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Ask HN: Desperate for a Job, but I'm a disabled from a third world country
Hi HN.
I have been physically disabled since 10; I can't talk, I can't stand for long periods. But I can do office work without any problems. I don't have a degree, I only have a high school equivalent degree that got me nowhere, I live in a town in a relatively well-off African country.
My story:
I always liked computers, when I was 14 I used to play with WordPress, and I used to make custom WordPress websites for family and friends, Until a local software
agency saw my work, And they hired me to make a custom WordPress plugin in PHP that they sold on Codecanyon, over the years this agency hired me for small projects, I taught myself PHP, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, NodeJS.. and worked hard to convince them to hire me full time. I started from making around $300 (unstable), eventually they hired me full time, my last paycheck was $2000 (well above average in my country).
Sadly, the agency owner passed away in 2023, Me and everybody who worked there were laid off in November 2023, I'm in my early 20s, I don't have a profilo, No CV, No Linkedin, I don't use social media, No degree, I have been living off saving, Now with my saving running out and my family depending on me, I'm desperate to find a way to make a living again.
My title was "software engineer" but i was more of a swiss knife, over the last year at my work I made:
1. A Desktop app and server for internal meetings and communications, I used Typescript, React, Go, WebRTC, Redis, Sqlite, Postgress and Pion.
2. Fixed bugs and collaborated on development and QA for Node.js and Go projects
3. Made a custom WordPress block themes, using React and PHP.
4. Few landing pages in Astro.
I've built everything from CRUD apps to cloud native apps, I communicate well through writing, collaborate on GitHub, and deliver work on time, I can work with or without tight specs, I write tests, I think have basic understanding of CS concepts, I'm willing to put effort to learn anything new, I can work under tight deadlines, I can work 16 hours a day.
My problem:
I don't have any personal project to show, All my attempts to get a job have failed (Remote and local), often because of where I live, not having a degree, or being disabled and unable to attend face-to-face interviews. I've even offered to work for free at times, but it still hasn't led to any paid opportunities yet.
I just don't know where to start to get an income again, or show people what I can do, i thought of making a SaaS startup or selling software but I don't have stripe on my country (or any alternative). If you've been in a similar situation or have advice, I'd be deeply grateful.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
- not_your_vase 2y ago> I don't have a profilo, No CV, No Linkedin Why not? The internet is full of open source projects, starving for motivated contributors - and they also make a great portfolio. LinkedIn profile is free, it also doubles as CV. But there are also many free hosting providers that allow you to create a personal website on a subdomain, as an exchange for your email, and some ad-space on your page.
- _wern 2y agoThank you for your response! This is definitely something I've been considering. I actually already have a personal domain and I set a self-hosted server (Thanks to Cloudflare tunnels). I was planning to set up a personal blog and start contributing to open-source projects, but the nature of my previous work doesn't leave me with anything to showcase publicly, I will have to build a profilo from nothing but experience. Do you have recommendations for open-source projects or fields that might lead to paid opportunities or sponsorships?
- Alex-Programs 2y agoIt might be worth contributing to things that demonstrate your knowledge in an area where you would like to be employed in in the future. E.g. If long term you want to be paid to work with WordPress (I don't know how good that market is), work on WordPress itself or related projects. Also, you can put your agency work on your CV with a summary of what you built.
- gus_massa 2y agoI agree. >>>> I used to make custom WordPress websites for family and friends Is any of them still active? Can you make a new one as sample to build a portfolio? >>> The internet is full of open source projects, starving for motivated contributors - and they also make a great portfolio My recomendaion is to contribute to projects you already use, so you understand the use case. It may be helpful to explain to a potential employer something like: fake quote> In my previous job I used this library in WP but it has an anoying bug/typo. So I fixed it and it got merged in the main project. Start with easy stuff like typos/bugs, and later try to add features once you are sure the mantainer will apreciate it. Don't expect to get paid for working in the open source projects, take it as a hobby and as possible portfolio, not as a income source. Also, there are three official post in HN about jobs. They will be posted automatically on thursday. Take a look in case you find something useful and you also may post in the correct thread. You can peek the last month edition in https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring but they are read only now.