How does it feel to be useless? While some assume that everything in this world is temporary, David didn’t want to wait for life to happen. What he did to get back to his feet made him appreciate what he had already achieved in life. From college to homeless and back to the highest point – this is a true story of David Cazares.
Behind the Scene
David Cazares, a guy from Texas, had long been wandering the streets of Mountain View in California. At first sight, he was just another ordinary homeless man, and there was nothing special about him. However, Cazares had issues in the past that made him stand out from the crowd.
No Signs of Trouble
Cazares graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Information Systems Management. Later, he earned enough experience in web and logo design through several freelancing jobs, which enabled him to get a good job at General Motors, where he stayed until 2017. Then Cazares decided to move to Silicon Valley to try his luck.
The Pursuit of Happiness
After a thorough self-reflection, David applied for resignation from his high-paying job. Cazares’ family considered his idea crazy because he didn’t have enough savings to cover the cost of living and was going to leave everything behind to start a new life in California.
Cazares was firm in his decision. When the young man arrived in California in September, he had already designed a concept for a food-service start-up. The goal was to find a job in the city and accumulate enough savings to turn this concept into commercial success.
Everything seemed perfect for the first few months. Cazares was highly motivated and believed to be a couple of steps away from success. He felt inspired and was looking positively towards tomorrow.
The First Blow
One day, Cazares went to what was probably the most unforgettable interview in his life.
Everything went well. Cazares was convinced that he was going to get that job. After several days of waiting, he found out that the job was given to someone already working in the company. Thus, the unexpected twist of his long way to success began to unfold.
From this point, everything went down. After countless interviews with tech companies, Cazares received no job offer. He felt devastated.
The following months turned out to be the hardest ones in his entire life. He was sleeping in his van in Mountain View to save money, but when March came, the young man started to miss payments on his van. In June, when his van was repossessed, he had no choice but to live in the streets.
The Cruel Reality
Before his van was taken away, Cazares had leaned on the thoughts he was at least safe. His van was his shield against the painful reality waiting for him to step outside. But now, he lost even the ability to pay for his protection.
Since he didn’t have a proper place to reside, he used a gym membership to at least take a shower from time to time. But, as his savings waned, he also had to sell his iPhone X. He hoped that the money he would gain from selling the device would be enough to survive for several months. After all, Casarez never thought that his dreams would lead him to failure.
Things got worse for Cazares. At the age of 26, David Cazares was homeless and felt broken. He lived on packs of tuna and ramen noodles and was completely consumed by depression. The situation had punched him painfully, but he suddenly realized he was not the type of person to give up. What he was about to do next would change his life.
Picking the Pieces Up
With nothing but persistence and a positive way of thinking, Cazares decided to struggle with a disaster in his life. He pulled himself together and got the most out of the streets he had been wandering around for months.
He knew he had to find a way out and get his luck back again. Although he didn’t know where and how to start, he finally saw the light in the darkness.
Rising from the Ruins
Instead of completely ruining him, the despair pushed Cazares to try to take control of his destiny one more time. He realized that in order to be hired, he had to do something that would make him stand out from the crowd. And he did.
It was Friday when Cazares got up from his park bench and went to the crossroad where cars pass by all day. He thought of an opportunity to restart his life, and he put it into action. When other poor people asked for food or money in the streets, Cazares had entirely different intentions. He raised a signboard that said “Homeless Hungry 4 Success. Take A Resume” and gave out his CV that people actually took!
One woman who passed him by, Jasmine Scofield, took a picture of Cazares and promised to help by posting the photo on social media. What happened next was incredible.
The Domino Effect
Scofield published the picture of Cazares and his CV on Twitter, but she did not expect that her post would attract much attention.
The tweet got more than 100k retweets and 100k likes, which drove many potential employers. Cazares received more than 200 job offers, including those from Netflix, Google, and LinkedIn. The homeless dreamer was overexcited. He spent his days and nights filtering out the job offers and answering the inquiries of potential employers. Cazares attended as many interviews as he could to try his luck again.
He sacrificed his sleep by spending all his time thinking over the answers to all possible interview questions, as well as preparing to make a good impression on big bosses. He could not afford to waste all the help he received.
Every Coin Has Two Sides
While waiting for the outcomes of the interviews he attended, Cazares couldn’t help but reflect on all his previous experiences. Cazares had learned to struggle through the countless challenges, but nonetheless, he was grateful for all the difficulties he managed to overcome.
Happy Ending
Finally, Cazares got a job! He tweeted the good news and specified that he received a software engineer position in a tech company focusing on drone airspace defense. He ended the tweet by thanking everyone who helped and believed in him while he was at his lowest point.
Thus, with strength and persistence, Cazares rose like a phoenix from the ashes, bearing in mind that before enjoying the triumph one must endure a bumpy ride on a winding road.
