Let me tell you a story.

Back in 2012 I was working at a startup as a Ruby on Rails developer. I hadn’t done Rails for a while, and I had a terrible work-ethic (getting in late, working till late, drinking a beer or two at night, rinse and repeat).

I didn’t pass probation.

It was the first time I had been fired from a job, and felt like a death sentence on my career.

I moped around for about 2 weeks, but then I set on building a portfolio app using Node.js, something I could take to job interviews to show what I could do.

My dad told me to come back to Bedford, told me he didn’t care about my shit app, and that HSBC would close the overdraft on my bank account if I didn’t earn money in 4 months.

He tried very hard to pressure me to move back home. I refused, and continued to build the app.

I worked out that I could survive without money for about 4 months, and that my living costs were roughly £800 - £1000pm. I streamlined my budget, ate Rye Bread and tinned Mackerel for lunch every day, and worked on the app.

2 1/2 months later, I launched the app on Hacker News.

It went to No#1 within 45 minutes. It then crashed under the load, as it was running on a small Linode instance.

I learned the joy and pain of Hacker News in the space of a few hours. But I was happy - I had made something of value, & I felt like I could now interview for jobs.

I came close to running out of money, so I asked my sister if I could borrow some money from her, took ~£100 of Danish Krone to the Post Office to put in the bank, and sold my iPad so that I could pay the rent.

I then went and interviewed for what was a dream job at Forward Labs

It was what I aspired to do - build products. I did a few rounds of interviews with the team members there, and completed a technical coding interview, staying right up until the early hours to complete it.

Later on that day they asked me to come in for another interview.

I had a few hours of sleep, and hadn’t eaten. I had one last round of making my technical solution more memory efficient. My brain was fried, so the interviewers ended up completing the solution for me.

The next day, I found out that I didn’t get the job. I was absolutely gutted

I remember walking around Clissold Park - I was low on cash, and I felt like perhaps a career in programming wasn’t for me, and that I should go for a job doing what my degree in business would be more suited for.

I then saw another job requiring a Node.js developer. I applied.

I met the team, they were nice and friendly, and when they saw the code for the app I built on GitHub, they said “there’s no point doing a technical interview, you clearly know what you’re doing”.

After the interview, I got a job offer, and accepted it. The relief was incredible

That was July 2012. The London Olympics had come and gone during that time, and I didn’t even take the chance to enjoy any of it, such was the all-encompassing worry of being in that predicament.

I came within £50 of maxing out my overdraft before my first salary payment landed

8 years on, I’m living comfortably, I run my own development studio, I travelled at the start of the year in Spain, and I’ve just helped deliver an incredibly ambitious but important project for Volvo Cars.

I could not have imagined that this is where I would have been back then

So to those who have lost jobs, and worry about how they are going to make ends meet, my message to you is this.

I have been where you have been, and it is tough, but there is a way forward.

My advice is this.

Sell what you can.

I sold my iPad, I found Danish Krone and took it to the post office to put in the bank.

Reduce spending where you can.

I lived on Rye Bread and tinned Mackerel for months.

Get help where you can.

I maxed my overdraft, and borrowed from my sister.

And finally, getting work.

I focussed on an app - in the end open sourcing that app’s code on GitHub opened the door to getting a job offer.

Programming has been the best career choice I made.

If you lost your job in an industry impacted by the pandemic, give programming a try

I didn’t study computer science, I simply spent a couple of months with a computer and some books, learning Ruby on Rails.

Lots of companies need developers, so there is plenty of work there.

If you want to know more, feel free to get in touch. My email is [email protected].

Also, give @pluralsight a browse - they are offering free access this month.

Also look at @makersacademy, and @khanacademy.

If you have the time, patience, and a computer, then this is an option to explore.