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Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

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Re: Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

#21

Post by ryanSrich »

loeg wrote: post #18
icedchai wrote: post #8

I've been doing small consulting projects off and on for the past 20 years. It brings in between $10k to $50k/year in additional income. Average is probably closer to $20k.

How do you find work? Word of mouth, or something else?

The prevailing wisdom on HN is going to say networking and word of mouth.

If you don't have an existing network freelancing/consulting is going to be very difficult. I've tried the online freelance website method before while I was in college. It sucks. The clients don't want to pay even a reasonable amount and they're usually pretty shitty clients to work for.

If you have a network I'd suggest consulting. If you don't then I'd say steer clear.

Re: Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

#22

Post by karzeem »

adzicg wrote: post #17

I've hired a bunch of people through fiverr to do small gigs for my writing (eg copyedit, add a few jokes, do illustrations). One "dumb" way to make a bit of extra cash for programmers could be to take on gigs like that. Depending on your skills, there are plenty of web design/automation gigs that you could offer there. This doesn't need you doing time-consuming marketing or sales, or chasing consulting clients. It a…

What kind of books do you write?

Re: Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

#25

Post by scarface74 »

sidlls wrote: post #4
kejaed wrote: post #2

Another side of the coin is at $100/week that's $5k a year. What if you 'worked on your career' and got a $5k raise? Do that once and that $5k will be there every year from that point on.

On the other hand $100/wk now + interest is worth more than a $5k bump some months from now distributed over the following 12 months.

At some point though, isn't better to get paid more per hour than working more hours? The average senior developer in the area I live - a major metropolitan city on the east coast that isn't NYC - can easily charge $60-$75 hour as a W2 contractor, probably 30% more as a corp-to-corp contractor. It would be a better long term investment to keep learning and gaining skills that make your hourly rate of your salary higher. You can only work so many hours a day.

A side benefit is that the more marketable skills you have, the easier/faster it is to get another job if you get laid off. My quickest time between looking for a job and getting an offer has been 4 days.

Re: Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

#27

Post by fixxer »

kejaed wrote: post #2

Another side of the coin is at $100/week that's $5k a year. What if you 'worked on your career' and got a $5k raise? Do that once and that $5k will be there every year from that point on.

I assume that effort is already there and the OP is trying to generate additional revenues beyond his or her primary income.

Re: Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

#28

Post by tim333 »

ryanSrich wrote: post #21
loeg wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you find work? Word of mouth, or something else?

The prevailing wisdom on HN is going to say networking and word of mouth. If you don't have an existing network freelancing/consulting is going to be very difficult. I've tried the online freelance website method before while I was in college. It sucks. The clients don't want to pay even a reasonable amount and they're usually pretty shitty clients to work for. If you have a network I'd suggest consulting. If you don…

Though I guess the beauty of it being something on the side when you have a job is you can advertise your services and not worry if nothing come through.

Re: Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

#29

Post by fixxer »

beambot wrote: post #5

Focus on cutting unnecessary expenses... As that serves double duty: saves that $100 and simultaneously reduces the savings burden to retire. As for "dumb" things you can do: cook more at home, pregame before going out, do activities that are cheap or free (eg bike rides instead of theaters), bike more instead of driving everywhere, read library books, etc (The benefit of these over "do consulting" answers also lies…

Frugality is great, but, repeating myself from below, I assume that effort is already there and the OP is trying to generate additional revenues beyond his or her primary income.

Re: Ask HN: Are there 'dumb' ways to make money as a developer in your spare time?

#30

Post by scarface74 »

adzicg wrote: post #17

I've hired a bunch of people through fiverr to do small gigs for my writing (eg copyedit, add a few jokes, do illustrations). One "dumb" way to make a bit of extra cash for programmers could be to take on gigs like that. Depending on your skills, there are plenty of web design/automation gigs that you could offer there. This doesn't need you doing time-consuming marketing or sales, or chasing consulting clients. It a…

If I were going to do a small gig at a low pay rate to earn a little extra money, it would be something using a technology that I didn't have any on the job experience with that would increase my marketability.

For instance if I were interested in getting into mobile development and had spent some time studying but hadn't done it for a job, I would take a low paying gig as long as I had the right to show off samples of the work for future employment.

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