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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?

#81
post #40
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why is it so low? I think I read it happened after the 2008 recession, but why so low, and still? seems extra unusual.

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

#82
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not always prototypes necessarily but mostly it's about reaching out to people you already know and letting them know you are helping people on the side with software work. I was very lucky in that I happened to be good friends with a super-connector type person who always has people asking him for help. If you know other people who are doing consulting work, you can talk to them, if they are good they won't be…

Good advice. What is spec work? Read the term somewhere recently, but forgot what it means.

spec = specifications. This could be 1. requirements gathering (use case focussed in words of client) -> 2. functional specifications (use case focussed in terms of developer / exhaustive) -> 3. technical specifications (low level plan on how to implement). Often 3. and sometimes 2. aren't done explicitly, but are part of iterative / agile methodologies. 1. however, must still be done imho

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

#83
post #78
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make a decent amount of money from ad revenue for Indie Hackers every month. You can see a breakdown of my traffic and revenue stats for January in this blog post: https://www.indiehackers.com/blog/month-in-review-2017-01 . After focusing on this type of revenue for about 3-4 months, here are my takeaways: * If you're going to use affiliate links, e.g. Amazon, then you really need the content on your site to appeal…

>You can completely automate it if you don't want to spend time maintaining it. What do you mean by "completely automate". MailChimp or similar tools, or something more automated?

I mean automate the content. So you write it once for your main website, then you've got a script that simply compiles and formats it so you can copy/paste it into your newsletter. MailChimp/ConvertKit might have APIs for automatically sending it, too, and if not Zapier can certainly help.

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

#84
post #82
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good advice. What is spec work? Read the term somewhere recently, but forgot what it means.

spec = specifications. This could be 1. requirements gathering (use case focussed in words of client) -> 2. functional specifications (use case focussed in terms of developer / exhaustive) -> 3. technical specifications (low level plan on how to implement). Often 3. and sometimes 2. aren't done explicitly, but are part of iterative / agile methodologies. 1. however, must still be done imho

I think in this case, the parent meant working speculatively [0] which can be seen as risky for some, but also a way to get some reputation & awareness.

[0] http://www.nospec.com/what-is-spec

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

#85
post #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…

Last I heard, the majority of those sites don't make enough money to cover the expense of the domain name (ie $10/year). Note that with most ad networks, you need to deliver a minimum number of clicks or impressions per month or you won't get paid anything.

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

#86
post #76
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of books do you write?

I wrote one on how to use an opensource testing tool for which there was lots of interest but not a lot of documentation at the time. That was quite popular for a while (almost 11 years ago). Another book was on an emerging technique for collaborative analysis for software projects, that started becoming popular some time back in 2008-9 but was still not well understood. Two more were on practical tips for how to wor…

Interesting. If you don't mind saying, do you self-publish on sites like Gumroad, Leanpub, Softcover, on your own site, or both? If on your own site, you would need some system to accept payments, right?

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

#87
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Word of mouth. If I actually cared to look for work, I could find a lot more.

An honest question, what would it take for you to pass on leads and/or generate leads for others? I'm thinking of a blockchain based venture to support payments for finder's fees. Thanks.

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

#88
post #82
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good advice. What is spec work? Read the term somewhere recently, but forgot what it means.

spec = specifications. This could be 1. requirements gathering (use case focussed in words of client) -> 2. functional specifications (use case focussed in terms of developer / exhaustive) -> 3. technical specifications (low level plan on how to implement). Often 3. and sometimes 2. aren't done explicitly, but are part of iterative / agile methodologies. 1. however, must still be done imho

Thanks. I did know that spec by itself is short for specifications - I'm a developer, and also have software engineering experience, so knew abut your points 1 to 3. My point was that spec work seemed like something else. Also see my other reply to a child comment to yours.

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

#89
post #84
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

spec = specifications. This could be 1. requirements gathering (use case focussed in words of client) -> 2. functional specifications (use case focussed in terms of developer / exhaustive) -> 3. technical specifications (low level plan on how to implement). Often 3. and sometimes 2. aren't done explicitly, but are part of iterative / agile methodologies. 1. however, must still be done imho

I think in this case, the parent meant working speculatively [0] which can be seen as risky for some, but also a way to get some reputation & awareness. [0] http://www.nospec.com/what-is-spec

Thanks. Yes, I think this is what the original comment meant that I was asking about. Now I remember where I read the term "spec work" - it was some weeks ago on avc.com, Fred Wilson's blog. And someone gave the same answer there as you, IIRC.

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

#90
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…

> pregame before going out

Or just don't drink alcohol, it's is stupid expensive for something you're just going to pee out. Plus, it's empty calories.

Tea is cheap and good, milk is cheap and good for you, (tap) water is basically free.

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