I was made homeless and had my financial support dropped at the beginning of the year, and am currently staying in squats etc in the Netherlands. I have nearly no income - 10 euros a week in donations towards an open-source project I'm working on to build a live video streaming platform for the fediverse, and occasional requests for solidarity funds.
My situation is... not great. Half my time is taken up by anxiety around police violence, illegal evictions, my friends being arrested. Still, in the immediate term, it's better than sleeping rough.
I'm not sure how to find work; I've not had a paying job in the last 8 years. I've worked on software for myself and others in hackerspaces and the like; and helped run a volunteer cafe for a large portion of last year (sinking 20+ hours a week into that fairly consistently), but I can't seem to even turn that into an actual paying cafe job. I go through bursts of sending dozens of applications a week to anything that is vaguely relevant to anything I've done in the past, and receive... mostly nothing in response.
I don't know what's wrong with me. All I want is to make enough money to survive. I'm going to be dead in a few months if I can't work something out.
Does anyone have any advice, at all?
There is professional help you can get for free from charitable organizations that will not only help you find a residence but also advise/help you with government agencies and help you get any welfare you may be entitled to, law enforcement (if needed) or jobs.
Use this help and don't try to do it alone; most people who try on their own fail, while the success rates for people taking help are a lot, lot better. Especially considering that you seem to have more or less exhausted the help your friends/family can provide, to no avail.
I was once told by somebody working for such an organization, that in Germany the success rates to at least stop homelessness is near 100% for all "reasonably sane", "reasonably sober" and "reasonably cooperative" people if they accepted help from such an organization, and I'd guess it will be not that different in the Netherlands.
E.g. this seems to give a good overview: https://dutchreview.com/expat/housing/if-youre-homeless-in-t...
[1] - https://remoteleaf.com
For the immediate term, I would recommend looking for an easy brainless job that would bring in some money while being easy to quit, so that you can look for coding work. A bar, cafe, pizza shop, whatever. Ideally somewhere where squat-friendly people work. It sounds like it could be good for you to be around other people, so I would personally do that instead of Upwork.
Coding work - I would suggest seeing if any small NGOs, charities or companies need some help. Don't necessarily wait for job adverts - just get in touch directly with a warm intro and a nice cv. In my experience they are often in a total state of chaos when it comes to their tech, and having someone who can straighten things out is incredibly valuable to them. The pay's not necessarily great, but it's meaningful and you'll get to employ a wide range of skills and be your own boss.
It's unclear what you mean by being 'dead in a few months'. Can I suggest that if you are contemplating suicide you reach out for help on that immediately, ok?
It really feels like you have a good understanding of many tech out there. I'm a bit surprised a profile like yours post this.It feels like you could easily pick up any entry level dev job? HN would always surprise me.
If I were you, I'd show up in every tech meetups I could find.Talk with people, and offer free (paid?) advices for subject you feel comfortable with. After few weeks, I think you could get a bit of money for consulting or even a job offer.
But times have changed and I very much doubt that would work any more.
However, now there is Upwork (and several other similar). If you can meet the basics with that: a bank account, a network connection, a laptop, a basic understanding of PHP and enough Google Fu to understand a Stack Overflow answer, etc, then you can actually make some money there. It's not very interesting, but it does pay money.
It shouldn't be how to find work while homeless, it should be how to find shelter while jobless.
Finding work _while_ homeless is akin to getting married with a cut femoral artery. Can be done, but the odds of success of the former are improved if we stop the bleeding.
I think changing the amenities situation should be top priority. That should be the objective. How can you get shelter, especially during the night, in an affordable manner for your current situation?
- Shelters
- Working at jobs that require an extended presence on site where it's more practical to live there than commute: boats, hospitality (hostels), buildings (concierge), assisting a limited mobility or elderly person (stay at home or retirement home), night security (you stay there in the night, which is more dangerous, and try to find another job during the day. Naps during the day in a park are less dangerous).
Can I send money to get you in a hostel for a few days just to bootstrap the thing?
If you are a UK citizen, you should absolutely be able to get the professional help you need from that country.
If you're on HN, I'm guessing you have marketable skills, even if that means office admin work. So the challenge might be something other than your skill set. You say you haven't had a regular job in 8 years which makes me wonder if that's because the stuff that comes with regular jobs is particularly difficult for you (having to show up at x time, sit there for y hours, fitting into the culture of the office, etc)?
You got this, friend.
2. find any (non-IT, just 20h if necessary) job through the job centre etc. to feed you and finance a home
3. research and visit all potential organizations that provide benefits while you are unemployed
I can't really relate; although I grew up in poverty and understand that aspect of things and it took me a very long time to get my first job (and, even my second job actually).
Does anyone ever give you feedback on why they are not hiring you? It's possible that it's something small but people are reluctant to give negative feedback if it doesn't benefit them to do so.
If I were in the same situation as you (IE; very little industry experience as an employee) I might consider leaning heavily on my github profile, make sure it's as polished as possible, figure out the key things you enjoy working on and then make it appear as if you do those things often. -- Finding bugs in lots of software is a great way to get your activity boxes to light up dark green!
Hiring managers (I speak from experience as I am responsible for hiring peers, though not as a manager) love to see something clear and consistent. So if you're a dabbler it might be more tricky to convey competence. Try to find a focus area; contribute to, or build something with a clear singular purpose (like saltstack or grafana)
Second is to get as many eyes from technologists on your profile, your CV, whatever. Feedback will go a long way. You can find people on freenode (or here) to do this.
Third I would look for companies _outside_ of my local country, because:
1) they will over some kind of relocation package (which might be monetary)
2) they will pay for flights/hotel on the last stage of interview
3) they will likely find accommodation for you if you get hired.
(for 3-6months while you get on your feet).
This is easier to do if you're in Europe. :)Cafe's are obviously your friend when interviewing. But getting your foot in the door is probably the hardest thing.
FWIW; my studio is hiring relatively aggressively and we're based in Malmo, Sweden.
The relocation package is reimbursement for expenses and 6months of living in our apartments, in general the people working in the studio care about competence not experience, you just need to get around the HR filter somehow.
Now your boss will ask you to write more reports for HIS boss, and suddenly you are employed as a programmer. If you like that job, keep it, or leave for somewhere else that will hire you with a more appropriate programmers salary.
I'm just speculating, and maybe this is not for you, but perhaps you could consider moving to a southern place.
Same problems as now, same difficulties, same police and nasty people but...
1) A little of sun and a less harsh climate can do wonders in your soul. Only for that you should consider putting some distance from dutch's winter.
2) You speak english well in the Mediterranean tourism sector, you have the 95% of the job yet.
3) An unique look can be used as an advantage. Is easier to blend in a holidays place. People feel less territorial, are more customed to see different people and more forgiving. Entertainers, performers, extravagant dresses etc... are expected. Drunk people is everywhere in the coast and can be dangerous, but with a low entry job, you can start building some safety for you, stay out of the streets and navigate most problems. Doing remote work, you can be as invisible as you want.
4) You need spending less in clothes and can dress casual more easily. You can use the sea and beach showers for free each time you need a bath.
5) Somebody lying in a street all day is a homeless, Somebody lying in a beach all day is a tourist. If you can find a safe place for your properties first (!) and keep a clean look and low profile, you could sleep all day under an umbrella. Nobody will care about it, and nobody will call the police for that. Just remain in places with more people, be careful with pickpockets, cover your skin from excesive sun with light clothes or/and sunscreen and the problem of not enough sleeping quality time is fixed.
I assume that some of this areas have a gay friendly scene also and that many people needing publicity, accounting, and web pages to promote their bussiness could find useful your computer skills.
Appearance - this is important, I’d work to make myself look, sound and smell very much the opposite of what you’d think a homeless person might look and smell like. Make sure you are clean, well groomed, and if you need to, ask people if they can help buy you some clothes that make you look presentable. Most homeless people ask for money on the street. They never ask for something specific. I believe if you ask for specific things you want - like ask someone if they can buy you a shirt to help you get a job, you will find someone that will do it. Don’t be afraid to ask people for help - I believe people want to help others.
You have by the sounds of it many skills. You’ve worked in a cafe and can provide references for that so I would go for that angle and look for cafe work.
If you need documents such as tenancy, first see if you can find a legitimate way of solving the problem, but tbh if I was in your position and needed documents I would just forge them - you have the skills and it’s not hard to do things like give someone a number of a friend and get them to pretend to be someone.
You might want to make a living out of programming, but you need to look after your living situation first. Go for the low hanging fruit, get a cafe job and work your way up slowly from there. Get away from the other homeless people and get into a hostel. Make new friends and focus your mind on things away from the dramas of living as a homeless person.
Good luck! Be strong and small steps every day.
> I've not had a paying job in the last 8 years
Once you get through this, remember that idealism doesn't pay the bills.
At a certain point, if you can't make a living doing it, it's not worth doing.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't volunteer for things or avoid charity work, but consider this: You're not financially independent. What you spend most of your waking hours needs to pay the bills. It's your choice if you want to work well below your earning potential because it's something you believe in or enjoy, but whatever you work on, it has to generate enough income that you can pay your bills.
- guard your laptop with your life, cuz you don't wanna lose it if you can't afford to replace it
- study your ass off
- don't bring homelessness into job interviews, as it is a big distraction for the employer
Then start looking for jobs. Developer jobs are plenty. Ignore the 5 year experience requirements, in these times those are wishlists more than the actual requirements.
Considering you are British, are you allowed to work in the Netherlands?
Do you have an email address to reach you?
Please don't give up.
An ancient proverb says, "Better is the end of a matter than its beginning." Meaning, with patience and effort things generally CAN get better.
From your messages, it is clear that you are intelligent.
So, it's just a matter of diagnosing what have been your road blocks up to this point, and keep pushing forward through it.
This article has some suggestions of what has worked for others in a homeless situation.
I hope that it helps you come up with a few ideas.
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/g201505/hope-homeles...
First, everything is very noisy now. You need to switch to putting out free value somewhere online so that potential employers see it. I was doing it your way, although different set of circumstances, doing a whole bunch of hey look at me will not work in a very crowded room.
So vertex-four do you have anything online that you can point to so we can use Hn to get the word out?
We know by your moniker that you might be math inclined(as it refers to the four vertex theorem) for one and programming for second.
Than when you sort things out and have stable living situation (have place to live and food to eat) you can get back to tech - start attending meetups and maybe try applying jobs via this personal contacts.
I don't know how churches work in Netherlands, in Poland you would get some help - it really depends from people. If you won't reach out for help, you won't get it.
(Please let us know once made and also post to your other social medias!)
https://www.reddit.com/r/GigWorks/comments/e81eba/welcome/
Hope that helps. Best of luck.
Edit: I will add There's nothing wrong with you. The gig economy is proving to be a painful transition for a lot of people.
- did you study - how much coding experience do you have - which languages - what types of jobs are you applying for - do you have a smartphone (is there not something like https://postmates.com/ in Netherlands) - do you have friends or family who have jobs in businesses (or their own businesses) - Etc
Once you do a good job for someone, ask if you can use them as a reference - and if they know 2-3 other people who could use your services. Show up on time, respond to calls/messages and you're already a cut above most others. Don't undercharge for your services, and raise your prices regularly. Try and find ways to have clients pay you on a retainer basis so you have consistent cashflow (managed hosting, regular maintenance, on-call retainers etc). Remote work didn't work for me (too much competition from people in cheaper countries - and my best clients were people who did not have the tech skills to even use those sites), building in-person local relationships did (including at meetups/conferences with people I then worked for remotely).
You won't get rich this way, but you should be able to find enough business owners who need reliable, friendly help with something - data entry, setting up Google Suite or VOIP phone systems, basic websites, CRUD web apps, databases, automation, spyware removal, etc. Plus you end up with a portfolio that can help you get a full-time tech job - "consulting" counts as industry experience, and I found employers liked that I could handle a project end-to-end, understanding the business needs involved. This was my path, including the near-homelessness. I started making banner ads for $10/hr. My first $100 day was a real milestone. I'm now an Engineering Manager at a large company (~10 years later).
Best of luck to you. Hang in there, hustle hard.
Next, I’ll drop tech for a while. I’ll look for any job that has low or no barrier to entries. Washing cars, cleaning carpets, collecting garbage, etc... These are jobs with little barriers to entry and that will have no problems accepting you if you did sleep on the street yesterday.
After you get yourself a place to stay, better clothes, and a haircut then I’ll start branching into tech again.
Honest advice:
Quit sitting around waiting for life to drop an opportunity in your lap! Create opportunity for yourself! This post is a great start, but keep going. Approach people in real life with the same friendly and open-hearted attitude, just like you've done here, and your situation will improve - and fast.
Anyone who tries to judge your situation and condemn you for it can fuck right off - ignore them.
Many hostels I've stayed in offer work-for-stay arrangements. Where you spend a couple of hours during the day helping clean, making beds, etc, and they give you a bunk to sleep in. This might help you network with some people - make some friends, and get out of your current squatting situation.
One real conversation can change your entire life, if you are open to it
My advice is to try to halt all of that and dedicate 100% energy towards traditional ways of finding a job over the next month.
Out of curiosity, what about family?
Either post on Craigslist or walk in to small business with the following offers:
- I will build you a website for (small sum) - I will build your facebook page for (small sum) - I will setup your Twitter account for (small sum)
On and on and on until you can generate a few hundred dollars. The world is a VASTLY different place when you have zero money versus when you have a little money. A little money is a bed or a warm shower or a new set of clothes for a job interview or a warm healthy meal or some advil for a headache.
Avoid trying to solve being homeless and not having a job and not knowing about the future and and and......focus on solving the key challenge right in front of you: lack of resources (money).
Good luck
"All I want is to make enough money to survive" well, this may be what is wrong with you.
You have programming skills? This is amazing. I understand you currently need some help, but someone also most likely needs your skills.
It's a tough world, but most businesses will not care about your needs to make money. They might even avoid you. However, they will beg for you skills if they realize what you can bring them.
In other words, you may want to focus on learning how to sell yourself, help a business to solve their problems and you will make money.
PS: I know a few people who made lots of cash on upwork with programming skills without qualifications. Try looking for agencies looking for hands.
First you gotta have a place to live so you can focus on other things like finding a job. To find a job you need an address and a bank account. To do a job you have to be well groomed and presentable. You need to get good sleep and be in a decent headspace so you can provide a service to your employer that they’ll pay you for.
Their isn’t much I can do. I just quit my job to go solo so I don’t have a stream of income.
That being said, I am more than happy to donate $100 to help you out to get your wheels moving to the next step.
We software engineers (at-least in the US) are fortunate to make plenty of dough.
tbf-rnd.life/contact/
2. Keep applying to jobs. Don't give up on that. Something will work out.
3. In the interim, have you considered doing some freelance work via Upwork or something similar? The pay will likely not be great, but it'll be a hell of a lot more than 10 Euros / week, and can grow as you build a client-base.
Good luck, hope everythig works out.
There is nothing wrong with YOU. In a bad situation, it's easy to think that you must be a villain or a victim, but you are a hero/ine and you can overcome these challenges.
Connect with social services, they exist to help. Being in a stable and safe situation is going to free up that mental bandwidth to focus on next steps.
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/wkuDgmpxwbu2M2k3w/you-have-a...
in that when one is homeless, most of the budget is already spent, so managing them is critical to success.
Use those get some immediate money and start building up confidence and accomplishments that you can use on your resume/cv.
After doing that for a while apply for a full-time role with your updated resume showing multiple successful small projects from freelance roles.
If your country has social services get in touch with them, they can give you shelter, food, an some job to get you back on track.
You deserve better.
Even not immediate family. I know that I would take in a cousin that needed help for a while Even if asking is really hard.
why would you be dead? Can't tell if this is a troll post.
So now since temp agencies are not hiring. Go gangster. Look at the nearest biz getting customer complaints. If you can stop the customer complaints than talk to the owner and sell him or her on hiring you even if its few hours a week. Should work as they have an immediate pain problem they want to go away.
I hope it helps and please talk to more people and ask for help.