this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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I'm disabled, but I built a successful product. Do I still have a shot at employment? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/cs_career_questions
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Hey, I'm a self-taught programmer who started at age 11 and ended up learning webdev. I'm in my early 20s now.

A couple years ago I suffered a neck injury that forces me to work remotely, as I can't sit or stand for long periods. Rather than speculate on what horrors my new future may hold, I got a setup that lets me use a computer laying down and started working. I had one goal: design and build a good solution to an interesting problem. So I did.

I built a big search engine website that indexed millions of user-generated creations for a pretty popular video game. The lack of one was a common complaint, and I had built the one and only solution. For the first time ever, you could just type in what you wanted and instantly find it!

Almost immediately after launch, thousands of people began using my site, and multiple YouTube creators reached out to me (most of them with between 100K-750K subscribers) and made videos on it. One of the videos is a great explainer on exactly why my site is so useful and what value it brings.

Although it's nothing special, here's the stack I used:

  • TypeScript
  • Next.js
  • React
  • Meilisearch (Not sure if you'd count this, but that's the search engine, and it's technically a database)
  • Firebase (I'm gonna learn some real backend for my next project though, sorry Google)

I made a few interesting connections from this project, including a former software engineer and a popular YouTube creator who took interest in my upcoming project.

I have several other projects too, including a special contraption generator for the game, which was a very difficult but satisfying problem to solve. It's far more technically impressive than this project, but I chose to highlight this project because it's my most popular. (Also, I'm being vague with these project descriptions to avoid doxing myself.)

I plan to continue building big projects for now, but I want to know if it's possible for me to get a job. On one hand, I built a very useful product using modern technologies and got a lot of recognition for it. On the other, I have no college degree, a debilitating disability, and I don't really know that many people.

My instinctual reaction is to believe that my projects have very limited significance in the eyes of a prospective employer. I have no degree; I have no referrals. In today's economy, why take a risk with me? But perhaps my trauma has made me cynical.

So, what do you think? Could I still get a job?

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[–] SnapChunk 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Congrats on the huge and successful project!

I had the same concern until I started networking with people in industry and learned that plenty of tech jobs don't have degree requirements and that work from home eliminates a lot of the barriers and excuses companies often use to avoid hiring disabled people. I'm still self-learning, but I'm no longer worried that being physically disabled or not having a CS degree will hold me back.

You already have a lot of knowledge, a proven product, and community recognition - that shows you're a capable candidate to a lot of employers. Plus, of all the potential employers out there, you only have to impress one to get a job.

I think the only major limitations are going to be what the job market is like at the time you start applying, and whether you can stay in touch with and expand your network to improve your odds. Keep up with the people and community surrounding your game site, stay active on programming.dev, and maybe find some slack, discord, or professional communities to join. Lots of places are still doing zoom meetings and virtual conferences as well.

Gotta ask, what do you use as a set-up laying down? I'm frequently bed bound and still haven't found any adjustable table or stand stable enough that makes it easier to work. Might be time to invest in medical gear actually made for injured people, but I have no idea where to start.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hey, thanks for reaching out!

I currently use this laptop stand. I set it up so that the laptop is slightly above me and the screen is angled down towards my face, with the stand's legs at my sides. You can see it on the product page here.

You can imagine that the durability isn't great on these, especially if you have a heavy laptop. They usually last several months for me. I have thought about getting my own custom parts produced to assemble a stand with a stronger structure, but I haven't looked into it much.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

When I was involved in the interviewing and hiring of programmers a while back, the number one thing we looked for was projects that you did on your own time.

Different industry, but I’d say you have a very good chance of getting a traditional job, even if they have college degree requirements. You can always pickup whatever you think you might be missing as needed, maybe with online courses.

Also, I’d suggest that if someone or some company discriminates against you because of your special needs, you probably don’t want to work there anyway.

[–] drdnl 4 points 1 year ago

I'm self taught, been at it for 15 years now and am currently the director/part owner of an IT company. There's only seven of us, but it's barely been six months so growing quite quickly.

I'd be interested in hiring someone like you, I like the spirit. Keep at it, like others have said, you'll get there. The only thing is, I'm not sure about more all remote devs. We have one all remote dev already and it's hard when most people are in the office regularly and one isn't to not have that person feel a little left out. You might be better off with a true all remote company

Feel free to dm me though (can you? I'm new at this lemmy thing)

[–] coltorl 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you thought about ways to monetize your project? That’ll be a great to show off on your resume if you wanted a conventional job. Even implementing AdSense on your site will get some folks interested enough to interview you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I have a Patreon where people donate to offset the costs. I decided against commercializing it because I don't want any legal trouble with the game company. My upcoming project will be a proper business though, and it isn't tied to a company's IP, so I can monetize it freely.

[–] Psilves1 3 points 1 year ago

You will find a job. It might not be instant and it may not pay a lot off the bat, but a company will hire you.

Side projects like this are big for companies when the candidate doesn't have experience

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I plan to continue building big projects for now, but I want to know if it's possible for me to get a job.

Absolutely. Your situation does limit you to working with teams with flexible cultures, but those are the best teams, anyway.

I don't need to work somewhere fully remote with flexible hours and strong respect for accessible practices. I choose to work there, because that culture is great for everyone.

My instinctual reaction is to believe that my projects have very limited significance in the eyes of a prospective employer.

It shows Moxy, and that counts for a lot during developer interviews.

When someone interviews with me and has a interesting public source projects (or brings a binder full of source code, of closed source), my priorities become:

  1. Ask enough to verify this is actually code they wrote.
  2. Get them talking long enough to give them a chance to say something truly horrifying and racist, in case that's how they roll.
  3. Sell my team to them as a great place to work.
  4. Start calibrating my professional training plan, because I'm probably hiring this person.
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