Need Suggestions on how to Code 10 hours a Days

Hello Everyone,

I live in SF Bay Area and I drive Uber full time to make a living. I joined FCC so I can become a software engineer some day. Due to the financial instability with Uber it is very hard to make a living through it and study and practice coding as much as I’d like to.

Can someone please suggest a away of how I can raise $80k through crowd source funding to cover my expenses, so I can practice coding full time for one year without having to work. Since I am passionate about this career I would like to become really good at it and the only way I can think of is by spending one year full time of nothing but coding.

To raise money for this purpose is crowd sourcing a good idea or is there something else you would suggest?

I am also willing to borrow money through crowd sourcing and pay it back.

Thanks

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Ok, bluntly, no. “I’m an Uber driver” is not going to work. “I’m an orphan whose lifelong dream is to code, but I can’t get time off from my 18-hours-a day-7-days-a-week job at the puppy sanctuary” is maybe better.

  • You’re begging for a large sum of money.
  • Alternatively you would take a loan.
  • A loan through normal channels would involve punitive interest rates as there’s zero chance of it being paid back quickly, so you would prefer one free of interest (crowd sourced funding but you’ll repay).

To put it another way:

I would like to take a sabbatical for a year and get much better at certain aspects of development, in particular game design. The sabbatical will open up new opportunities for me:

  • I only want £30k (so $40k). This would allow me to live in a manner to which I am accustomed during my year studying - I have a young child and a mortgage, and £30k would cover that, household bills, travel, shopping etc, a new computer, some office space, networking. I could live on £20k, but £30k allows for some leeway; any issues with child/house would negatively impact my studies, that extra £10k would allow me to offset that risk.
  • I have savings and collateral.
  • I already have high levels of proficiency in several areas of programming and have demonstrated ability to rapidly learn new skills.
  • I am convinced that this sabbatical + previous experience will boost my earning power a great deal: I can guarantee repayment and am willing to negotiate on interest - I feel I can be treated as a sure investment that will reap modest but guaranteed returns.

I’m only half joking here: I would love a year off to study, so if someone wants to give me £30k at a better rate than a bank (it’s half the money you’re asking for and I’m a surer bet), I’ll draw up a contact to have it repayed with interest

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Heres what I did.

Take a shit job, With a company doing the least amount of “work” during shift.
Say, Security at night… Cough ** SECURITAS SECURITY SERVICES ** Cough. (fore warning there are some issues with the company. But its better than uber…That I much know… and you can choose to work 8 or 12 hour days… not that its a good choice lol. but hey, better than hoping for rides during the fall/winter right?!)

Study for 8 hrs at work. and then the rest of the time while you’re off work.

Im sorry to say this, but we are ALL in the same boat as you…
Only difference is no one is realistically going to just give us money…

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I think what @CaBra503 and @DanCouper write rings true for me as well. I also think @TechSF puts this dilemma into words nicely.

I wonder if there’s some way for people in our situations to help each other out financially by coming together in coding cooperatives?

FCC has done the coding curriculum part well. The regionalized FCC Facebook groups and this forum give us the tools to meet. FCC tries to help people get work with the certs and by sharing info on resumes, cover letters, job searches, interviews, etc…

For those of us in situations where we need money just to be able to study more, maybe we can come together in co-ops. Maybe a co-op can initially be funded by grant money, say five people each get $10k for a year or so. After that, it would be up to the co-op to become self-sufficient or people can part ways.

Or, maybe the co-op starts with no money and the people in it hustle to get paying projects using the overall co-op system as a reference. It may be easier to find freelance work if potential clients know they’ll be working with an inexperienced co-op as opposed to an inexperienced individual.

These are probably bad ideas for various reasons, so there’s no need to critique them directly. I’m just throwing them out there to hopefully spark better ideas :bulb: from others. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I really like your idea camper!

For those of us in situations where we need money just to be able to study more, maybe we can come together in co-ops.

This would be a great idea, Say if we had the regional chapters that somehow became legitament entities, able to apply for funding, and grants. Much like how school districts get federal funding to take kids on trips, and come to think of it. I know someone who does exactly that!! She is a program coordinator that takes kids on trips around the country/internationally!

Maybe a co-op can initially be funded by grant money, say five people each get $10k for a year or so. After that, it would be up to the co-op to become self-sufficient or people can part ways.

This is what I like most. I know that there is a way to obtain grants and scholarships! Maybe we should look into what all we need to do!?
I think I am going to reach out to her and see if there is anything she knows of for a group of students trying to accomplish the same thing

I wish I had the discipline to code 10 hours a day :expressionless:

Nobody is going to give you $80k just because you’re virtuous and learning a new skill set. That’s completely unrealistic. So is programming 10 hours a day every day, even professional developers don’t do that.

Not to be rude but it sounds like you’re the type that makes excuses when it comes to practicing and putting time into programming. “If only people gave me $80,000, then surely I’d learn how to become a developer”. It sounds like an excuse.

Put in a couple hours of programming after work/on weekends and have discipline and you’ll get to where you need to be.