My name is Jamie. I’m a self-taught software developer and I’m currently homeless, living in a tent with my dog in Leeds, UK.

I’ve always known I had something to offer. I’ve spent 20 years building systems with Linux, freelancing, creating proprietary backend systems for companies. I’ve raised a family. I’ve worked every kind of job from supervising teams to tattooing to programming.

I’m autistic, and that autism gives me the ability to hold entire system architectures in my head and see connections other people miss. I’ve never had a lack of ability. I’ve had a lack of chances.

Over the past 4 months, despite everything falling apart around me, I’ve been building OctantOS: an operating system for autonomous AI agents, written from scratch in Rust. It has its own kernel. Its own hypervisor. A 10-layer security stack that enforces agent safety at the kernel level. ~1.3 million lines of code. Solo developer. No formal CS education. I’ve had kernel patches reviewed by Google’s Rust-for-Linux team. This isn’t a dream. It’s working code.

But here’s how I got to a tent.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer. While he was in hospital, the council emptied his house and threw away everything I owned. £20,000+ of equipment. Years of research.

Irreplaceable personal items. Locks of my kids’ hair. Photos. All gone. My family, who had ignored my dad for 8 years, turned him against me. I ended up living with someone in crisis. Three days ago that became unsafe and now I’m sleeping under a tarp with my dog in 5°C weather.

The council has refused to help with housing. The government won’t recognise my autism or provide support. They want me job hunting 35 hours a week from a tent. Not grieving. Not finding a home. Not building the thing that could change my life. Just applying for minimum wage jobs I’ll never be able to hold down.

I’ve been abandoned over and over again. By family. By the system. By every institution that’s supposed to catch people when they fall.

But I’m still here.

Still building. Still pushing.

Because I know what I’m capable of when I’m given even the smallest chance.

This isn’t just about finishing a software project. It’s about making something of my life despite everything that’s been thrown at me. I’ve always known I could do something good in the world. I just want the same chance that other people get.

I’m not asking for a handout. I’m asking for a bridge. £7,500 covers 3 months of basic stability: a deposit and first month’s rent on a flat, utilities, food, and the bare essentials to set up a home from nothing.

That’s enough time to get OctantOS investment-ready and change the trajectory of my life for good.

Every pound goes directly to housing, food, and the costs of staying alive long enough to prove what I can do.

GitHub: GitHub.com/MatrixForgeLabs/OctantOS

Website: octant-os.com

Contact: [email redacted]