I'd like a secondary source of income. I like the idea of not having all my eggs in one basket. But I'm not sure there are any side jobs I could get that wouldn't require full days. Have any of you done this. If so how and what was it like?
Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
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Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#2I've been doing it for 35 years and it has been great. I've had as much extra work as I can handle. (Sometimes I have more than I can handle.) It's a great way to build/maintain skills, earn extra money, and create a reputation for yourself.
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#3I've been doing it for 35 years and it has been great. I've had as much extra work as I can handle. (Sometimes I have more than I can handle.) It's a great way to build/maintain skills, earn extra money, and create a reputation for yourself.
Any tips on how you've found that work?
Is it all a local network of people that you've worked with or have you gone out and found clients?
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#4Yes. You have to learn a skill with demand that cannot be met. That is the easiest way to get side work.
Learn Salesforce development. I've accepted a new contract role that is full time hours and my older employer straight up told me, "We cannot match your new hourly rate, but here is still a raise. Feel free to work on things for us whenever you want, whenever you have time, remotely."
I'm nothing special, an average developer. But businesses cannot find enough Salesforce developers, so some take what they can get, even if it's part-time.
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#5Currently no, but very often yes for the last 5 years or so.
It's a lot of work, sometimes OK and sometimes very stressful.
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#6Yes. You have to learn a skill with demand that cannot be met. That is the easiest way to get side work. Learn Salesforce development. I've accepted a new contract role that is full time hours and my older employer straight up told me, "We cannot match your new hourly rate, but here is still a raise. Feel free to work on things for us whenever you want, whenever you have time, remotely." I'm nothing special, an avera…
what kind of stuff are you doing? is it mostly Apex development?
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#7I've been doing it for 35 years and it has been great. I've had as much extra work as I can handle. (Sometimes I have more than I can handle.) It's a great way to build/maintain skills, earn extra money, and create a reputation for yourself.
Any tips on how you've found that work? Is it all a local network of people that you've worked with or have you gone out and found clients?
Would also be interested!
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#8a few years ago i quit my full time job but negotiated a consulting arrangement with the company on an hourly basis.
it was beneficial for them because i was able to offboard and knowledge transfer much more effectively over a few months of part-time work as opposed to the standard 2 weeks notice.
it was beneficial for me because right out of the gate i had a consulting contract with a yc startup at a rate that was slightly higher than my yearly salary which i could use as social proof when reaching out to new clients and negotiating rates.
i ended up consulting for about a year as my only source of income where i took on a couple other clients through my network (ex-coworkers starting companies and needing help faster than they could hire, ex-coworkers referring me to others who were stating companies) and a few lucky connections through upwork (he contacted me on linkedin so upwork never got a cut of the invoices i sent). i've also tried toptal and moonlight but no contracts have come out of those platforms.
a year ago i took on a new full time job and i've been consulting on the side since. i agree with ananonymoususer in that i can have as much extra work as i can handle however i was lucky to have already created relationships with clients before getting a full time job. i'd imagine approaching a new client while maintaining a full time job is a harder sell than simply letting an existing client know that your availability will be reduced moving forward.
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#9Yes. You have to learn a skill with demand that cannot be met. That is the easiest way to get side work. Learn Salesforce development. I've accepted a new contract role that is full time hours and my older employer straight up told me, "We cannot match your new hourly rate, but here is still a raise. Feel free to work on things for us whenever you want, whenever you have time, remotely." I'm nothing special, an avera…
what kind of stuff are you doing? is it mostly Apex development?
full life cycle development. pretty much anything to get something launched. integrations, front-end, apex back-end. Right now I'm learning about SQL server and DDL stuff to get a feature launched cause the integration doesn't have a REST or SOAP API, so I need to build the API myself.
Re: Ask HN: Are you contracting on the side (while working full time)?
#10I've been doing it for 35 years and it has been great. I've had as much extra work as I can handle. (Sometimes I have more than I can handle.) It's a great way to build/maintain skills, earn extra money, and create a reputation for yourself.
Any tips on how you've found that work? Is it all a local network of people that you've worked with or have you gone out and found clients?
I have never had to seek work. It has always been from people I knew or people who knew my coworkers. If one has good skills, the work will speak for itself and lots of repeat business/new customers will come knocking on the door.