That’s a bit surprising given that the Netherlands has a generous social system. I’ll try as a first step to ask and look for government organizations that could potentially help and give you free stuff.
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.
My initial thought was to suggest jumping right into freelance tech work, but after reading this comment I’ve changed my position.
Get whatever help you can from the government (and possibly a church as someone else suggested), then get a job - any job that gives your life some stability and structure, as well as some income. When you are back on your feet a little bit and have taken care of the necessities, namely food and shelter, start looking into doing some freelance work with whatever technical skills you have. I would focus on remote work - there are plenty of sites where you can sign up to do work for $50 or $100. A few hours of work maybe. That can help you build up some experience and you can use that to get more business (at higher rates) or help you land a job in technology.
I suggest remote freelance work because your appearance and clothing aren’t going to be an issue, and it should be easier to work around the schedule of your other job.
I’d also advise you seek out some mental health services. I’m not assuming anything about you or attempting to diagnose you, but at the very least being able to talk to someone about your situation and the circumstances that led to it will help you prevent it from happening again and help you move forward. If you are suffering from depression or substance abuse problems then by all means get help with that as well. I’m not sure about the Netherlands, but in the US there are some non-profit organizations that are specifically focused on helping the former homeless get back into the working world, even going as far as conducting mock interviews to improve your skills, and providing professional clothes to wear. You may be able to find something similar where you live.
Most importantly, know that there’s a community here that is in your corner and wants to see you improve your situation. Make sure you come back and give us an update when things improve.
The Netherlands has a generous social system that I can't access because I'm not actually from here. It happens to be the last place I was in when I was told I didn't have a home or money any more.
Going "home" is kinda pointless - there's not actually any support in the UK for people like me, so I'd be sleeping rough there quickly anyway.
> The Netherlands has a generous social system that I can't access because I'm not actually from here.
Then any reason why you are there? Are you allowed to legally work in the Netherlands.
> there's not actually any support in the UK for people like me
I'm pretty sure there is. 2/3 of British families receive some kind of benefits in Britain. You might have to ask for it. I also suspect there is more to this story (like do you have something serious in your records).
I'd go to the British Embassy, ask them to get me to the UK, present myself to the government and ask for any help. Then proceed to the plan outlined previously.
Heck, I'm from Tunisia, an almost non-functional and bankrupt country and the government does have some benefits (like food, basic medical care) for the really in need.
> Then any reason why you are there? Are you allowed to legally work in the Netherlands.
I am.
> I'm pretty sure there is.
There's a very complicated system, but tl;dr being unable to find work would cause me to lose benefits and be left without a home. I don't trust that I would be able to find a job, so I would prefer to keep a roof over my head for now.
To add to the mess, I'm trans, which means companies (even big ones) will not put me in a position where customers might possibly see me, or where they might wind up with another coworker causing an HR incident, which means an awful lot of traditional jobs for people without qualifications are out. I've had this said to my face in the UK, and I've had interviewers in the UK visibly disappointed when they saw me.
That explains a bit more why you're facing such difficulties. Here are some ideas that could help:
Pick a topic that is not very difficult, but not trivial. Let's say "categorization of data" - you wouldn't believe how many companies need that with the latest ML hype. Create a static page with a bit of bio - native english, whatever you know about tech, + talk about categorization, give some examples, etc. Github Pages is free, so that should work. Same on Linkedin and whatever is used in NL. Go to Upwork, Fiver, etc. and apply to all jobs related to this - include your bio, static website, your "examples". Here is an example kind of post, but there should be plenty - https://www.upwork.com/job/Startup-Database-Data-Entry-and-C....
If you can, try to do the above for more topics to increase your chances, from the top of my mind:
- Find websites that do some kind of aggregation but can benefit from manual work - aggregators for jobs, rentals, products, etc. and offer your help.
Navigate that system. People with much lower IQ are relying on it, you should be able to do that too.
> I'm trans, which means companies (even big ones) will not put me in a position where customers might possibly see me,
Same if you were homeless. I wouldn't hire a homeless barista that will turn off customers.
> I've had interviewers in the UK visibly disappointed when they saw me
Find places that are gay-trans friendly. Even where I live such jobs exist and are valued (ie: a woman hair dresser will prefer hiring a trans-gay as straight guys might put off customers, etc...)
I feel you're really underestimating the extent to which being visibly trans is a barrier in finding dignified employment. Perhaps the most maddening thing is that people don't hire you not because they, themselves, have anything against visibly trans people, rather it's because they are afraid of what others might think. And yet, even as everyone knows very well what "people might say", it is at the same time extremely difficult to covince cis people (i.e. not trans) that being visibly trans is an important factor in being out of work. It's a cruel catch-22 situation. The same people who would never hire you because you look visibly trans would never accept that you have trouble finding work because you look visibly trans.
I'm guessing that the OP ommitted any information about being trans from their original post above either because they expected that people would either think the OP was playing the victim card or they would just think there's some other reason, that has nothing to do with being trans, that the OP can't find decent work.
But I'm inclined to believe that this is, in fact, the primary reason. That's from my own experience and that of my many trans friends.
To the OP- just hang in there, please. Things will get better. And don't go back to the UK. It's now a fascist, racist little shithole with a majority that delights in crushing vulnerable people.
> Same if you were homeless. I wouldn't hire a homeless barista that will turn off customers.
To be clear, I currently have a shower, mattress, access to a washing machine, etc etc. Living in squats is pretty ok, police repression aside. I don't look like... whatever you're guessing, and nobody I'm applying to knows I don't have a permanent legal residence.
Hairdressing is a ridiculously qualified job in the UK, I have no idea what you're talking about. People go to vocational school to learn it.
> Hairdressing is a ridiculously qualified job in the UK..People go to vocational school to learn it.
Can confirm. It is actually a very technical and regulated field, despite what many people think - myself included before i met my wife.
For instance, you need to know the risks of all the chemicals used, and infection vectors, etc. etc. and prove that you know it all in a licensing exam (both written and practical).
> nobody I'm applying to knows I don't have a permanent legal residence.
Er how do you get past "meldung" then. When I last had the pleasure of experiencing the dutch job market, the Vreemdelingenpolitie (lit. foreigner police) and the myriad other amptenare (term of affection for govt officals) made it impossible to not have a verified, permanent address.
So under EU law, Governments can't prevent you from seeking work even if you don't have a permanent home. This was found through the court system when the UK tried to remove people sleeping rough who were trying to find work, under their "hostile environment" policy.
I think I misunderstood that from your original post. Do you mean you are squatting someone else property? If that's the case, I feel sorry for myself spending all this time writing these responses...
I hope sometime in the next week you have the time to evaluate this conversation from an alternate perspective - even to just "cosplay" that perspective, not to try and adapt it permanently - and understand why your comments can come across as extremely out of touch.
>For example, become a hairdresser.
>I wouldn't hire you if you looked homeless...You don't look homeless because you're showering as a squatter? I wish I hadn't given you any advice at all.
Empathy is not a constrained resources. It's one of the only things humans can generate in infinite supply, and that's worth taking advantage of.
Also, it seems to me OP was not saying they can't get benefits in the UK because the system is too complicated. They said the system was complicated before summarizing the complexity by explaining that without work they will lose benefits, and they are concerned they won't be able to find work. It seems disingenuous to me to read into that as OP saying they can't figure out how to get benefits.
I didn't suggest that. I did suggest that he/she works for a hairdresser. (probably doing errands around).
> I wouldn't hire you if you looked homeless
Not for a customer facing job. For some businesses, that would destroy the business. That's why I suggest that he/she starts with jobs that do not care too much about your current status.
> Empathy is not a constrained resources.
I have a hard time giving empathy to someone who doesn't have it. By squatting other people property, you might be risking putting these people out of their homes (maybe they are looking to rent it and are paying a mortgage/loan).
Not all properties are hold by rich people and closed to make people on the streets. Some of these are by normal hardworking people and that's all they have (or maybe less if they are borrowing money).
I would suggest to look for organisations that support you while dealing with the paper stuff but from a quick glance this might be useful (at least health insurance, monthly money, maybe access to some kind of paid training program that fit's your needs).
Coming from someone who has actually been homeless, it’s entirely possible to get back on your feet with freelance work, and probably a much better idea than taking a low paying job.
I spent a year homeless on the streets of San Francisco due to my mental health and the atrocious safety net we have in the US. Eventually, my mental health improved, and I met an extremely generous person who was also in tech and helped me tremendously by giving me an old laptop of his and introducing me to the owner of an agency he used to work at. They didn’t have any work for me right away, but eventually I got a 6 week contract that paid $12k. Since I was a contractor, all of this money was available to me immediately (I could worry about taxes later), and I was able to get back on my feet and find a job soon after.
Obviously my situation involved a bit of luck, but I do believe that as long as you have access to a computer, this is possible. The important things to remember are that your skills are valuable. Do not sell yourself short because of your current situation. And things will get better. I know you’re living through a hell very few people can understand, but if you’re fortunate enough to be intelligent and skilled, you have a very good chance of coming out of this. Most homeless people don’t have this benefit.
>After you get yourself a place to stay, better clothes, and a haircut then I’ll start branching into tech again.
I'd strongly disagree with this. If you can code, you are wasting your time doing any other kind of work. Do whatever it takes to land a job. Lie about your living situation. Spend all day at the library practicing Leet Code. The amount of time you spend trying to land a job will more than be made up by the salary delta of tech vs. menial labor.
You might be severely underestimating the impact that a bad living situation can have on a persons confidence, motivation, and mental energy to approach tasks.
The most important thing they can do is ANYTHING that gets them into a stable living situation.
I agree with this comment. First seek stability. Then you have a base, launch position, to move upwards from at your personal mental pace, after you get your feet back under you. Most people do not function well at all under the intense stress of homelessness, it breaks you down.
If they can quickly find a tech job, that's great of course; otherwise find anything that provides the necessary stability to make further sound moves from. It's dangerously easily to get trapped in homelessness for extended periods of time as it breaks people down and they can't get back out.
I’ll second this. Getting any job, and keeping it, will give you a self esteem boost in addition to giving you some structure and income. Use that as a launch pad for bigger and better things.
Put another way, it’s easy to reach too high and then feel depressed or hopeless because you can’t achieve it. It’s much better to walk up the steps one at a time.
Tech is a better meritocracy than other fields but is still a field with barriers. If you don't have a good resume, a CS degree, recommendations or particular open source contributions, you'll have a hard time getting any job.
I'm not sure if you tried being homeless for 1 or 2 days, but I can't imagine you'll be able to pass an interview if you slept in the church door last night and had nothing for dinner.
> Do whatever it takes to land a job.
That's what I'm suggesting and unless there is someone or some community that will bail you out for 3-4 months to get your affairs in order, you'll have to start from rock bottom.
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.