Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–18 of 18 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#11

Post by deviousanon »

Not to be a jackass, but how much sleep are you getting? 6hours+?

I've had many great ideas be kept on the back burner for years, while I worked to pay bills. I kept two day jobs to pay rent and eat, barely. I worked on the computer at night.

When I was in college I worked a day job, and I went to fullsail. Yeah.. The 24/7 school. Class on sunday at 4am.

In my first job I worked side contracts and consulted. I shared my knowledge. I also explored the new technologies and learned more. Don't ever stop your education.

Nothing ever turned fruitful, except my failures. Every failure I learned something from and moved on. I was fired from that first job on Christmas day because I wasn't working and my boss overwrote a production file before she got my changes. Thought I didn't do the work. You're lucky. You have GIT.

I worked from myself and taught myself project management and the skills to run my own business. I also started a family and added more bills. You have to play the waiting game and most importantly you have to try. Do not expect things to be easy. Do not assume people are on your side. Do not be afraid to lose sleep and work all night to prove your worth.

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#12

Post by bluedog »

deviousanon wrote: post #11

Not to be a jackass, but how much sleep are you getting? 6hours+? I've had many great ideas be kept on the back burner for years, while I worked to pay bills. I kept two day jobs to pay rent and eat, barely. I worked on the computer at night. When I was in college I worked a day job, and I went to fullsail. Yeah.. The 24/7 school. Class on sunday at 4am. In my first job I worked side contracts and consulted. I shared…

thanks... you're words are a boost to me.

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#13

Post by staunch »

bluedog wrote: post #12
deviousanon wrote: post #11

Not to be a jackass, but how much sleep are you getting? 6hours+? I've had many great ideas be kept on the back burner for years, while I worked to pay bills. I kept two day jobs to pay rent and eat, barely. I worked on the computer at night. When I was in college I worked a day job, and I went to fullsail. Yeah.. The 24/7 school. Class on sunday at 4am. In my first job I worked side contracts and consulted. I shared…

thanks... you're words are a boost to me.

Although you should be willing to work very hard it's actually a mistake to skimp on sleep. Proper sleep is probably the biggest element in consistent productivity.

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#14

Post by kohanz »

quaffapint wrote: post #8
jpgvm wrote: post #2

I am working approximately 4 hours a day, earning around $1500 a week. Which is much more than you are looking for (about 4x more...) but is only about 2.5 days a week total time invested. So it's definitely possible to achieve $250-300/wk if that is all your expenses are. However, I already worked full time for this company for 18 months remotely before I negotiated this arrangement. So YMMV but I think if you can a…

I assume you live some place with a high cost of living (like San Fran)? Making $1500/week for 4 hours a day (heck, even 8 hours a day) is very high for non-San Fran like areas.

4 hrs * 5 days per week = 20 hrs. $1500 / 20 hrs = $75 per hour. It's a decent rate, but it's hardly something you need to be in SF to find (where you more often hear of contractors charging $100+).

I currently have a similar arrangement, where I work about 20 hours a week as a contractor (although that is not a quota, but more of a choice) at nearly the same rate. I live in a mid-sized Canadian city (comparable to a smaller American city) with relatively low cost of living (to the big cities).

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#15

Post by swat535 »

jpgvm wrote: post #2

I am working approximately 4 hours a day, earning around $1500 a week. Which is much more than you are looking for (about 4x more...) but is only about 2.5 days a week total time invested. So it's definitely possible to achieve $250-300/wk if that is all your expenses are. However, I already worked full time for this company for 18 months remotely before I negotiated this arrangement. So YMMV but I think if you can a…

this is the amount of money i make every 2 weeks as a full time rails developer in montreal.. sigh..

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#16

Post by jpgvm »

serf wrote: post #5
jpgvm wrote: post #2

I am working approximately 4 hours a day, earning around $1500 a week. Which is much more than you are looking for (about 4x more...) but is only about 2.5 days a week total time invested. So it's definitely possible to achieve $250-300/wk if that is all your expenses are. However, I already worked full time for this company for 18 months remotely before I negotiated this arrangement. So YMMV but I think if you can a…

What do you do? What are your skillsets? How long have you been a part of your field? More importantly : How did you find your job, and how did you prove your worth?

I'm a systems engineer. I have a pretty broad skillset but it's mostly centered around automation and orchestration of large server environments.

I have been doing the same sort of thing for about 6-7 years now.

I found this job after choosing to move on from a startup in the same space. Proving my worth is a harder question. I just did what I do best, which is working hard and thinking deeply about what to do and when. People value me for my judgement over most other things so I have focussed a lot on how I can hone that.

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#17

Post by jpgvm »

kohanz wrote: post #14
quaffapint wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you live some place with a high cost of living (like San Fran)? Making $1500/week for 4 hours a day (heck, even 8 hours a day) is very high for non-San Fran like areas.

4 hrs * 5 days per week = 20 hrs. $1500 / 20 hrs = $75 per hour. It's a decent rate, but it's hardly something you need to be in SF to find (where you more often hear of contractors charging $100+). I currently have a similar arrangement, where I work about 20 hours a week as a contractor (although that is not a quota, but more of a choice) at nearly the same rate. I live in a mid-sized Canadian city (comparable to a…

Precisely.

I could make more/hr but my current arrangement affords me more job security.

Re: Ask HN: How do i pay my bills?

#18

Post by MalcolmDiggs »

In all seriousness, drive for Lyft / Uber. I've met a number of people doing this recently, and it really seems like the perfect side gig. The main reason is that it fits around your schedule (no matter what your schedule is).

But yeah, you could always pick up some contracts instead. But sometimes having a little diversity/variety in your income stream is nice.

Post reply on HN