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Ask HN: What are some easy ways to earn some side money?

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Ask HN: What are some easy ways to earn some side money?

#1

Post by ferennag »

Hello,

I am an experienced developer (11y) trying to earn some money on the side.

I am looking for some tips what could I do. The reason I said "easy" in the title is because I have a full time job, so I can't commit to multi-month projects full time.

I earned some good money on Topcoder before, but currently there are only a very few projects listed.

I am not a good speaker, so things like Youtube channel, or streaming is out of the picture, I am not comfortable uploading videos of myself.

I checked freelancer websites, but competition is crazy there (developing a full-fledged ecommerce web application for $100, and such)

Are there any other good websites like Topcoder? What do YOU do to earn money on the side?

Edit: For suggestions about the US: I am actually living in Canada. If you have any Canada specific, please suggest :)

Re: Ask HN: What are some easy ways to earn some side money?

#2

Post by lun4r »

You could consider apiculture. Yes, that's right, beekeeping. You might wonder how this is relevant to your 11 years of development experience, but let me explain.

Beekeeping can offer a relaxing, nature-oriented antidote to the stresses of coding, and moreover, there is a burgeoning market for smart apiary technology. Bee mortality rates have increased over recent years for numerous reasons, and technology is beginning to find ways to address these problems.

As a developer, you could design systems to monitor hive health, honey production levels or even bee activity. This data can be used to predict illnesses, optimize honey production, or understand more about bee behavior, providing valuable insights to the beekeeping community as well as researchers.

This unique combination of software development and beekeeping could potentially be a lucrative side gig. Not to mention, a proportion of the honey could be sold for additional profit or used for personal consumption.

So, while it may seem far fetched, your coding skills could help save the global bee population while offering a calming, profitable new hobby.

(:

Re: Ask HN: What are some easy ways to earn some side money?

#3

Post by tayo42 »

lun4r wrote: post #2

You could consider apiculture. Yes, that's right, beekeeping. You might wonder how this is relevant to your 11 years of development experience, but let me explain. Beekeeping can offer a relaxing, nature-oriented antidote to the stresses of coding, and moreover, there is a burgeoning market for smart apiary technology. Bee mortality rates have increased over recent years for numerous reasons, and technology is beginn…

Is there someone hiring to do this?

Re: Ask HN: What are some easy ways to earn some side money?

#7

Post by WestCoastJustin »

Get a second remote job. You could effectively double your salary for a few months or as long as you can handle it. Personally, this is much better than the race of the bottom of all these piece meal contracting gig sites. Youtube is likely a major waste of time in that you'd need to compete and build a profile, etc. This takes time. If you want to spend years then you might make it work. I've done this and know from experience. It's well worth it if you have years to put into it. It'll open tons of doors too.

However, you know how to hold a job. You've had one for 11+ years. So, just get a second one. You could be making double your current salary within as little as 4-6 weeks after interviews etc. That's likely the fastest path if you need money quickly.

Re: Ask HN: What are some easy ways to earn some side money?

#9

Post by mndgs »

lun4r wrote: post #2

You could consider apiculture. Yes, that's right, beekeeping. You might wonder how this is relevant to your 11 years of development experience, but let me explain. Beekeeping can offer a relaxing, nature-oriented antidote to the stresses of coding, and moreover, there is a burgeoning market for smart apiary technology. Bee mortality rates have increased over recent years for numerous reasons, and technology is beginn…

I read "bookkeeping" instead of "beekeeping" and then thought: what, how is bookkeeping calming, relaxing activity? Well, maybe to someone...

Re: Ask HN: What are some easy ways to earn some side money?

#10

Post by sitzkrieg »

lun4r wrote: post #2

You could consider apiculture. Yes, that's right, beekeeping. You might wonder how this is relevant to your 11 years of development experience, but let me explain. Beekeeping can offer a relaxing, nature-oriented antidote to the stresses of coding, and moreover, there is a burgeoning market for smart apiary technology. Bee mortality rates have increased over recent years for numerous reasons, and technology is beginn…

ill double that notion, id love to work on something as important as this :^)
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