Homeless Guy Accepted the Offer to Learn Coding

What was Patrick McConlogue's offer?

New York developer Patrick McConlogue's Medium post made waves in the virtual world in August 2013. He blogged about how he wanted to help the homeless man he saw on his way to work. He didn't want to just give him money and then forget about it — he wanted to teach the 28-year-old skills that would last forever. But he wrote that he did not want to insult him, so he would offer two options. His words: "The idea is simple. Without disrespecting him, I will offer two options:"

• I will come back tomorrow and give you $100 in cash.
• I will come back tomorrow and give you three JavaScript books (beginner–advanced–expert) and a super cheap basic laptop. I will then come an hour early from work each day — when he feels prepared — and teach him to code.

Which option did Leo pick?

The homeless man — Leo — accepted the offer to learn coding!

His next steps, as McConlogue updated on his blog: first, per their agreement, for the next two months he would come to work an hour earlier and meet Leo for a coding session. He was overnighting this gear:

• Samsung Chromebook with 3G (access to coding sites)
• Beginner: "JavaScript for Beginners"
• Intermediate: "Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja" by John Resig
• Advanced: "JavaScript: The Good Parts" by Douglas Crockford
• Solar charger for the laptop
• Something to hide the laptop in

It was going to be interesting to watch how this would unfold — and unfold it did: by September 2013, Leo Grillo had built his first mobile app with McConlogue's help, and the story inspired a wave of similar kindness experiments.

Editor's note: the original Medium link no longer resolves from all regions; the book links are preserved. One book's Amazon listing no longer resolves, so it is named without a link.