangers, though he went days without eating.
He refused to get a job. As long as someone was helping him, he wouldn't work.
We had to trick him to help him, a friend gave him some space to live
together, then later told him that he needs to participate on paying rent.
Only then he started looking for work.

There are a lot of conflicts the OP only mentioned in passing and didn't go
into details. There is a lot more to this story, maybe the mental health issue
nullify anything I say here. But thinking your story is like that of every
unicorn tech founder can lead you to make terrible decisions.

Sometimes you have to be humble and make sacrifices to be able to move
forward.

------
jondubois
I was 'homeless' for a few months (in the sense that I didn't have a home) but
for most of that time I had a high enough income that I could afford to stay
in AirBnBs. It was a scary experience. At one point I had lost my job, I was
about $6000 in debt, in a foreign country, with a 'dependent' spouse (also
without job) and I only had about $1000 left on my credit card.

When I hear entrepreneurs talk about how much they risked to build their
startup, I roll my eyes.

Once you've had to to do whatever it takes just to be able to afford to keep a
roof over your head, what a lot of people call 'risk' actually doesn't seem
risky at all. Would they have ended up sleeping on the streets if it didn't
work out? It doesn't seem like it.

I understand now that difficulty and hardship are highly subjective. Probably
some people would look at my experience and think that I had it easy.

~~~
fipple
No house and staying in Airbnb’s isn’t “homeless.”

~~~
patientplatypus
You are objectively wrong.

A homeless individual is defined in section 330(h)(5)(A) as “an individual who
lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a
family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a
supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary
living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional
housing.” A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may
live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy
facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-
permanent situation. [Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.,
254b)]

And even if you weren't you should show more kindness to those that experience
hardship - because that's what good people do.

~~~
homeaway2
In the US, different government departments define homelessness different ways
[1]. How and why they came to do that would be a very interesting read. I had
looked into this to see what it would take to legally check the "I'm homeless"
box on the ACA exemption form, which I believe was under the HHS rule you
posted. But that's different from what it would take to get housing assistance
from HUD, and that's probably even different than how the average person would
define "homeless".

[1] [https://www.nhchc.org/faq/official-definition-
homelessness/](https://www.nhchc.org/faq/official-definition-homelessness/)

------
teunispeters
Been there done that. Worked a lot of other jobs too to survive (driving
forklift, welder's help, construction) - got too injured to continue that so
went back to fighting to work office jobs. Eventually succeeded. I spent 20
years in that half way world of not enough to survive, not enough to stay off
the streets but I'm off now and have been for 7+ years now.

The first employer that got me off the streets I didn't tell I was homeless. I
worked for them for a month crashing out in friends' couches until I could
move into a tiny apartment walking distance from the job.

(there's levels of homeless. I only spent weeks on the streets themselves and
about a year living out of an old beater car I could keep functional)

I don't really have anything to add, other than try to work other stuff.
Unless you live somewhere ridiculously expensive (like - oh - my last city of
Vancouver BC) - you'll probably be able to drag yourself out with even a
minimum wage warehouse job or the like, and get yourself set for going back
into main career.

My favourite warehouse job I worked for a year. Every day saying how great my
vacation was going ;) (half of that was living in a car. But I made it)

------
cryptozeus
Op First thing, I dont think I can ever understand the pain you are going
through. I just wish you the best , remember you are in one of the high demand
field and it would be very easy for you to bounce back.

Next I would suggest you stop looking for remote jobs and temporary gigs.
Those things are only useful when you already have roof over your head and
food to eat. Based on maslow hierarchy of needs, your number one focus should
be to get roof/food etc. I see you are creating side projects but I would ask
you to focus on getting a full time job which can give you reliable salary.
This may require mind shift but its not written in stone.

Third thing I would say is that past is gone. Its literally gone, it only
exist now in your memory so hopefully you can let go and create path forward.
Seems like you are already step ahead because you are taking responsibility
for all that has happened. I would also suggest you try to change your
environment and get to a bigger city where you can find more jobs and some
better city resources.

Good luck

------
honkycat
Hang in there, you're still young and healthy. It gets better. You can become
a programmer, and there are jobs out there.

Now, some harsh advice: You are being completely unrealistic in your
expectation of a remote position while you live in rural Iowa.

Problem 1: Where you are located

_____________________

Get out of Iowa. Seriously. The tech-hub effect is real and Iowa has very few
job opportunities for programmers. Source: I grew up in rural Iowa and I know
how to use Linkedin.

All of the places I've chosen to live in my life have been VERY foot-traffic
friendly. Examples of such cities: Denver. Chicago. Portland, Or. San
Francisco. Austin. Columbus. Kansas City, MO. Minneapolis. Somewhere you can
walk and live without having a car. Places that have companies hiring
programmers. You can save a ton of money by not having a car and just using
public transit and walking.

Problem 2: Transportation:

___________________________

I have NEVER owned a car. I lived in Chicago for 10 years. I took public
transit or biked. Saved me thousands of dollars over the years. Why do you
want to spend $300/mo on car payments for an asset that is constantly
deprecating and has poor resale value while you are struggling to keep a roof
over your head?

Problem 3: The Remote Position

____________________

Some harsh advice on this remote position notion: You need to look for another
job while learning coding on the side if you want to stick to your guns as a
remote developer. I'll enumerate the reasons below:

1\. Nobody wants to take a chance on an unproven 20-something programmer for a
remote position. Remote positions tend to be for people with a proven track
record.

2\. Your Linkedin is not filled out enough to compete for remote positions.
You don't seem to have had any real programming positions for an extended
period of time. You should be going for entry level positions currently.

3\. You have no formal education, which can often be substituted for actual
work experience. Google touts that they hire TONS of people with no formal
degree. Almost 15% (on certain teams)! Yep, degrees don't matter if you're
willing to roll the dice on being part of that lucky ( Or extremely brilliant
) 15%!

4\. Remote positions are still relatively rare. By limiting yourself to remote
positions you are excluding yourself from most possible jobs.

Edit: On the list of great cities to move to, Des Moines is also a viable
option.

~~~
ryneandal
Des Moines has a significant tech footprint now.

~~~
honkycat
Great point, updating

------
ido
One thing I found interesting straight off - by the cartoons and tech
described (Pentium ii as a hand me down computer, internet connections at
school and at homes) the author is at least 10 years younger than me - yet
they started using the same language I did: qbasic.

Being poor rather than middle class put them about a decade behind on the tech
curve.

~~~
clarry
At least in my part of the world, qbasic remained a popular beginner language
through the 90s to the early 2000s. It was easy to get, and there was plenty
of tutorials available for it. Visual Basic didn't have the same appeal unless
you wanted to do desktop applications, and I guess it was harder to get your
hands on. C and C++ were not considered too beginner friendly. I don't think
there was much competition for QBasic on its merits, at least in the Microsoft
world.

To me it looks like a lot of hobbyists here started their dabblings with QB
until web development (read: PHP) took over.

~~~
ido
As they have gotten the pentium 2 (the top of the line, most expensive CPU in
1997) as a free hand-me-down computer & considering ubuntu first released in
2004, the author probably got started at _the earliest_ in the mid '00s - by
then you'd probably get started with something like flash.

But I agree QB was surprisingly long-lived, this 80s era tool probably lasted
as long as Windows 98 (i.e. till XP became the "default" windows version).

------
shams93
One thing that could help is using youth hostels, when I lost my apartment I
was able to find a $25 a day youth hostel where I stayed for 3 weeks but I was
able to hold on to my office job without anyone finding out I no longer had my
own place.

------
jrochkind1
Every government should be addressing homelessness with "housing first"
approaches.

[https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-
first/](https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/)

Being homeless is HARD and does not make it any easier to address any of your
other problems.

We should all be telling our elected officials we want a "housing first"
approach.

------
err4nt
Hey Jesse, I can sympathize with your situation, and I've seen you get some
really solid advice in other comments here so I'll just add my 2¢ about
presenting yourself.

I have a couple of probing questions, and I mean no offense, just to provoke
thought:

1) What good is atheism as a worldview if it prevents you from communicating,
and even receiving help you desperately need?

2) Why would a recruiter or potential employer care about your past, living
arrangements, or financial troubles?

You sound like a smart, driven guy, but I think you're letting your situation
and your beliefs cripple your potential right now. You don't have to _change_
those things, they're real, but you might want to limit who you share them
with, or in what context, especially until you can find the help you need.

Wishing you the best!

------
gm-conspiracy
There was a PDF I saw many years ago, posted to craigslist, that was written
by a homeless man, but consciously choosing to be homeless.

It had an interesting description of various strategies used.

I think he lived in Hawaii and would eat "free" Burger King by rummaging
through the trash during a sweepstakes and finding the coupons for free food.

He also rented a small storage unit to keep his possessions (including a
laptop), and had a gym membership for showering.

Anybody else come across this?

~~~
ddingus
Yes.

One root motivation is just wanting to be lean. Needing to generate X per
month can be something people do not want to do. Or cannot do.

If high expectations are not set, what remains can be met.

Meeting low expectations is definitely a choice.

------
vanpelt
Thanks for sharing man, I hope it gives you hope that so many people are
engaging with your story. I'm from Iowa so I know how brutal the winters can
be, can't imagine what it's like without a roof over your head. Fortune landed
me in San Francisco at the right time, but it wasn't so kind to my brother.
He's making ends meet back in Iowa, but just barely.

The advice I would offer is self love and hustle. Anytime you hear that voice
saying you fucked up, acknowledge it and let it go. Today is a new day full of
opportunity. Have you tried grabbing gigs on Upwork or Freelancer? If you've
got the chops, most gigs would pay well enough to get you rent in Iowa pretty
quick. Keep your chin up, and keep hacking!

------
soufron
Being homeless can also drive people mad up to a point when they cant get back
to normal life, it may be some sort of PTSD.

------
jriot
Sounds like you never learned how to do anything outside of coding. There is
more to succeeding in life than being able to code.

~~~
gigel82
Have you looked at the GitHub profile? Don't want to be harsh, but it looks
like he never really learned how to code either, which is kind-of sad. I'm not
a stickler for education, but there's something to be said for at least
finishing highschool; you learn how to learn if nothing else.

~~~
projektir
I'm not sure how to efficiently parse a GitHub profile but in what way does it
indicate he never learned how to code?

~~~
gigel82
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.

~~~
projektir
The GitHub may be insufficient evidence that he is a good coder, but it
doesn't strike me as evidence that he "never learned to code", yet that is
what you said, and that is the impression people will be left with if they do
not check for themselves.

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.

------
Ultimatt
This guys code on GH is quite a bit better and broad than plenty of actual
hires I've been part of. Kind of ridiculous someone who's gone as far as
understanding and playing with cellular automata off their own back can't find
stable work. Also someone presenting code in Lua, PHP, Python, JS and Ruby...
you're lucky if someone has 100 lines of pure copy paste Python on GH.

------
Izmaki
Hey dude Just read your story. I'm sorry that it ended how it did but I am
really amazed of your strength and determination! I mean, wow, to go through
that and still keep on fighting? That takes character! I'm certain things will
change to the better. Our industry need more people with your determination.
Keep up the hard work, Jesse.

All the best from hopefully a future colleague

------
leke
I recently quit web development and decided to get regular work. It just
wasn't working out for me in my town/country (not in the US). My catch 22 was
no experience, no chance. I couldn't even offer my services for free to get
that experience, because companies just didn't need/want me.

I could have easily been homeless during the 2 years after I graduated, but
thanks to the social welfare system, I was taken care of as a job seeker.

I'm now interested in something I call self startup ideas, which is currently
making games for (mostly) mobile that might take off. This is only a hobby I
allocate a couple of hours a day to though. Otherwise I'm doing unskilled
labour for minimal wage.

I've had mixed feelings about my experience as a web developer. It was
something I had so much passion for (even before I went to study it), but now
I'm kind of glad I've walked away, as it has been a source of so much toxicity
in my life recently. Kind of like kicking a really bad habit.

------
leandot
Hey Jesse, I am throwing a couple of random ideas here:

\- [https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/how-would-you-make-an-
ext...](https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/how-would-you-make-an-extra-500-in-
one-month-97a9a74efc), most interesting I found the "teach chinese kids
english"

\- Small freelance gigs, as a native english speaker you have distinct
advantage - [https://www.upwork.com/](https://www.upwork.com/),
[https://www.fiverr.com/](https://www.fiverr.com/)

\- Probably not an option because of initial costs but there is a huge
shortage for developers in Europe, especially CEE where costs are low and
wages growing fast. Even call centers would gladly pay $1000+/month just for
your english.

\- Drop me a line (email in profile). I don't have anything right now but
sometimes I'm looking for some help for side projects.

Good luck!

------
spjt
Sounds like he just needs to learn how to lie better in a job interview.

------
newnewpdro
Look at the bright side: at least he can pass background checks, there's no
mention of a criminal record.

There's a guy in his 40s on freenode/#SDL who is constantly ranting about
being unable to find work because he was involved in some gang stuff in his
youth giving him a criminal record.

~~~
driverdan
I have a felony record. Unless your in fintech the tech sector doesn't care.

------
selimthegrim
Hang in there. More of us have been in this situation or close to it than you
know. Hopefully at a developer meet up you will find that first rung of the
ladder.

------
wintorez
Becoming homeless is one of the greatest fears of my life.

------
fouc
Hi Jesse,

I want to recommend two books for you to read. One is about developing your
monetary power. The other is about developing your career capital.

"Early Retirement Extreme" by Jacob Lund Fisker.

"So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport.

You might be homeless right now because you haven't been protecting your
personal power. The personal power to command a good salary. The personal
power of having money in the bank.

You might have been giving away your power and depending on other people. Try
to watch out for that.

The more you build your career capital, and the more you build your bank
capital, the more free you'll be.

Imagine having money in the bank that lets you walk away from a shitty job.
Imagine having the savings that lets you take a few months to find a new &
better job.

We know you have skills. Your linkedin profile could be improved, some more
detail on what you did at each job, and include some of your portfolio in
there.

You can find work on upwork.com or other sites. Setup a profile on there, set
your hourly rate at $20/hr, and start from there. On your profile, highlight
the fact that you're in Iowa and fluent in english.

------
baby
I'm not from the US but can't the state help you with money and a shelter? If
you have problem in the US the streets is your only option?

~~~
alexbecker
Pretty much. Shelters are either provided by charity or the local government,
and state/federal money is only for very sympathetic classes like women with
infant children.

------
bambataa
> I was still stubborn and would not agree to believing in the almighty
> bearded creator in the sky, so one of the two shelters would not help me.

I know it’s really common but it still shocks me when charities make receiving
support contingent on believing whatever they happen to believe.

~~~
jessehorne
I was incredibly humble and polite when I walked into that shelter. My past
activism with the Catholic Workers which were a couple blocks away flagged me
as a dirty communist liberal, in their eyes. I volunteered there in several
different ways. When I asked that the other shelter let me become a member, I
was brought into a room with three larger males and pretty much trash talked
and intimidated. The guy that ran the place said something like "You think
you're better than us?". I was almost crying at this point. I was hungry and
tired. My knees ached. They thought I was a drug addict. I had just walked a
couple miles from the library. He told me that if I didn't believe that I
would die on the streets with no help. I politely declined to be subject to
that sort of treatment and I walked out of that door nearly sobbing knowing
that I may have to be cold again that night. But I will risk pain any day over
giving power to people like that. Being content is the problem. I was thinking
bigger picture. It may have helped me to conform in that situation, but it
would be doing the next person in my place a disservice. I'm happy I was
strong that day but many other times I was weak.

------
justaaron
Someone hook this human up with some gainful employment and attempt to assist
him in auto-stabilizing. He sounds like he would be a real asset given a
relatively small investment.

FWIW, I can't think of any other country this is possible in besides the USA.

------
sigi45
Why not work any job first and get your life straight? McDonalds, cleaning,
Kirchenhelp whatever.

Than with a small flat, internet and a computer you have enough to try again a
career in it.

------
freddy418_sc
This article makes no sense to me. It feels like there is something wrong with
this dude and he still hasn't figured out what yet. I guess this article is
for soliciting pity. But his real story seems extremely juicy. He should write
about the details there. All of the interesting decisions and events that got
him to where he is was glossed over in this article.

"My interest in computers and programming was more like an intense obsession.
It affected my ability to focus at school." <\- this makes no sense. To me,
programming is an exercise in formulating a plan, executing the plan, and
verifying the outcome. Every step requires focus. How do you "study" and
"program" without being able to focus?

"Undiagnosed mental-health problems led to some fairly poor decisions." <\-
what health problems? what decisions?

"Relationship issues for a now twenty year old developer proved to be too
much. Emotionally I was devastated when that relationship ended. It affected
me and I had no one to help me through the emotional stresses of the
situation. It affected my work. It affected my activism." <\- Every sentence
here is interesting. If he went into detail and wrote about this, it would fit
the title and it would grab my attention.

~~~
jessehorne
I am thankful for your response. The longer story would be fairly juicy, I
guess. I want to write more on it but it is painful and I am embarrassed by
many decisions that I have made. I've been to jail several times for activism
and for someone else, for example...but I've never been because I did
something considered immoral, I guess is the right way to put it. I want to
write on these things and your response motivates me to do that. I will think
on it a bit and figure out how to approach this.

~~~
freddy418_sc
"painful and I am embarrassed by many decisions that I have made."

This I get. One of the hardest mental blocks that I had to get around was
thinking that it would be deeply embarrassing and triggering if I talked about
my decisions and experiences. That I would be "found out" and "be exposed as a
fraud".

It is quite the opposite. Talking about your experiences is extremely
liberating. You can be who you are, you don't have to make anything up to fill
in the gaps, and it is just in general much easier than worrying about
conforming to some expectation. AND you will be much more interesting, because
you have lessons to pass on that somebody else may find valuable and apply to
their own lives.

------
karmicthreat
A similar story is pdxHomelessDev from last month. Some people on HN helped
him out but I never heard if he got off the streets. His gofundme hasn’t
updated. [https://www.gofundme.com/homeless-dev-
support](https://www.gofundme.com/homeless-dev-support)

------
gammateam
Moving to a larger city with a tech focus will allow him to sleep in a rented
tent on the sidewalk. This is a lot more economical.

------
istorical
So it sounds like you'd rather be homeless and not lie to others than stay in
the religious-affiliated shelter and lie to them about your belief.

Have you thought about this deeply? Seems like perhaps the experience of being
kicked out by grandma because of your atheism has perhaps poisoned religion to
you to the extent that now you're so headstrong about denying it that you are
missing a huge opportunity to get some stability by simply nodding your head
and saying what they want to hear at that shelter. Might be worth sacrificing
your principles temporarily to find a place to stay. If you can't do that, try
finding a church that will you help you if you agree to at least hear them out
- maybe you don't need to profess faith but they'll at least accept you
listening to their beliefs (even if deep inside you know nothing they say or
do can change your mind, letting them feel that possibility and try might be
enough for them to shelter you).

The truth is that small towns are probably one of the worst and best places to
be homeless, but a lot of that 'best' comes from churches. So if you're going
to lock yourself out from their help, you probably would be better off street
begging or something in SF or NYC or some larger city with government
assistance for homeless and staying in a non-religious shelter there. Because
small towns don't have that government infrastructure, but they do have
churches with foodbanks and religious families looking to get someone back on
their feet if they can feel that they've turned that person into a Christian.

If you're so passionate about secularism - you could lie about believing, live
at that shelter, get your life together, and in 10 years use the income and
resources you have then to advocate for secularism or atheism.

My other piece of feedback is remove the secret keys from your GH account (I
saw some on your IRC bot), you may be missing out on lots of potential work
because that's a huge security flaw (or some other word greater than flaw) -
no company will want you to work for them if they think you could expose
secrets to the world wide web.

Last - try to do less experimentation with code and more experimentation with
your job application process.

If you are repeatedly starting phone screens with your story about needing a
car and it isn't working, try something different. You're not going to find
many articles on the web telling you to lie about yourself, your history, your
reasons for resume gaps, or your home situation. But most people aren't as
desperate as you are. Maybe get creative with the truth and sell yourself as
something you aren't.

Have you considered just making up an address or choosing a random house
address when you put down your place of residence on an application?

~~~
drb91
It seems wrong that faith-funded organizations are allowed to discriminate
based on religious belief. This also seems like a different scenario than,
say, paying for birth control.

~~~
TimTheTinker
> It seems wrong that faith-funded organizations are allowed to discriminate
> based on religious belief.

Not that I think it's morally acceptable for faith-funded charities to turn
away some people based on their lack of faith, but:

a) Individuals acting on their own founded and run the organization. It would
be a violation of several important rights (theirs) for a _government_ to
regulate how they choose to run their charity, or whom they choose to help.

b) I have a hunch that a lot of these anecdotes attribute discrimination
incorrectly -- i.e. I suspect the person in question was more than "not a
believer". People who get turned away because they're chronically abusing the
system (or for similar reasons) tend to infer malice where there is none, and
level accusations accordingly.

That being said, I strongly disagree with any open-to-the-public charitable
organization discriminating on the basis of religion or any other
categorization, beyond the "this person is abusing the system and we don't
want to hurt them further by continuing to enable this destructive pattern in
their life -- so we can't provide further X to them until they do Y and Z".

~~~
DanBC
> It would be a violation of several important rights (theirs) for a
> government to regulate how they choose to run their charity,

They formed a charity to get the tax relief from that same government. With
that relaxation on taxation comes a restriction on activity.

~~~
TimTheTinker
> They formed a charity to get the tax relief from that same government.

Not at all. They formed a charity because they wanted to make a positive
difference in the world.

That US law originally recognizes charities, churches, and other non-profits
as tax-exempt is a a recognition of the solid, positive contribution to
society that such organizations make. Their tax-exempt status was originally
granted as such, and _not_ with any idea of using it to stipulate how they
should do things.

So I strongly disagree that tax-exempt status somehow grants the government
authority over an organization's affairs. It would be better to revoke _all_
organizational tax exemptions than to begin to use it as such leverage.

~~~
dragonwriter
> That US law originally recognizes charities, churches, and other non-profits
> as tax-exempt

...Is a false statement. It doesn't “originally recognize” any such thing.

It _permits_ charities, including churches and some other non-profits with
specific functions, to voluntarily apply for status that includes tax
exemption, a public subsidy via tax deductibility of donations, and _a wide
variety of restrictions on behavior_.

------
blondie9x
Homelessness needs to be addressed nationally. Doing it on a city and county
level is not effective enough at addressing this national crisis. The problem
is deep and all American cities are impacted by it. We need to look together
at it and come up with solutions that address housing affordability,
addiction, mental illness, medical disease and insurance issues, and a basic
standard of living. We need a central place where all homeless can have these
issues addressed and can work to help advocates and other homeless people in
the community to recover. The solution is needed now.

~~~
jessehorne
I love this response. It reminds me of the problem of organizing in Anarchist
circles. There's two big camps that exist. 1\. Insurrectionism 2\. Platformism
Insurrectionary Anarchism promotes distributed affinity groups and a sort of
anti-organization methodology. They are the types to start community farms or
food not bombs in their community and worry less about things they aren't
directly connected to. It overlaps a bit. Platformism is basically the belief
that an organized structure of representation, where affinity groups across a
region elect representatives to make decisions for all of them if the
decisions follow their "platform". I definitely have had ideas and tried to
implement a few, to address homelessness, in both of the cities that I was
homeless in. The projects did not get far as I was struggling to survive, but
I hope to continue that work later on.

------
timwaagh
my boss is hiring and i have a spare room to let. only half a world away.

~~~
seddin
Is the offer still up?

~~~
timwaagh
yes

------
modells
.

~~~
huebomont
wtf is this women advice... (i don't actually want to hear how you justify it)

~~~
modells
That's too bad because it's my opinion, not yours. The purpose is that people
in hard times need to focus on getting one's life in order before bringing
anyone else into theirs, not on love as a panacea or escape because the drama
and chaos will lead nowhere good. The overriding principle is no one else can
save them and it's an unhealthy mindset, they must be their own "hero."

~~~
huebomont
that has nothing to do with gender, so you've brought that in why?

------
danjoc
>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 pre-
paid.

Put your panel in the sun, sit in the shade at a park, tether your phone for
internet, and you're golden. You can strap the panel to your backpack and
charge on the move too.

~~~
istorical
Any link or suggestion for laptop solar chargers? I want one.

~~~
danjoc
Here's a few choices,

[https://www.amazon.com/SOKOO-Portable-Efficiency-
Reinforced-...](https://www.amazon.com/SOKOO-Portable-Efficiency-Reinforced-
Waterproof/dp/B01HJKJVG2/)

[https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Waterproof-Efficiency-
Cellph...](https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Waterproof-Efficiency-Cellphones-
Flashlight/dp/B07537SR48/)

[https://www.amazon.com/Balight-Outdoor-Foldable-Powered-
Char...](https://www.amazon.com/Balight-Outdoor-Foldable-Powered-
Charger/dp/B01N2RJJ46/)

28W basically gives you an fourth panel, but your backpack is probably 3
panels tall.

~~~
int_19h
Most of these don't provide anywhere near the advertised wattage. And when
they do, it's usually in direct bright sunlight (i.e. depending on where you
are and what season it is, it can be that efficient only for a few hours, and
sometimes none at all).

If you want a decent portable solar panel, get the non-flexible
monocrystalline one.

~~~
danjoc
Any suggestions on models?

I like the flexible one because it's lightweight and not easy to break. I'd be
open to other options though if you have suggestions.

