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

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31–40 of 115 posts

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

#31
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…

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

#32
post #16
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.

At what point does that stop panning out, though? My pay is somewhat above average and management is unlikely to give me a big raise going forward without a promotion. (And at my work the next promotion would be a sort of 'team lead' position, which I'm uninterested in.) I guess that was just a long winded way of saying: I understand where this is coming from, but in some situations the logical next step may actually…

I'm in a similar spot (earning the high end for my title; promotion is feasible, but some politics at play within the org, so I'm gonna end up putting some time in at my current level). I have free time and enjoy writing code, so I pick up little consulting gigs here and there for play money (I'm an avid homebrewer, so money is always well spent)

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

#33
On this topic, I've always wondered how profitable it is to develop a site meant to make ad money. People love to talk about their interesting, cutting edge projects on HN, but no one talks about making websites whose main purpose is ad revenue. The web is littered with clickbait sites and sites that just make money off of Amazon affiliate links. The people that create them usually don't share their revenue, although sites like buzzfeed make a ton of money.

It makes me wonder if it's a good idea (in regards to passive side-income) to make a benevolent site that appeals to the general population or a niche with targeted, unobtrusive ads, rather than trying to make the next amazing service or killer app.

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

#34
post #10

I know a dev who moonlights as a cycle courier. Aside from the extra cash, it's a good way to mentally decompress away from tech, and to get the sort of exercise you tend not to get in an IT job.

> I know a dev who moonlights as a cycle courier.

Like, on weekends? I can't imagine the demand for bicycle couriers after 5PM is really that large.

I've often seen bicycle couriers in my city and wondered what it would be like to do that part time to get away from the stress of work. Then I see them from the tram on days when it's raining, snowing, windy...

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

#36
post #4
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.

What interest are you referring to? Honestly we haven't had interest rates worth considering for years (at least 8 years since a savings rate above 1%). Now you get a rounding error level of interest on savings such that finding coins on the street probably doubles your effective interest rate on savings.

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

#37
post #11
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This isn't true on the span of a single year due to market volatility.

I think sidlls is really pointing out the present/future value of money calcations. It's 100% accurate if you invested in a flat rate, guaranteed interest, investment.

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

#39
post #16
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.

At what point does that stop panning out, though? My pay is somewhat above average and management is unlikely to give me a big raise going forward without a promotion. (And at my work the next promotion would be a sort of 'team lead' position, which I'm uninterested in.) I guess that was just a long winded way of saying: I understand where this is coming from, but in some situations the logical next step may actually…

It's often the case that one needs to leave and get a job at a different organization to get a non-trivial increase in salary.

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

#40
post #11
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This isn't true on the span of a single year due to market volatility.

I'm assuming the commenter is referring to interest on savings. Which of course is quite laughable these days.
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