The earlier 2023/05 edition is below.
I'm seeking software apprentices (again). In answer to my troll from a previous post, here is my defense of my claim that I am a master software developer in the sense of a medieval master craftsman seeking apprentices.
Although this has never quite worked as I planned, I have envisioned finding people who were already considering learning dev (development / programming / software engineering). If not that, if you are willing to explore because you have me to guide your learning, that will do. My finger-to-the-wind estimate is that if you spend 10 hours a week, in 4 – 6 months you can do paid freelance projects mostly on your own. Soon after, you can probably get “real” jobs as a dev. That’s what you may get out of it.
Specifically, if I think you're advancing, you can list work experience on your resume for either kwynn.com or we can create a separate site. I have no problem with your listing kwynn.com, but you may reasonably consider me too politically incorrect. If the latter, we can create a site that does not trace back to me, and you can list working for that site. When you're asked for a managerial reference, that would be me.
I'm willing to certify as work experience a very broad range of tech activities (or perhaps sales / marketing, if you'd prefer). It doesn't have to be work for me. If there is something you want to create, I'll lead you towards learning to create it, and I'll certify it as work for a site of your choice (as above).
In medieval times, the apprentice was not paid. Often the apprentice did quite a bit of grunt work for the master craftsman. I might get you down to near zero grunt work, or perhaps zero depending on what you consider grunt work. As I explain below, I am in no position to you pay you, although that has nothing to do with my tech skills.
As for me, I have gotten myself into an absurd situation, so bear with me while I explain what’s in it for me. I am quite the night owl. I will not work 9 – 5 for any length of time. This makes my job hunt difficult, along with a few other factors. I have been freelancing so I can work at night, but I don’t have the sales skills to really make freelancing work. I stubbornly kept trying for too long.
I don’t expect my apprentices to be any better at sales than I am. I don’t expect direct sales help, or indirect, although it would be nice. One problem is that I have isolated myself from anyone who isn’t directly or indirectly helping with my job hunt, and unfortunately that’s more or less everyone. I can’t always stay focused during the night. (I live in US Eastern Time.) I feel like I’m floating in empty space, like the bounty hunter in the final episode of Firefly (“Objects in Space," season 1, episode 14, 2002).
One option is that I run a study hall. You study / learn, tinker, and ask questions. History shows this keeps me motivated to seek “real” night jobs or otherwise do something potentially profitable. There are all sorts of other options, but that’s the least demand on you.
You might get off the ground just with this advice of mine. That also has prerequisites--mainly that 1. You have a laptop or desktop, or possibly a Raspberry Pi. I don't think I can help you dev on a mobile device. At the moment, I'm not willing to try. 2. I also list some really basic computer skills, and I hope I mean really basic--mainly the ability to move files around folders.
I have several possible shifts that would be useful to me. One is roughly 7pm – 9pm Eastern. That’s the time of day when I have the best hope of getting difficult tasks off the ground. I can be available until 4 – 5am. History shows that it’s hard to get synced with an apprentice if I start after midnight; we can try, though. If you’re available for 2 hours a week during those periods, it may be worthwhile. (It will take more for you to become proficient, but 2 hours may be enough to keep us both moving.)
One potential apprentice wrote me every time between 8am - 11am. If you're going to do that, please explain why. At the time, I foolishly indulged him. If we hadn't had other problems, it may have gotten off the ground. This time around, though, I'm likely to get irritated at an unexplained email during my nether hours. From my perspective, if you can write at 9am, the world is your oyster. I'm getting more resentful as time goes on. What do you need me for? My devices won't make noise; you are welcome to contact me then, but at some point doing so requires explanation.
Various contact info is on my resume. For those coming from Gab, I sometimes don't log into Gab for 7 - 10 days. You can write me there as long as you either wait or ping me elsewhere. I am on DARPA Lifelog ("Facebook"), but sometimes I go months without logging in. I am also grudgingly on Satan's Professional Woke Cheerleaders site ("LinkedIn"), but I suppose my name for it says it all.
I had one great exchange from my previous Gab post. My short-term apprentice did help keep me motivated. I never did ask or know whether that apprentice was a he or she; we never used voice. I thought "he" with 70% certainty, so I'll go with that. I think I gave him some useful information and encouragement. He was in a very bad life situation, though, so he vanished after a few weeks. His timezone match wasn't the best, either. He was 7 hours ahead of me and waking up at a more-or-less "normal" time for that timezone, so he would appear at 1 - 2am my time. As I said, it's hard to get started then, but sometimes I managed.
I'm still / usually seeking software apprentices. I can help you learn and give you experience on your resume as a software developer. You can help keep me attached to society; I explain that in the longer version on my site: https://kwynn.com/t/23/05/apprentices_2305.html
No pay, but far less grunt work than medieval apprentices paid the master craftsman in exchange for helping them learn. I list other requirements in the longer version.
In answer to other comments from my previous posts, getting a teaching job (or volunteering) doesn't solve what I'm looking for. Also, in the longer version I defend my status as a master craftsman, in case that jackass troll decides to irritate all of us again.
Here is the previous version of this ad (2022/09).