Ask HN: Homeless, Former Software Developer, What Now?

I became homeless in 2023 when I sold a property and hit the road to find another. I never found one and ran low on money. Taking temp jobs has been all I can do since then and I can't seem to save the $2k - $3k it takes to get into an apartment or house. I also have 2 dogs and have trouble finding a place for them while I work.

Since I haven't developed since 2023 and am very behind in the technology and AI, should I even try to study up and get a developer job (one paycheck could solve my problems), or should I just stick with the blue-collar work and save what money I can?

The biggest problem I have right now is where to put the dogs while I work. Many places require the dog to be neutered; one of my dogs is not. I don't have the money for that operation and getting their rabies and vaccinations caught up.

Looking for advice on what to do. My gut feeling says get a job through a temp agency and continue tying up the dogs out in the woods while I work. But it just kills me to leave them out like that.

I've only got $500, so time is the biggest factor.

9 points | by current_robot 4 hours ago

7 comments

  • k310 3 hours ago
    Free or low-cost neutering, obviously location-dependent (lists)

    https://www.bestiepaws.com/nearby/free-or-low-cost-dog-neute...

    https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/low-cost-spa...

    (CA only)

    https://lowincomerelief.com/california-pets-resources/

  • A_D_E_P_T 3 hours ago
    Have you considered gig work on Fiverr? (Or similar. There are many others, e.g. PeoplePerHour.com) You're an American and speak English, so you've got a leg up over a lot of your potential competitors. And since you actually know how to code, you'll probably do much better work than the low-effort vibe-coders who have taken over all such platforms.

    If I were you, I'd build a profile on all of those sites, and post multiple listings on all of them.

    As for AI, just consider it natural language coding with severe memory/context limitations and you've got the gist of it. Since you don't have money to burn on subscriptions or API tokens right now, use this: https://chat.deepseek.com/

    [-]
    • mhitza 3 hours ago
      Those markets are very bad for anyone at the moment. With AI this, AI that, there is a higher likelyhood of building suboptimal things in weekends than outsourcing small projects to subject matter experts.

      For the dogs situation, I would recommend reaching out to petfriendly groups for help, and vetenerians that might do things probono.

  • dieselgate 2 hours ago
    I can relate to your situation. I strongly suggest you broaden your job search and look for anything that pays decently. A lot of this will depend on your geo location. Maybe some sort of night time work will help with the dog situation until you get back on your feet. Happy to expand more but just a quick start. Best of luck to you
  • gorgmah 3 hours ago
    Do you have any family/friends you could stay at? This situation is preventing you from taking the time to make smart next-moves.
  • penpendian 1 hour ago
    get a coffee job first. Especially if your daily cost now includes token
  • slipwalker 1 hour ago
    "former software developer" does not say much... which field of expertise, which tech stack are you comfortable with ? In current AI trends coding means very little compared to system design, solution architecture and (argh!) prompt/context engineering... any proven experience there ? a public portfolio ? and i am sorry, but it does not seem feasible you can afford pets currently...
  • VirusNewbie 2 hours ago
    I'm sorry to say but it sounds like you cannot afford dogs. They will likely be better off somewhere else with someone who has some financial means.

    You need to figure out how to rent a room, or even a garage or ADU from someone. It is going to be drastically easier without the dogs. Maybe you can find someone you know who will take the dogs so you can still visit?

    You then need to find ANY job. Drive uber for 30 hours a week, study and practice coding/AI skills/resume building for 20 hours a week, etc.

    I find it highly unlikely you're going to go from living on the streets to a high paid dev job. Instead, you need to make a realistic three year plan.

    You cannot keep your dogs and expect to do this, you tried, it was a noble effort, but you gotta give them up man. It's just too hard to find cheap places to rent. You need a home base to stay healthy enough to sleep, study, and learn the new skills you need.