How about certification training...

He can get Python and C++ training and certification online for free, both of which will make him instantly employable in the Google (they use Python) and all-computer world (tons of places use C++.)

He could literally pull down over $100K per year just by getting these two certifications. If he has ANY imagination, he could use both of these to develop an ap that will make him disgustingly rich for decades to come. Just because he knows how to write the code...and most people don't. It is a brief, opportunistic window in which we currently live. He should grab it by the balls before it is too late, or he will spend his life framing houses in the shittiest of weather, until his arthritis makes him stop.

Fucking sign him up for coding classes, and tell him to get the fuck out if he refuses.