21–30 of 45 posts
I'm in exactly the same position that you are, except I also need a US Visa. I feel sad reading all those suggestions that I can not do because they won't give me a Visa :(
Agree with those who said lawn care. It's hard to build a long-term business because it is competitive but if you're just trying to make $1-2K/month, you can do it. Being a helper/laborer for a tradesperson also sounds like it might fit your desire to not sit in front of a computer all of the time. Good luck!
Tutoring has a lot to recommend it, depending on where you live and your ability to get clients. You need more clients than a freelance programmer would, but the hourly pay is not necessarily that different, particularly for well-heeled clientelle. Paying a lot of money is how you know you're getting quality. :) (Some at my previous day job once remarked that it would be cheaper to order me to do tutoring than to pay…
Anyone know if something like this exists?
If you have a good typing speed then try out audio transcription. http://callgraph.biz/freelance-transcription
I can only imagine that being orders of magnitude more tedious than typing code.
There are programming jobs with a lot of autonomy and control over the product you build. Maybe you should go for one of those, or become a product manager?
can you name a few?
Tutoring has a lot to recommend it, depending on where you live and your ability to get clients. You need more clients than a freelance programmer would, but the hourly pay is not necessarily that different, particularly for well-heeled clientelle. Paying a lot of money is how you know you're getting quality. :) (Some at my previous day job once remarked that it would be cheaper to order me to do tutoring than to pay…
I also know a number of guys that make acceptable money teaching chess at private schools, homeschool groups, etc.
Another friend does something similar teach biology to groups. He also does guided walks and field trips for groups at local parks. He has a collection of interesting animals and even does birthday parties on the weekends. I also know a guy that's an animal trainer that now makes all his income from school events and birthday parties.
Or you should read about The Great Zucchini, a birthday party clown making $300 a party. I'm sure the business has gone downhill since 2006, but it's still good money for a flexible, weekend-only job. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01...
There are programming jobs with a lot of autonomy and control over the product you build. Maybe you should go for one of those, or become a product manager?
> There are programming jobs with a lot of autonomy and control over the product you build. can you name a few?
Also a couple of guys at Yahoo working on Hadoop. Lots of startup founders (of course) who completely decide what to do.
Even a couple of teams at Intuit (which has to be the most manager heavy company in the whole world).
And people paid to work on Open Source projects have significant amounts of autonomy. Now that I think of it almost every developer I know who is not working on outsourced enterprise software seems to have significant (but not absolute) autonomy.
I don't know if it will be possible to do where you are, but I mowed lawns for years on the side. Even after I had a "successful" startup. I enjoyed having something completely non-technical to do and it actually let my mind reboot. And before anyone scoffs, the pay is actually pretty decent relative to the time invested. Don't believe me? Call up a landscaping service and get a quote for your yard. There is some ini…
Not a bad idea at all.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There are programming jobs with a lot of autonomy and control over the product you build. can you name a few?
I know people at Google who have a significant amount of autonomy (they work (or worked last time I checked) in the guts of the search engine and Android and on Google Wave). Also a couple of guys at Yahoo working on Hadoop. Lots of startup founders (of course) who completely decide what to do. Even a couple of teams at Intuit (which has to be the most manager heavy company in the whole world). And people paid to wor…
really? do you think you know a representative sample of developers?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know people at Google who have a significant amount of autonomy (they work (or worked last time I checked) in the guts of the search engine and Android and on Google Wave). Also a couple of guys at Yahoo working on Hadoop. Lots of startup founders (of course) who completely decide what to do. Even a couple of teams at Intuit (which has to be the most manager heavy company in the whole world). And people paid to wor…
> Now that I think of it almost every developer I know who is not working on outsourced enterprise software seems to have significant (but not absolute) autonomy. really? do you think you know a representative sample of developers?
I never claimed to. But hey those are the people I know, "representative sample" or not! You asked for examples of programmers with autonomy so I gave a few. As I was writing that, I discovered that except those working on outsourced enterprise sw, most developers I know do have significant autonomy.
Sorry if that didn't answer your question sufficiently. A "representative sample" developer in Bangalore (where I live these days) has a job screwing around with mountains of crap outsourced code no one in the West wants to touch with layer after layer of management wielding the whip and micromanaging him. No autonomy there!