Programming

Hello people!

I can't find a job in real life because of my psycho problems but I need money. I am somewhat experienced in computers and had some minor programming experience, both for Web and application software but the experience is really minor. I'm 24 (male) and got almost nothing to do outside of a condo I live with my parents in. I am afraid my PC will fall apart and I can't buy new hardware. My parents don't give me money enough for PC parts.

I often think about how do I earn using my computer and of course the first thing you can think of is freelance. Yeah-yeah... Been there. Done that. I tried to code PHP as a freelancer and earned about $300. Tried for about half of a year. These $300 are mostly from one project I coded (~$265), other of these $300 are from really tiny things. After that I tried more and got nothing. Plus I really started to hate PHP and webdev in general, it's totally not mine. Didn't even learn JS - it will make me throw up.

One thought I got out of this "freelance" thing is that you should be really really experienced in your area to be successfull in freelancing. You gotta work in some companies with people for several years to gain experience and after that you can offer something over the Internet. But I have no experience and I can't get it anywhere - I can't go out and work/communicate with people. I just can't, period. Sick invalid, the walking disability (disability that walks).

I tried Python at home and really liked it. And I wondered - maybe there is a chance that if I ceate some piece of GPL program, I'll be able to get donations? Or maybe to learn some language and anonymously participate in some project which will give me some donations... Or someting like that. It's hard to think of someting that I can plan now, go learn and then create and people will actually need it. But maybe there is something.

Do you guys have any thoughts/suggestions on the subject?

What does the acronym GPL mean?

Edit: Google gave me General Public License (USA spelling), which led me to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Public_License
Hope this is what you meant. I am not from USA.

There are a number of concerns in your note. Normally, I would suggest volunteering to help some organization or group with computer tasks - explaining that you normally charge to do "xxx" but that you care about their group and would like to help. Thereby having an accomplishment for your resume and new contacts.
BUT... how you describe yourself raises many concerns. All that are outside of the scope of this bulletin board.

I agree with @joeyg. The psychological issues are really beyond the scope of The UNIX and Linux Forums - Learn UNIX and Linux from Experts. However I have enjoyed working with some people who happen to have serious communication problems, but who did have ability as a programmer.

I cite a gentlemen with a Masters Degree in Mathematics from Oxford who could not string a verbal sentence together. But if you spent days writing the exact specification, he could write code in minutes.

I cite a deaf lady who communicated with scraps of paper (pre-email). No problem because she wrote splendid code.


If you have a good idea for an original and practical phone App on a modern platform such as Google Android (... and which is not yet another stupid phone game) then there is a definite market. You don't have to learn the programming language yourself because a potentially good App will attract sponsorship. It is amazing how 10 pence (or in your case 10 cent) downloads add-up.

I want a simple (and I mean simple) App which provides a cooking timer with a loud and distinctive alarm at the end of the countdown. Can I find one for my phone?

@Methyl,

Try the "Kitchen Timer" application in andriod

You can work from home, picking and choosing which projects to work on. The following site has hundreds of projects to choose from.

How it Works (for Workers)

I've got some VPM-B decompression software code from a university thesis, written in Python; which I would like to port to PHP.

You could volunteer to do it