This week, homeless coder Leo Grand finally released his first app, "Trees For Cars," after more than three months of work on it. Grand, who learned how to code thanks to 23-year-old programmer Patrick McConlogue, goes into detail about how it has changed his life in the video below: "I can work at Google, I can work at SpaceX, I can build a server. This is going to change my life in a magnificent way."
Grand's story blew up across the internet after McConlogue, who passed Grand each day on his way to work, offered him a deal: he'd give Grand $100 and be on his way, or he'd teach Grand to code. Grand took him up on the offer, and despite a few hiccups, was responsible for nearly every aspect of the app, from the concept and execution down to the name. The app encourages environmental awareness and creates a healthy competition amongst users to save the most CO2.
And as you can see above, Grand was excited about the launch: "Negative comments or haters, i think they'll end up changing their minds once the app is completed." He was also asked about the most painful thing for him: "That I'm a bum and I'm homeless. But it's not painful to me. I think what you mean to say is, what is the most hurtful thing someone can say to you. That would have to be, 'this person is dumb and not intelligent... and not good looking.'"
