The Inspiring Outcome Of One Homeless Man’s Goal To Land A Tech Job

If you look up the word hustle in the dictionary, you might see David Casarez’s name and picture. The young tech and start-up entrepreneur wanted to secure a cool job in Silicon Valley and nothing would stop him—not even being homeless. A picture taken of Casarez went viral last week because a local makeup artist saw him handing out resumes on the street corner in Mountain View, California. But that tenacity is what made his life go from zero to 100 real quick, or at least it’s getting there.

Since his picture went viral, Casarez  has received countless of job opportunities and even a place to sleep, at least for now.

“It’s absolutely a relief to be able to get some sleep,” Casarez told The Post on Wednesday from his hotel room in Mountain View. Lambda School — a software engineer online program — was one of the first to respond to Casarez. They offered him a safe place with a computer to apply for jobs, a hotel room, and also a $500 Airbnb certificate.

“Sleeping in the park was very restless because you have to be up every few hours just to ensure your surroundings are safe,” Casarez said to The Post.

https://twitter.com/sahluwal/status/1023295724304314368

While it’s sad that Casarez — a gradate of Texas A&M University — went from being an active participate in the tech community to being homeless and out of a job, the reality is many people with a college degree cannot get work in the profession of their choosing.

In an interview with HipLatina, Casarez explains that this is not the situation he’d ever think he’d be in, however, he is trying to make the best of it and doing all he can to improve his life.

“I was at my lowest moment in my life and figured I needed to do something to better it,” Casarez said. “Standing at the street intersection was a plea of desperation, it was my make-or-break moment. If only one person took my resume, I would have a chance at hope.”

While no one likes to stand on a street corner begging for a chance, Casarez said he was willing to do it because he just wanted to break into this field and he did have the background that could land him a job. The problem, like many industries, the competition is tough.

Hello, I am VP Engineering at AncestryDNA and also an Aggie, class of 93. I would love to interview David Casarez for a Web developer or QA automation position. Can you please put me in touch with David ?

— Paddy (@DeshmukhPaddy) July 28, 2018

“I have been living in a 2015 Ford Transit Connect since March 2017 and left my job in September 2018 to continue pursing starting a start-up in California,” Casarez said. “I wasn’t able to secure a job when my funds were running low and resorted to doing freelance work to pay my bills. I fell into homelessness in early June 2018 and have since been homeless.”

But that didn’t force Casarez to give up, in fact it made him only want to try harder. Giving up was not an option. Some might see Casarez with his resume on the street corner as a stunt, and we’d have to say it’s a brilliant one because it worked. A hustle is a hustle no matter how you get the job done.

The reaction to the original tweet made Casarez some what of a celebrity on social media.

“Thank you everyone for the outpouring of support!” He said on Twitter. “I am completely floored by how many are interested in my #Hungry4Success story. I have met several who have been or currently are in the same situation tell me their story. I am glad to be an inspiration for you all.”

He tells HipLatina that he wasn’t expecting anyone to take notice of him, but because there’s been so much interest in his story, he’s still trying to catch up to all of the emails and offers. He adds that he’s very “appreciative of the amount of support people have shown me.”

After less than a week that his story went viral, many are wondering if he has landed a job yet.

“I currently have several job leads and setting up interviews with companies,” Casarez said. “I have interviews set up with Facebook, Tesla, Ripple, and more.” Impressive!

Something tells us that we’re going to be seeing a lot more Casarez in the future. With that kind of motivation there’s just no stopping him.