In college I worked as an overnight security guard. The only demand that job made was that I was in a certain building for 8 hours and stayed awake. Seriously, the turnover from guards fired for sleeping was a real issue, so just being awake was a big plus. Beyond that, I could read, study, whatever. Ideal for school. Coding during that time was possible, but you might not have internet access.
Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
21–28 of 28 posts
Re: Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
#22> Some of the examples I was thinking of are a librarian, security guard or clerk at a shop that people rarely visit. If you're a halfway decent programmer, you can easily get consulting gigs that will earn you multiples of what you will ever make at these jobs per unit of time. You could do something like consult for a week and take the next three weeks to work on your project, or you could consult for a month and t…
There is money and time, but there's also stability. Companies don't hire developers for a month or two, at least where I come from and consulting requires lots of careful planning to keep a steady income. Plus, you need much more self-discipline to be self-employed, which I may lack. Anyway, based on what I constantly hear on HN, freelancing may be overrated. I find it difficult to compete against Indian or Banglade…
> at least where I come from
Where are you from?
> Anyway, based on what I constantly hear on HN, freelancing may be overrated.
You and I must be reading a different HN. Running your own agency or consulting business if you're not a sales-oriented person may not be the best thing, but subcontracting to an agency is hardly sales-oriented.
Freelancing with an orientation towards very low-end commodity-type of gigs is fantastically bad. Don't do it. Focus on connecting with an agency that does programming work with businesses with revenues that would make your desired wages be a rounding error.
> I find it difficult to compete against Indian or Bangladeshi programmers, even when I can clearly provide much higher quality.
Hmmmm... Based on this comment, you might be limited by geography. If you are in the US, there are trivial things you can do that make it so that you are not competing against Indian or Bangladeshi programmers.
That said, even if you are in some far-off place and need to work remotely, good programmers are not easy to come by. The "cost" of being remote and unknown is that people who are looking for good programmers are often not willing to spend the time separating the wheat from the chaff. The solution to this is to do some quality work, post in on GitHub, and then show your work to agencies.
Re: Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is money and time, but there's also stability. Companies don't hire developers for a month or two, at least where I come from and consulting requires lots of careful planning to keep a steady income. Plus, you need much more self-discipline to be self-employed, which I may lack. Anyway, based on what I constantly hear on HN, freelancing may be overrated. I find it difficult to compete against Indian or Banglade…
> at least where I come from Where are you from? > Anyway, based on what I constantly hear on HN, freelancing may be overrated. You and I must be reading a different HN. Running your own agency or consulting business if you're not a sales-oriented person may not be the best thing, but subcontracting to an agency is hardly sales-oriented. Freelancing with an orientation towards very low-end commodity-type of gigs is f…
I'm in Lithuania. Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely try contacting some consulting agencies or offering my service to businesses directly.
Re: Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
#24Hotel Night Auditor... gives about 5-6 hours free time per 8 hour shift... at night when then internet is slow and many programmers like to work...
Re: Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
#25> Some of the examples I was thinking of are a librarian, security guard or clerk at a shop that people rarely visit. If you're a halfway decent programmer, you can easily get consulting gigs that will earn you multiples of what you will ever make at these jobs per unit of time. You could do something like consult for a week and take the next three weeks to work on your project, or you could consult for a month and t…
Where do I go get a consulting gig like this? I am indeed a halfway decent programmer, proficient in a variety of languages, frameworks & technologies. Get me some work like this and I'll pay you commission.
If you’re in a decent tech hotbed, start by interacting with the local community. Talk to other developers, agency owners, startup founders and see if you can offer them help. It’s a different dynamic than trying to find a consulting gig online and anecdotally I find it far easier to coney the value I bring to people than through a Skype call, thus being able to increase my rate.
Re: Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
#26Sorry if I’m not quite answering the question. But you can also try consulting, continue what you’re doing now, and rebalance the three things that factor into this: time, income and expenses. So if you want to increase your discretionary time, you’ll need to charge clients more and/or reduce your expenses.
Unless you were seeking the novelty factor of trying out a new field, and assuming you’re a hacker, it seems you’d hit the ground running faster if you’d just switch how you earned your income or spend your money.
Re: Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
#27Looks like you want something for nothing. No job is going to EVER give enough free time for you to pursue your interests to the fullest. I'm afraid you'll have to go about this in another way: Live below your means and work towards financial independence. Only then can you really pick and choose what you want to work on.
Re: Ask HN: What job offers most free time?
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where do I go get a consulting gig like this? I am indeed a halfway decent programmer, proficient in a variety of languages, frameworks & technologies. Get me some work like this and I'll pay you commission.
If you’re in a decent tech hotbed, start by interacting with the local community. Talk to other developers, agency owners, startup founders and see if you can offer them help. It’s a different dynamic than trying to find a consulting gig online and anecdotally I find it far easier to coney the value I bring to people than through a Skype call, thus being able to increase my rate.
Thanks for the nice reply. I will definitely check out some meetups.