What I learned from it is that , social mobility , or economic mobility is not so easy as you expected. A homeless man can master a skill of coding , but he may not be able to become rich and go to upper class of this society. What lies in this gap is a completely complex progress , including initial capital you received , social status you inherited from your parents or something you couldn't change when you were born. It is really painful when you become aware of this.
In the summer of 2013, a man named Patrick McConlogue offered a man named Leo $100 — or the opportunity to learn how to code.
Leo was homeless, living on the streets of New York City, and McConlogue used to pass him every day as he commuted to work. McConlogue figured he could teach Leo a skill that Leo could then parlay into work that would help him back on his feet.
Leo took the opportunity.
Tech writers from various outlets ridiculed McConlogue.But he kept his promise and taught Leo how to code, and the two built an eco-friendly ride share app together by December 2013.
The pair became a dream team and were covered extensively in the media, and showing up on morning TV shows like NBC's "Today" show.
When Business Insider caught up with Leo months after the successful launch of his self-made and self-coded app, Leo was still homeless. It seemed he didn't want access to the money that was available to him, which was being held in McConlogue's account. It was too overwhelming.
On May 27, 2014, McConlogue told Business Insider: Leo "has a year to find a way, be it with a bank account or proxy, to claim his money, every penny, from my account. If he doesn't want to do that, I told him to pick a homeless shelter and we'll donate it."
With that deadline fast approaching, Mashable caught up with the two men to see how Leo had progressed.
Leo, they write, is still homeless, over a year after the launch of "Trees for Cars," his ride-share app.
In a video interview with Mashable and McConlogue, Leo says he plans on getting back into coding, but things have gotten in the way and he hasn't been able to get to the space where he codes.
When the reporter asks why, Leo sighs.
"Life," he responds. "Because you know, life, you know. Things going on. You have to do this, you have to do that."
"Homelessness is not a feature of someone, or a condition," McConlogue says in the video. "It's not a way to describe someone."
Leo says of his media spotlight: "You're hot one minute, you're gone the next."
Link: businessinsider.com