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Hey, other comments are going to give you a few lines telling you to not quit, that you should hang in there, and that it'll be alright. That may be true, but
by zedshaw 13y ago
Hey, other comments are going to give you a few lines telling you to not quit, that you should hang in there, and that it'll be alright. That may be true, but to me it sounds like you're possibly not doing well enough to make any of that possible, and you probably need to find work fast. Here's what I want to do:
1. I have a little list of companies looking for employees that I'll send you. Not much just companies that have contacted me looking for people.
2. I am a bad ass writer and have a crazy resume, but more importantly I know how to craft resumes and I'll look at yours and help you fix it up.
3. If you're in the San Francisco area I'll meet up with you and listen to what happened and see if there's a way to work out of it, or at least listen.
4. If you email me at help@learncodethehardway.org I'll talk with you and see if there's other ways I can help.
I'm serious, hit me up on email and I'll help out if I can. In fact, this goes for anyone else looking for work right now. Email the above and I'll reply with my little list. I don't make commissions on placement or anything like that, just a good thing to do.
- AKifer 13y agoWow ! What a man ! By reputation, I knew you from your rant on Ruby on Rails years ago and your move to the python ecosystem. As a Rails lover, at first time I was thinking like the mainstream about your rants and your opinions. Later I discovered learnXthehardway series and your work and found them awesome. But today, I definatelly appreciate you Zed, hope one day I will meet you in person, even for a 15 minutes coffee time. Have a nice day and good luck themanthatfell, one advice. Never give up, as a men we should never abandon even how deep is our situation (I even took the risk to quit my job in 2011 while my wife was giving birth of our first child), you'll always find a way. If you have 1 chance on 100 to get something, just try 100 times and you'll get it, even Thomas Edison tried 10K times before finding the way to make the light bulb.
- aaronem 13y agoI encountered Mr. Shaw's rant on Rails years before I happened to find myself on a Rails project, and thank God I did; otherwise, my experience with Rails might've led me to think there was something wrong with me.
- GowGuy47 13y agoYou sir, are a good guy.
- pallandt 13y agoThanks for doing this, Zed!
- um304 13y agoJust found one more reason to be your fan, Zed!
- eugenesia 13y agoWow... that's a really nice thing to do for one in need. Gotta be your friend Zed!
- coolsunglasses 13y agoZed helped me back when I lived in NYC and was really depressed despite me being a total stranger from the internet.
- girvo 13y agoDespite what people may think based on his "style", he's always come across as a really nice guy to me. Reminds me of one of my best friends actually, seems like an arsehole but is one of the most genuine and caring people I know. Funny how that can be the case :)
- michaelochurch 13y agoI'm really glad that people like you exist, Zed, and keep fighting. (Also, I'm a fan of LCTHW.) Silicon Valley was built by people helping each other out and paying it forward. The current Atherton/Sand Hill Road, "fuck you I've got mine", NIMBY, crowd seem to have forgotten that.
- movebits 13y agocool
- sergiotapia 13y agoZed, you truly are an inspiration. The real deal. You inspire people.
- singular 13y agoI have for a while thought of you as (total honesty here) a bullying cock (though talented at what you do), but this comment which is sincere, genuine and offered to someone for whom this could be greatly helpful has made me seriously reconsider. Kudos.
- kibibu 13y agoIt strikes me that Zed has been on the receiving end of way more bullying than he has given out (including being called a cock by you in this very post)
- termain 13y ago"I thought of you as" is not the same thing as "you are a".
- tempestn 13y agoIt still makes for a pretty damned backhanded compliment.
- singular 13y agoUnderstandable that it came off that way, genuinely not intended as that. It's bloody hard to express something sincerely on the internet without sounding like you're just being sarcastic.
- tempestn 13y agoIMO the best way to go about it in this case would have been simply to express your appreciation/admiration/whatever for his actions here, and ignore the past. That would clearly imply that you've at least somewhat adjusted your opinion, without having to explicitly bring it up. Of course, it also wouldn't have spawned a hundred-comment sub-thread.
- Semaphor 13y ago
- JakeStone 13y agoGood on you, Zed.
- lemonberry 13y agoWow. Very cool.
- stuntmachine 13y agoClass. I don't care if people think your style is too harsh. You're here setting a positive example of altruism, and genuinely trying to help out a complete stranger. Props.
- amazedsaint 13y agoAwesome, Zed.
- ansimionescu 13y agoI can't believe I didn't know about you. I'm devouring your blog posts now while listening to Session 22. Both are quite (very) enjoyable, thank you.
- yarou 13y agoAs jaded as I am on altruism and human nature, this post gives me a slight glimmer of hope.
- Scienz 13y agoDon't worry, I'm sure the next person you meet will bring you crashing back to reality. @OP.. it may not help much in your position, but that Man in the Arena quote seems relevant here. Imo you still deserve more respect (all other things being equal) than the vast majority of the world that not only never attempt great works, but actively try to prevent others from trying or succeeding too. Hope that your next endeavor goes better.
- Epicism 13y agoGood for you, sir.
- sliverstorm 13y agoI agree, if he were young and single with no dependents maybe "hang in there" would be appropriate, but this guy just told us he has a wife, three kids, and a fourth on the way. To add to that he is out of money, out of credit, and out his house. When you haven't got a nickel to your name and you have five dependents, that's hardly the time to go "down for doubles" on a big risk (unless you are out of options)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jamoy 13y agoThis is awe inspiring. I wish I can help like this too..
- Garmonidas 13y agoAmazing. Really nice. You're a good man.
- searine 13y ago> Hey, other comments are going to give you a few lines telling you to not quit, that you should hang in there, and that it'll be alright. You got to know when to shoot a dog...
- darkfish 13y agoArnold's 6th rule. giving back to the community.
- Legend 13y agoFan of your work... now an even bigger fan! :) Thank you making this world a better place.
- chkevin 13y agoAwesome, Zed
- khalidmbajwa 13y agoBig fan of your books, an even bigger fan of you now. You sir, are a good man. Here, have a virtual hug !
- primitivesuave 13y agoYou're awesome man, really warmed my heart to see this.
- n1ghtmare_ 13y agoI'm glad there are people like you !
- asabjorn 13y agoCompletely agree. In addition, since he seems to have struggled for a while, I suggest not maximizing income and instead focus on a less stressful 3-4 year plan to get back on his feet. Life is long so there will be plenty of new chances to swing for the fences if that is what he desires. And if his 3-4 year plan is executed ahead of schedule plans can always be changed.
- d4vlx 13y agoIt's posts like this that make me love HN :')
- serkanh 13y agoKudos to you Mr. Shaw. I enjoyed your books that you so kindly made available for free but this act just made me respect you tenfold. World needs more people like you.
- dnyce 13y agoI've said it once before and I'll say it again... Zed, if YOU are ever up for it, I'd love to buy you a beer man. I live in the bay area and so meeting up should be of little issue. I've seen the comments from your fans AND detractors, and I must say, I've never really bought into the negative. I'm not surprised by this comment and your willingness to help another individual who has fallen on hard times.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nashequilibrium 13y agoThanks for offering this guy light at the end of the tunnel. This reminds me of a a talk i had with my cousin a while back. I said to him that he had it easy growing up with his dad being an entrepreneur(construction industry), he laughed and said no way, maybe my younger brothers. He says that one day he gets home from school, his mother is sitting outside crying and guy's are moving furniture out the house, creditors where seizing all their stuff. He called his dad but nothing could be done. To top this off, his dad would be gone by 4am get home late at night and he would hardly see him. So, his dad borrows some money from family and friends, keep in mind everyone was talking shit about him now, both friends and family. He took them across state to a rural area and told them that a lot of construction was going to happen here and that he was going to setup shop here. He hardly saw his dad and he doesn't remember a lot about how his dad did it but things started getting better, his dad got a contract with a huge mining company and shit just took off. We were discussing this at his beach house, that his dad bought for him. He said that he remembers the hard times but his younger brothers, think that there was no suffering just happy times and the life they have now. My uncle is now retired and the business is totally family run, he spends more time travelling than anything else. In tech, we honestly glamorize startups, but what about all the others, the 90 out of every 100 startups that fail or just stay in zombie status. My point is not to encourage the OP to dig in but to let him know that it is ok to fail, many do with families as well but he will bounce back with a good job or something else down the line. Zed has provided that ray of light and hopefully u can turn it into a rainbow!
- Baadier_Sydow 13y agoThat's the risks of entrepreneurship. I come from an extremely entrepreneurially inclined family and I vividly remember having sheriffs of the court coming to knock on the door when I was growing. Its not all rosy when you are in the inside. I remember the kids at school were impressed by the big house and nice cars, we had 3 but only 2 driver, but there are other things that happen behind the scenes. Good luck man, keep the faith.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- tomphoolery 13y agoyou rock, zed
- mylons 13y agogood guy zed shaw. kudos to you sir, and if you ever want to grab a beer/bourbon around SF message me! good deeds need to go rewarded
- r0ash 13y agoYou are a gem, if we get couple of thousands like you with loud voice this world would be a great place to enjoy.
- nagarch 13y agoThank you for your nice help.
- beggerss 13y agoZed Shaw you are the man
- donniefitz2 13y agoZed, You are an example to many if you deliver on this. I hope the OP follows up with you so you can.
- jcox92 13y agoYou taught me python the hard way. I watched all the videos at 1.5x speed so I will always picture you as having a curt, snappy, slightly high-pitched voice. Also, that's nice of you to help out. I hope he gets in touch with you.
- movebits 13y agovery cool! initiative.
- ing33k 13y agoyou are awesome !
- erniejimz 13y agoThank You Zed, you are truly awesome!!
- hoggle 13y agoHelping out, Motherfucker - Are you doing it? <3
- roozbeh18 13y agoZed shaw for president.
- Kiro 13y agoCan I pay you to fix my resume?
- x3c 13y agoTry asking for help first.
- weland 13y agoThe Internet ought to get you a beer.
- fsniper 13y agoI think that's a great response indeed.
- meira 13y agoAwesome, Zed! I guess that you'll receive a lot of emails :) Me included. lol.
- atmosx 13y agoI loved your comment more than the story. Really, it's good to see that we people do actually care for one another. This kind of thing could happen to everybody. Good luck helping that guy and others that have real problems, wish you both all the best.
- cpplinuxdude 13y agoLet's not delude ourselves here; these days getting work is all about network too. Fantastic resume is fantastic, contacts who can get it at the top of the pile: even better.
- najamkhn 13y agoI like how zedshaw is moving to HR and job placements. It'd be nice to have a rebel in suits world.
- jgeerts 13y agoFaith in humanity... restored, thank you for being this nice.
- Fede_V 13y agoThat's incredibly nice of you Zed. Seriously - it's pretty fucking awesome. Oh - and I suggested Python the hard way to a bunch of people, and those that stuck with it, found it great.
- swat535 13y agoplease accept this small piece of karma as a token of appreciation for helping this person. we need more people like you in this world.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- idrisser 13y agoJust great. I love this community just because of a comment like this, once in a while.
- gacba 13y agoThanks for NOT giving him the "hang in there" speech and some real alternatives to get him back on his feet. You're awesome, man.
- marincounty 13y agoNo lectures--no advice=The World needs more guy's like you. I hope you can help him.
- mumbi 13y agoDamn dude, you're really nice. Props. Also, hope everything turns around for you, themanthatfell.
- JeremyMorgan 13y agoI read "I am a bad ass writer and have a crazy resume" and then thought "oh who is this guy?". Then I saw it was Zed lol. yeah, totally a badass writer. Carry on. So cool that people are stepping up to help instead of kicking someone while they are down. This guy isn't a failure until he gives up. It just wasn't the right time, and I look forward to a future post where he talks about his next shot at doing something. Good on all of you to redeem the HN community in the eyes of all.
- smrtinsert 13y agoYou are awesome Zed.
- alexpatton 13y agoZedshaw, you win coolest guy on the Internet today. Your response may have made Thanksgiving bearable for me by reminding me that good does exist in this black-friday-world. Thank you.
- ronreiter 13y agoI love you