Part of the problem is convincing people that you are legit. I face a few challenges these days

first off, I don't have a degree so that's one battle, but i'm an isolationist so that's battle #2 and its much harder to win.

During the first half of my career it was easy to find work because i was green and not charging much. towards the middle part i relied on a network of contacts and finding work was super easy. then i decided to isolate myself - i dropped all my contacts, deleted everything i had ever created (several websites that i ran for years), removed myself from social media and now work is very difficult to get. I didn't even realize this was the issue until recently.

In order to fix this:

1. I have started to rebuild my social network and have set up references

2. I now view social media apps as Personal Branding applications and use them as such

3. I built a portfolio site and added a bunch of my old projects to it

4. Look for little projects i can knock out in a few hours or days, work on them, and add them to my site

Are you the same person as the OP? Just checking since account names are similar, but different.

Your story hits close to me. I have never been homeless but I have been through excessive dry spells of no work (I think taking a remote job 5 years ago was a mistake in some ways because it killed my interviewing skills) and had to move back to living with one of my parents. At my mid-30s it feels like your life is a shit show. The jobs I get now have been via "non traditional" means, that is very informal chats instead of lengthy interview processes, and only for short gigs and not long term arrangements.

When I have been out of work for over a year, I too just stopped everything, shut myself in more, thinking that going into "silent mode" and avoiding most contact with friends was gonna help me concentrate more on the job hunt. But it doesn't.

I can tell you to continue what you're doing, building a network and finding ways that people can refer you.

You might think that referrals are a cheese way to short-list your way into an interview, but think of referrals as a trust metric- a quantity that convinces people that you're worth the words you speak.

Can you show us your portfolio site? Honestly I got some of my interviews just from things I had on Github that caught soemone's interest. But I believe they need some kind of novel quality to them- a rehashed tutorial app won't cut it.

I am not OP, I'm the person who posted my own story several weeks ago that OP refers to in his own story.

> Just be honest that you've looked at it outside of work, understand it but haven't had the chance to use it professionally yet

I can confirm this is true - explained this exact thing to the place i'm working at now... also, react is just a framework. if you understand JS, then you just need to wrap your head around the way it is being used in this particular case... just build a few small sites with it and you'll be further along than a lot of other people.

I am the homelessdev poster from CO. pxdHomelessDev reached out to me for an update which I gave him, but here's a more detailed run down of what I did to start getting out of my situation.

I was able to avoid becoming homeless by using services the city offers (food stamps, a one shot service that helped with rent during the month it mattered most, unemployment until it ran out), borrowing a small amount of money from family, wife was able to get a part-time job -- this got us out of our immediate scenario of living on the streets or in a car but we were literally 1 week away from that happening.

Finally after months of applying for jobs I was able to land one a week ago.

What I have done to get back on track:

1. put together a good portfolio: i built a few react sites, made some 2d games and converted a few interesting problems found on hackerrank into little applications so that I would have some diverse projects to show off. created social media accounts to showcase my work as well and linked all of those from my portfolio site.

2. prepared mentally: with each job interview that I failed I paid close attention to what went wrong and what I could have done to prevent it from failing and then adjusted my next interview based on that information.

3. put in 15 resumes per day: there are lots of job sites (angel.co weworkremotely.com and remoteok.io to name a few) -- once i ramped up to 15 resumes a day I had at least 3 calls a week with prospective employers. I also didn't limit myself to CO -- i now have a remote job.

4. don't kill yourself or give up: for me this was the hardest part of the process. i suffer from bipolar disorder and was on the verge of suicide for the better part of this year. each failure during the process made me sink further into depression, though keeping my mind occupied with my own projects helped immensely. staying positive through this sort of thing, even if you're lying to yourself and faking it, seems to be one of the keys to success because other people can pick up on your mood.

---

I am assuming that you have very limited funds and thus might not know where to host a website for cheap -- this can be accomplished for 1 or 2 USD per month on AWS using a serverless infrastructure. You can also host free static sites on github pages with custom domains (get one on namecheap for $9 per year). Whatever you choose has the added benefit of being something you can talk about in a job interview and showcase on your site.

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i don't know how your javascript skills are, but if you have extensive front end experience:

1. update your knowledge if need be to the latest JS syntax

2. spend a weekend learning react

3. start playing with node

javascript is in demand and i have seen Jr devs (1 or 2 years of react and node experience) being billed as either "fullstack developers" or even worse "senior fullstack developers". With your current skill set and a bit more knowledge you should be able to land a JS job pretty quickly.

I was just reading your original post. I’m glad you found work and were able to work a plan to avoid eviction.

I’m also in Colorado and have seen evictions happen in just days. It’s pretty appalling.

Apparently my post has been flagged for some reason. I attempted to post the following last night but kept getting a message that I was posting too fast:

Questions / answers thus far:

there's been a lot of good advice in this thread thus far and a few understandable questions.

I'm going to answer them all here as I can no longer edit the main thread.

first off, great suggestions - some of these were already on my mind (gym, library, camping specifically) and seeing them reinforced via comments is encouraging.

to answer some questions that have been raised:

1. > homeless in the USA? Just cannot understand how this would happen

I'm still trying to piece this together myself. I failed multiple job interviews that were very difficult, ran out of unemployment and am now facing eviction. it takes 6 to 12 months to get into government housing in colorado. unless i get a job before that, its the car, the woods or the street.

> 15 years full stack

I don't get it either.

2. > How resonable is the person/company you rent from to secure an agreement to stay on despite the late rent?

zero reasonable. they filed after 3 days and after i explained that i'm having health issues.

3. > Have you applied for unemployment?

yes, i was approved as my reason for quitting was appropriate, however it ran out quickly as rent is extremely expensive.

4. > Built In Colorado job

I am aware and use it, however yes the process is slow

5. > if he were a brilliant engineer he probably wouldn't be on here with this post

Define brilliant. i certainly haven't claimed to be brilliant, but i do claim to be an excellent employee, extremely fast learner and someone who has never been fired and who has always excelled at their job. I suspect some people think i'm brilliant and others do not.

6. > Why would 3 days late on your rent involve a court date and eviction?

Denver / Colorado is harsh as fuck, apparently.

7. > It'd be really shocking to me if this happened in the US without some prior history/grounds for eviction

then be shocked, my friend. its happening and i've never been evicted in the past nor has my wife. nothin but smooth sailing in my past. this is denver

In all of this i also forgot to mention that I was diagnosed as being bipolar which has helped wreck my life.

8. > How have you been an engineer for 15 years and still: Rent an apartment, Don’t have a few laptops lying around, Don’t have any savings while having no kids

This series of questions assumes that i have made sound financial decisions over the years. i have not. it also assumes i do not have a child whereas I do from a previous marriage. also, it assumes i've never owned a house, i have... doesn't mean i still do.

People aren't being very fair to you here and I'm flat out embarrassed by HN.

The most relevant thing is that you're going through something terrible. If I had anything, I'd give it to you, but I've had a very tough year.

The best I can offer is that I'm genuinely sorry. Not only for the way you've been treated here, but for everything that has happened.

I've had some good friends go down the homelessness path and the one thing I've heard from all of them is that, no matter what, you've got to have some sort of fixed address. Over the next few days, you've got two big priorities:

1.) Finding shelter.

2.) Finding someone who will let you get your mail sent to their address.

I wouldn't normally suggest this because it's rather manipulative, but there's a technique called door in the face persuasion. Your first ask is going to be, "Can we stay on your couch for {{period of time you'll stick to}}?" And, if you hear no or see a pained expression on that person's face, your next ask is, "Can I change my address to yours so I can keep getting my mail?"

Vast swaths of North American culture assume you have an address. It's amazing how hard things will get when you no longer have one.

If you're in the Denver area, check out the Denver Voice. It's a street newspaper and street papers are a great way to make money!

>People aren't being very fair to you here and I'm flat out embarrassed by HN.

Me too, it probably the just world hypothesis at work.

Hang in there and don't listen to the negative talk.

They cannot possibly understand what you are going through, because they aren't going through it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis

What about a PO box? Would that work?

I have never been homeless, so my experience and perspective are severely limited here.

A PO box would work in a pinch, but I can see a couple of issues.

The first one is that PO boxes can be expensive and temporary homelessness is already very expensive. Realistically, to stay in a state of temporary homelessness, you need to be in a situation where you can apply for jobs, go to interviews and hop online or on the phone for quick calls. That requires things like a gym membership (for a shower), car parking/maintenance/gas, food and other basics. The example I always like to give is to ask a question. How confident would you feel going into a job interview looking like you slept in your clothes because you did?

Temporary homelessness is also very time consuming. Simply finding a place to hang out is almost a full-time job. With a PO box, you've got to keep paying the rent and find time to go to your box, pay rent, etc.

The second one is one of human contact and love. I've never been homeless but I have some good friends who have been. The lack of pride is already immense. But, apparently, it can also be incredibly lonely, particularly if you're mentally healthier than the mean. Having someone from your past who meets up with you once a week and gives you your mail is a powerful bit of human contact.

I'm a cto in denver by union station and would be happy to treat you to a lunch and chat with you and give you pointers about how to present your current eng. experience. The denver job market is a fickle one, with some astoundingly poor hiring practices. I can try and help you with navigating those and i also know a few companies around who are actively seeking skilled engineers.

Feel free to reach out and we can do lunch sometime. you can get to me via: ben at meetmindful.com

Any chance you could move out of the state? If you have 15 years experience then the valley or Texas would be a better way. Granted 400 usd doesn't net you a shoebox, but if nothing else sleeping in a car in California is a lot nicer than in colorado and it should put you closer to the jobs.

I'm a little late to the post but wanted to add - if your car is eligible look into signing up for uber/lyft. Also look into task rabbit/wag or their equivalents if you can. Won't be a ton of money, but at least with uber/lyft you can be up and driving within two weeks with the option to 'cash out' each day's earnings (overnight transfer to your bank account).

The flexible hours are great to work around interviews and you can make enough to feed yourself and find a place to stay.

Good luck.

I feel very bad for you about the bi-polar diagnosis. You can get disability for this though. It's truly debilitating.

> jump through many hoops

this right here is why i don't have a job yet -- suddenly being a good programmer isn't enough, you have to be a good algorithmic competitive programmer. Code challenges with intensely difficult algorithms (i'm talking 3 to 8 per interview) are making all of you employers pass over good devs, and making me homeless. This is the new brainteaser and 5 years from now people will look back and realize its a terrible judge of someone who will be programming a fucking website.

edit: i'm not going to post my resume or portfolio here, but if you saw what i'm capable of and where i worked in the past you would be shocked that i'm having issues finding employment.

also i should note: i'm 36... but i'm sharper and know more now than when i was being paid 96 to 105k in my 20s.

I want you to know you're not alone. I've been programming for 30 years and I cannot find work. I have hundreds of hours of video showing what I can do and it doesn't matter. Because I don't approach toy problems on the whiteboard like companies expect, I'm a loser.

This is something the HN community should really start paying attention to. You may be employed now and it may be great but something rotten is happening in the industry and it's only getting worse.

I have a MacBook Pro from circa 2013 I can donate to you if you need it. I'll make sure my email is in my profile. Otherwise, if you'd just like to speak with someone who understands (some) of what you're going through, let me know.

which part?

Don’t worry about the haters. Focus on getting things like you want them.

holy f*. this is the best advice I've ever read on the internet

unemployment approved me as the reason I quit was valid (HIPPA violations)

perhaps these were symbolic breadcrums after you revealed your allegiance with the people instead of the corporation?

if true, this helps explain why you have a hard time finding an IT related job.

if true, this insight may help you find a job by selectively applying for IT work at civil right-ish places (EFF, small civil right-ish law firms, etc ...) as they may be less prone to discriminate on your past "offences", with the upshot that you might feel more at home in such a job than elsewhere?