harlanji

  Location: Unknown
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: Python, SQLite, Qwen 27B + Local Harness + RAG tech, Django. RasPi; self-hosting/sovereign operations in general. Historically Java, Javascript, PostgreSQL, Clojure, PHP, Boostrap in no particular order.
  Résumé/CV: Just menial labor since 2018, food industry related. B.S. Computer Science in 2011, open source maintainer since around 2000.
  Email: h.iverson@gmail.com

I'm basically an artist but I can work well on teams or solo and need some cash. I'm mainly looking for short term gigs up to a few months at a time. I have plenty of work samples to share but haven't yet been able to design a portfolio that makes my case. It's across the board and literally 100s, I work better by curating a set based on whatever the opportunity is (I almost always meet my clients IRL and we have a great initial chat at some event, I haven't figured out how to replicate that online). Thanks for reading.

Lately whenever I take a walk down a certain suburban street there's a security patrol vehicle and often I feel they're paying too much attention to me. Driving slow, flip light bar on. It's very disturbing. Not the first time it's happened, another private security company has seemed to be too interested in me. In each case I've resorted to making obscene gestures to them because it disturbs my peace. It's like a counter punch to a punch, but most would not see it that way. They're just doing their job, or a little more in the case of watching me on a public street. But when it becomes an expected part of a daily routine, it's too much.

No doubt erratic behavior gets me logged by that security team, if not escalated to local police, who may come to check up on me themselves later. Nobody knows what's happening with this footage. What their putting a wrapper in their pocket may look like in low res video.

Mass surveillance thru cameras and movement logging isn't so active but I 100% understand people who take action against the cameras. It's just as in a person's face every single day, in more and more places, and you don't know who is on the other end or what they're looking for or what you are doing may appear as.

Chunks can only be as large as the embedding model’s token limit, about 512-1024 tokens usually. Anything longer gets truncated.

Natural language processing could expanded references, but it starts to get tricky. Do you use Graph RAG, embed another version of the chunk that is distinct from the full text version, etc.. Another layer of processing and data to keep in sync if the source dan be updated.

Using ad blockers is of poor character anyway. That's their chosen business model and if we don't accept their terms then we don't need to use their service.

I am happy to pay for an Ad Free experience on services that offer it. We should all send letters to companies who we want to pay to give us an ad free experience. "I don't want to pay" is an indefensible position because everything is an energy exchange. "There is no free lunch." If we don't want to pay with money then we can pay with attention to ads, and hacking the display to take without giving in return is corrupt.

  Location: Sacramento/SF/Silicon Valley
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: Yes
  Technologies: Python, Wagtail/Django, SQL, ChromaDB/RAG Ingest. Previously 5+ ecosystems: PHP, Java, Node, Clojure, Flash/Flex. C-based undergrad program at a  highly ranked state school, comfortable at system level.
  Resume: 8+ years solo building + various food industry. Prior: Senior Software Engineer + Tech Lead and Bachelor of Sci. in Comp. Sci. (Sw Eng + Prog Langs focus). E-Commerce and Web Agency Developer prior to undergrad.
  Email: h.iverson@gmail.com

I'd like to connect for contract work, 10-40+ hours per week. I regularly build tech demos for whatever I'm learning as development practice. I've probably done something similar to what you need, if you need backend or data engineer or CI/dev automation help. I've worn so many hats throughout my decades long career. I can start at a low intro rate for 90 days, and prefer to build long term relationships via increasingly important and urgent projects.

I can travel on site as needed and work from a co-working space daily. I've lived in the Bay Area for over a decade since after college, familiar with and can easily commute the peninsula from San Jose to San Francisco. Thanks.

Barely longer than a Tweet. Low effort slop. /half sarcasm.

I record 20-40 minutes of "uneditied, one take no fake" Podcast/Vlog per day and have been using AI to generate the cover image + video description and sometimes title for YouTube lately. Also somewhat low effort, I admit. I have project ideas to upcycle the raw takes. (iSpooge Daily on YouTube, support links on channel page).

My likes and views are consistently up since using Gen AI for said tasks. It's extremely niche, just yapping about existence and ideas as a homeless unemployed software engineer in Christ on daily walks. Some of the most authentic stuff online, in my opinion, criminally underrated. The AI art covers and generated metadata are better than I could do even given unlimited time + resources.

  Location: Sacramento, CA
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: After a year
  Tech: Python, Wagtail/Django, SQL, ChromaDB + LangChain. Historically 5+ ecosystems: PHP, Java, Node, Clojure, Flash/Flex in no particular order. C-based program in school, comfortable at system level.
  Resume: 8+ years solo building + various food industry. Prior: Senior Software Engineer + Tech Lead and B. Sci. Comp. Sci. degree. E-Commerce and Web Agency Developer prior to college.
  Email: h.iverson@gmail.com

I'd like to land contract work, 10-40+ hours per week. I currently spend about 100 hours a week in my office building tech demos and seeking my first consulting/contract client in my new practice. I've probably done something similar to what you need, if you need backend or data engineer or CI/dev automation projects done. I'm not exactly a generalist but I've worn so many hats. I can start at a low intro rate for 90 days, I picture building long term relationships with trust established via increasingly important and urgent projects.

I can travel on site as needed and work from my office normally. I've lived in the Bay Area for over a decade since college and am familiar with the lay of the land and culture and everything, happy to visit. Thanks.

Interesting. I've been doing similar stuff with my archive on a weak Celeron laptop with 4GB RAM using vanilla ML tech that I'm learning by prompting LLMs (heh). Extract all info from media as sidecar files and all, exploring low power approaches.

I can sell this as a service to people who can't even run an LLM, or don't want to cook their hardware.

Waitlist open:

"Catalog, search, preview, and generate production-ready prompts & scripts from your entire archive — on your existing hardware. Then render in the cloud."

https://harlanji.pythonanywhere.com/assetforge/

Exchange / "chat" requests like with a human contractor feels like the optimal bandwidth. Imagine having a report whose work nobody in the org understands or owns? Can't scale into maintenance or support mode.

I might be open to some agent-like behavior, access to a git repo and ticket system. Probably not my whole OS, any more than I'd give to a drunk schitzo I met on the Internet.

I see the appeal to what people have going on. But I've been using LLMs for going on a year, I was slow to adopt and wait-and-see because I didn't need it at the time (deep dive, learning python Ecosystem). I'm glad I stayed the course. I can get great results prompting these things and edit the results with care.

No more burnout than a subordinate working for hire in this mode. Things remain manageable, and I can do all the higher level Dev/Eng/Product work that drives the Coding. Which is a good new challenge to me, never got to go so high up the food chain with so much focus.

I feel like an opt-in model built on AGPL code should output AGPL code.

I'd put my work into that. Not the only option just an example.

Every great project takes time to build. It's possible.

That's how I pictured it, users scan all the bar codes they have access to and it builds similarity profiles.

I pictured scanning all my CS books for example, and I'd probably end up in a group with everyone from my class at school who did the same, for example.

Location: Sacramento, CA (1hr North) / Bay Area

Remote: Preferred initially.

On-site: Can travel to Sac / Bay Area weekly, fly within US monthly.

Willing to relocate: Yes, within NorCal, after probation.

Technologies: Python web, Javascript vanilla, JVM 9-era, SQL postgres + sqlite, Linux, Docker, Redis, Nginx, RTMP.

Specialties: CI, Protocols/Formats, Databases, Full Stack Web, Streaming Video.

Adjacent Skills: writing, speaking (podcaster), e-commerce platforms, small biz stuff, food service business.

Education: B.S. Computer Science, U. MN.. Focus: Software Engineering (dev over time).

Résumé/CV: Empty. Last 7 years are restaurant/grocery/temp. If you need it I can make one.

Email: h.iverson@gmail.com

I've been hacking on my vision and the money out here just isn't enough so I want limited duration tech work, 40hr+ time for a short period, or like half time on an ongoing basis. I could be fractional CTO, have been offered a Director position.

Thanks for reading.

Yes, please.

I only post in Freelancer but sometimes I'm OPEN TO GOLDEN HANDCUFFS / REALLY REALLY GOOD W-2 :).

Underemployed since 2017, working menial jobs and homeless since mid-'18, not even trying to get a tech job because I can't present myself as middle class.

I'm coping by building a system to solve homelessness in general which I've concluded is impossible by getting a menial job and saving ("just get 2?" Logistics, I have answers for everything).

I'm guessing someone will eventually get me some freelance/contract work and that's how my situation will be resolved ($10k over a month would do). Just building online brands with innovative techniques and sharing results until that day. Yeehaw.

SEEKING WORK, NorCal, Remote OK

Starting an agency and am looking for initial clients. Good pricing, like minimum wage ($16.50/hr) unless you insist upon paying more. No specific niche yet, just getting the engine started up.

Dev Skills: Python Web, Javascript UI + Node, Analytics, Data Engineering, CMS like Django, Strong SQL, Strong Linux+Bash/DevOps, D3 + geo/map stuff.

Available 3 full days/wk Mo-We + evenings, Pacific Time, Early Riser. Co-working desk, private office upgrade available. Thanks.

Email: h.iverson@gmail.com

Building a tool chest of software for my own needs. IT for Sovereigns.

Mostly not open source, contrary to how I have historically operated. I think I'll drop them open source as time goes on and money matters less. Kinda feels like I might make more money just open sourcing it all because of good karma tho.

It's all in Python because that's what I could get on the $200 Windows laptop I built it with, I kept it in S Mode as a challenge because I want it to run as constrained as my customer personas might experience.

Present stage is finding those personas and slicing the wares up into offers/products.

Building a suite of apps and a piece of hardware for my Sovereign IT stack. CarPuter and Daily Driver App Club (dailydriverapps.com).

Think multi-generational family and asset data. Everything in common formats, written in simple code.

Looking for early customers or modest pre-seed investment.

Yes. Simply put, Software Engineering is Programming over time. As Calculus is to Algebra.

Well earned. Best overall movie since Napoleon Dynamite.

I happened into the Hacker Dojo (in Mountain View) the other night after traveling in from Central Valley for the weekend and about 8 of us watched the movie glued to our seats and discussed it for another couple hours. My first thought was "this looks like Blender" when I saw the cat, and we did talk about some that resolution and information density as one layer of the movie. I had no background on the movie, had never heard of it, just happened in by chance. Massive serendipity felt tho, on a side note. Kudos to the team who did the film.

"Flow, the animated feature film following the mystical journey of a dark grey cat and his companions, is the manifestation of Blender’s mission, where a small, independent team with a limited budget is able to create a story that moves audiences worldwide, and achieve recognition with over 60 awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Animation and two Oscar nominations.

In this interview, Gints Zilbalodis, writer and director (and more!) of the film, shares how Blender was instrumental in the creation of the film."

Yea, I'm a regular HN reader and I've been stuck on the street for going on 7 years. Used to be commended for persevering against the odds and the like, as a child and young programmer at 15 onward, home owner at 22.

I've left SF and landed in a college town in Sac Valley last year. Rent is $750/mo here. Been working in a kitchen for a year. Am I housed yet? Nope. Just gotta save a few thousand dollars. I have about the same amount of bills as a housed person, between gym + storage + take out food + car insurance.

But then the social aspect, my old relatives and network need to distance themselves from me. Any kind of old reference or something, non starter.

I will beat this. I only keep posting here on these threads because as you say, we span the full range of human existence. I like to think I'll use my approach as a template to help others. Get out of the big metro and into a peaceful place with cheap rent and lots of opportunity, yadda yadda.

Cheers.

I'm hearing I need to downgrade the Bootstrap in my suite? (A young addition).

Which is great because Bootstrap 2-3, whenever I used it, was pleasant.

I wasn't aware of the development timeline, thanks for the lead. Not flat is appealing.

I picked ExtJS 2.0.2 for a specific reason, seemingly rando old trusty version as base.

Tried Inkscape? I was all paper for a long time but it's taken over as I've gotten used to it an the hot keys. I carry a little Wacom tablet that works good with it too, but seldom even get it out of my bag.

It does have a (configurable) fixed page size, no ability to multi-page which was kind of annoying but I started thinking of it as a feature as well.

SEEKING WORK

Location: Sacramento Valley, CA + Bay Area frequent

Remote: Any

Python

DevOps, SRE

Java, Clojure, Maven

SQLite, PostgreSQL

Docker, Kubernetes

Nginx.

Contact: viahn@harlanji.com

SEEKING WORK | Northern California, USA | Remote OK

I'd like to get back into tech. Half-time would be great, seeking long term relationships / repeat customers. I have a co-working space and regular schedule at my current job. Last few roles were:

* founding engineer on a distributed ledger (block chain) startup,

* Node engineer at a chat startup,

* Java engineer at a hospitality reservation post-IPO corp.,

* R&D engineer at a series B SaaS startup (5-9 DevOp/SRE, Clojoure, Node, D3), and

* front end engineer at a pre-acquisition B2C startup.

I've been out since 2016 working customer service, kitchen and various labor jobs in the Bay Area. I've been described by a manager last Summer as "reliable and easy to work with." I have a Computer Science degree from University of Minnesota (2011, B.Sci, 3.9 major/3.6 overall GPAs).

Thanks for reading.

Email: "Harlan" <viahn@harlanji.com>

I was unhappy when I was an engineer. Not because of the job but because of my lack of self care. And I was hygienic and pretty social, had a girlfriend usually.

Something about being a homeless incel during pandemic makes me realize how sweet that life was. If only I’d advocated for myself more. Stuff like that.

Almost not homeless again. Working an undignified job, dish washer, and loving it. So much self hatred removed. I can afford a nice life with beauty, truth and goodness. Self determination. I feel they are just spoiled and their subconscience will bring about whatever they need in due time.

I was extended a good opportunity to do entry level web dev but left the interview because I felt the coding puzzle was too hard for the role, even tho I could’ve solved it. Computer Science/math heavy and easy if already familiar. I still feel bad and entitled about that but I acted on the signal I felt and told the truth.

Aside, I am all for suitably difficult challenges, and I distinguish engineer from developer. Dev shouldn’t get CS stuff, Eng should. Mention it to benefit other hiring managers who may be reading, if it rings fair.

I became homeless in SF 6 years ago, probably would have been out after like a year if not for pandemic. Same program over and over, feels like I'm about to get off the street again 3 hours outside SF. Housing here is so reasonable. $1,000 for a 2 bedroom right in town. Plenty of employment. Not saying where I am until I'm off the street. But I've been working on survival guides and my 'Homeless Guy' vlog videos are popping my channel off.

We really need to get homeless people distributed to small towns. Centralizing them in big cities is so backwards. There are indeed 2+ strata of homeless as another has mentioned, I'd call them addicts and life happened-ers. I'm the latter, life happened and pandemic and more life happenings made it into a complex/non-linear situation.

Literally been working 6 years to get like $20k to fix my life with. Used to be a software engineer, got into a legal dispute and that messed me up bad, gotta get into housing before I try to fix that and then try to get back into tech. Not interested in free jobs that I don't go through the normal pipeline for, happy enough working as a dish washer / grocery clerk for the past several years. I'm not available by email or phone, too difficult to communicate logistics. Can't wait to get back to meaningful tech work tho.

I'm one case, the life happened-ers are all different. But I think getting them to small towns to rebuild is definitely the way. Really easy for me to save money and nobody knows I'm homeless, just very very slow. But it's fair and sustainable.

Yea, I use a cheapie voice recorder that only saves .wav files for ~10 memos per day, and Whisper transcripts are good. "Tiny" model, 4GB ram laptop. "Base" model runs too, but slower, and produces different inaccuracies.

But overall, if I were suggest an ideal process: 1) transcribe notes w/ Whisper, 2) play back the media in VLC with the transcripts and correct the errors. T = 16 hours of proofing/correction + ~8 hours of headless transcription of *.wav before hand.

Not GP but this thread is great. I was among the first in my city school to get a cell phone and text in ~2001, and then the last to get an iPhone in ~2015, and then stop carrying it most of the time in ~2016/in airplane mode and then cease to have a cell phone at all in ~2022. Texting kinda ceased after 2013 when I moved states temporarily and went thru some stuff, never resumed.

I'm notoriously unreachable, perhaps even offensively unreachable, and I'm starting to look for time and money savings to justify getting a new one/repairing the SE if possible. Eg. I'd save $10+/mo in Starbucks refills if I had that app, enough of those cases to cover the bill.

My next phone will be like parent poster's. I had iOS setup with no notifications except Venmo and a priority email alias. Currently I'm using an Unbuntu laptop where I can get to Google Voice that was activated with a Mint Mobile trial on Starbucks wifi. Am homeless, actually been able to secure and hold a couple labor/hospitality jobs like this.