108
points
catharsisatlast
Joined 36 karma
goodworker@duck.com
- catharsisatlast parentI have been working with a generous person who reached out to me based on my last post from earlier this month. They've been tremendously helpful, and I'm not in need of assistance otherwise. My thanks.
- Here's what you're missing:
You seem to be under the mistaken belief that "Who wants to be hired?" means "Who wants us to indiscriminately email you a link to our application?" It doesn't. It definitely doesn't mean, "Who wants us to email you a link and couch in a deceptive message that claims that we looked at your profile and 'we think your skills look like a good fit' and 'I think you'd find our job description interesting'?"
- You're right. You are confused. He or she didn't get an email like that. It was an email that said, "Saw your profile on HN and we think your skills look like a good fit for our team." No one saw the profile and thought that. Re "wondered if you'd be interested in our YC company," no one wondered that.
This was a deceptive email meant only to advertise the fact that Anima 1) exists, and 2) is accepting applications. It should have been posted in the "Who is hiring?" thread.
- What city are you in?
- Location: Austin, TX
Remote: Your choice, but I prefer hybrid
Willing to relocate: Yes, but.
Technologies: pretend I put down the sort of keyword spam that people do in order to indicate "generalist who can pick up anything just like anyone who's worth their salt but finds languages with the C syntax family most pleasant to work with"
Email: goodworker@duck.com
I have a technical background and am experiencing hardship in Austin. See my post in another thread <https://www.hackerneue.com/item?id=38496624>
To be concrete with my request: if you know literally anyone with any kind of business in Austin that claims to be unable to fill an opening please have them contact me at goodworker@duck.com. I am a capable programmer, but I don't even mean jobs in the tech sector. I mean anything. I need to be able to pay rent at the end of this month. Empirically I know that I can survive (but not thrive) even if I'm only bringing in $250 per week, with $20 per week being groceries, and the rest going towards rent and incidental expenses like bus fare, mobile plan, and so on. I will even let you (or them) audit every one of my purchases if you want.
The caveat, obviously, being that I don't have a car to drive. I can state that in the 5 years since the accident, I've literally never been late. I will do what it takes to get there and will not overpromise. Places within a mile or two of the major thoroughfare (Lamar) and its busline are doable, whereas places "in Austin" but not actually in Austin are basically unworkable because there's no way for me to get there outside of pricey rideshares, which I can't afford in my current circumstances.
I have $125.98 in my bank account, $23 in my wallet, $1.29 in loose change, and 50000 Korean won. I do not have a support network I can rely on for help.
If you yourself are in Austin and want to vet me, I will personally handle your household chores. I will literally do meal prep and buy groceries and do your laundry, etc.
To give an example of the sorts of jobs I'm being ghosted on: <https://austin.craigslist.org/fbh/d/austin-shipping-receivin...>: "(Baking/cookie company) is adding to our shipping and delivery team! Job duties include picking, packing and boxing orders" "Shifts are Tuesday - Saturday 6:00AM to 2:00PM, though overtime will be needed during busy times". This is a full-time job that I'm more than willing to do despite what it would mean for appearances. It would provide me more money than I've made in years.
- Reading this back, I realize that this could be taken the wrong way:
"Once I write down my professional experience or we talk, anyone with a brain can tell I'm at the wrong place--I should be working somewhere that's a good job."
The idea being that this sentiment is either stated explicitly by the other person during the interview, or it comes across in tone. I'm not saying or thinking anything like this. I don't feel like I'm owed a "good job". (I do feel entitled to dignity, on the other hand.)
I have been told outright to dumb down my resume and that I'm obviously overqualified. Anyone paying attention can pick up on the clues that I "shouldn't" be there, that it's only a temporary accident that I'm even available, and they're understandably hesitant to say "yes" if they feel they're just going to be back in the same situation looking for another worker shortly down the road, once I get back on my feet. They'd rather take a chance on a so-so worker who's not exactly reliable and is somewhat irresponsible if it means there's a chance that person will be around for an expected 2 or 3 years, rather than me, the wildcard. That leaves the people who aren't able to put things together. Accordingly, working for these people is generally miserable either by accident or takes a turn to being exploitative or abusive by intent (because "the cruelty is the point").
- Done, thanks.
- Five years ago, I was in a car accident. Although the other driver was at fault and there were no medical expenses, I haven't been able to get my life back on track since. At the end of this month, I will be homeless.
It looked like I was going to be able to pull it off on my own originally, but it was going to take a year and every waking moment of every day was going to suck in the meantime. I was right about it sucking, but I was wrong about pulling it off. I had finally breathed a sigh of relief the weekend before Christmas Eve in 2019 since it looked like I was actually going to make it and it was only a matter of another month or two. I hadn't allowed myself to attach hopes to anything less than concrete at that point. COVID really screwed that up, and I got reset to zero.
I've been barely holding it together since then. Five years of working sh jobs for even worse people who know they have you and delight in it--even more than they value their own bottom line. Now I don't even have a job; it's been a month since my last paycheck and no more are coming. I look young and inexperienced and give the impression that I'm healthy enough financially/circumstantially to be able to absorb whatever shocks I might incur from others shifting onto me the things that they'd prefer for someone else to bear instead of them. But none of those things are true. People in Austin almost seem disappointed when they peg you for a slacker but it turns out you're not one, like you're doing something wrong.
I'll spend whole days looking for jobs from whomever might take me, including bad ones, with nothing to show for it. Once I write down my professional experience or we talk, anyone with a brain can tell I'm at the wrong place--I should be working somewhere that's a good job. Good jobs take 6 weeks to 6 months, but I don't have that, and I don't have the environmental stability to make it through the process, anyway, as far as take home assignments and clear, distraction-free thinking go. I can't even start to work out how I'm going to wash the last 5 years off my resume.