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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?

#91

Post by sercan »

That's what I'm trying to do with http://startupdigger.com

I'm on the run to build something not only attracts people's interest but also runs maybe not completely but mostly on auto-pilot.

IMHO, building a SaaS product takes so much time which is quite hard to give if you're trying to run it as a side project. I've tried it before.

I also was an active AdSense publisher until a few years ago and made a decent money out of it and then sold my websites.

Let's see what will happen with Startup Digger.

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

#92

Post by mabbo »

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…

This actually works even better than you think. My father explained to me once: 'Earning an extra $100, you have to pay half[0] to the government. Saving an extra $100, you get to keep all of it.'

Still, I'm a pretty dull guy, don't spend much, and have most of my savings in order. My goal is mainly to see if there's easy ways to better use the time I currently waste on video games, use my craft to make some money.

[0] I'm in the 47% tax bracket (Canada), so any extra income is hit at that rate, if I'm not dumping it into a tax-deferred account, which I totally would be.

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

#93

Post by thenomad »

csallen wrote: post #61

I've interviewed about 100 developers on https://IndieHackers.com about how they're making money online. Based on what I've seen and what I've done myself, here's what I would do if I wanted to quickly ramp up some side income: 1. Pick a topic I'm interested in, or that I would like to be interested in and follow regularly. It could be anything from sci-fi to front-end web dev. My only requirement would be that I kno…

Good tips, but I'd add one more requirement: the group who are interested in what you're writing about should be a group with money to spend.

Advertisers generally have a lot less interest placing ads with audiences who will never pay them.

There are certain niches where you can passionately write about stuff, amass a large audience, and discover that audience is very poorly monetisable. Best to avoid that if you're looking for income.

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

#94

Post by franciscop »

csallen wrote: post #65
franciscop wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congrats on your recent 100 posts Which makes me bring the question, is it worth it? $3.500 / 100 posts = $35 / post (per month) = $420 / post (per year) I understand it's a marathon though and that value compounds. When you had 10 posts you were probably not making $350 and when you have 1000 posts you will probably be making a lot more than $35.000. I'd love to see the associated human costs and how many hours/week…

I do some time tracking in my monthly blog post (scroll down to the chart), so you can actually see exactly how much time I'm spending. Is the revenue so far worth the time I put into it? No, not by itself. But everything that I've done so far is really a launching pad for more, bigger, and better things, so I see it as an investment. At the very least, I've reached a point where I can survive on my own and work on m…

I totally didn't mean it in a bad way, I'm an open-source person ( https://github.com/franciscop/ ) and do it because I love it, both writing code, learning and the community. I'm curious because I'm thinking on how to get some money out of it to be able to keep doing what I love. I'll read more about it, thanks!

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

#95

Post by lmtdprnt »

csallen wrote: post #61

I've interviewed about 100 developers on https://IndieHackers.com about how they're making money online. Based on what I've seen and what I've done myself, here's what I would do if I wanted to quickly ramp up some side income: 1. Pick a topic I'm interested in, or that I would like to be interested in and follow regularly. It could be anything from sci-fi to front-end web dev. My only requirement would be that I kno…

That's exactly what I've recently done, and I'm sharing all the journey on my blog which is also getting interest. See http://www.milesburke.com.au/blog/2017/02/12/my-weekly-curat...

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

#96

Post by csallen »

lmtdprnt wrote: post #95
csallen wrote: post #61

I've interviewed about 100 developers on https://IndieHackers.com about how they're making money online. Based on what I've seen and what I've done myself, here's what I would do if I wanted to quickly ramp up some side income: 1. Pick a topic I'm interested in, or that I would like to be interested in and follow regularly. It could be anything from sci-fi to front-end web dev. My only requirement would be that I kno…

That's exactly what I've recently done, and I'm sharing all the journey on my blog which is also getting interest. See http://www.milesburke.com.au/blog/2017/02/12/my-weekly-curat...

Very cool writeup, you should come on Indie Hackers and do an interview with me! (text and/or podcast) I'm sure lots of people in my audience would love your newsletter.

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

#97

Post by DivisionSol »

proexploit wrote: post #79
DivisionSol wrote: post #55

Make a website that focuses on making a certain part of an upcoming videogame easier. Add ads. Make a Reddit post. $$$. Personal example: http://cases.goaggro.com/ (CS:GO case opening simulator) Other examples: http://www.survive-ark.com/taming-calculator/ (ARK taming calculator) http://www.wowhead.com/ (World of Warcraft loot database) Any of the wikias that popup for a game are also good examples. I feel someone co…

Your personal example seems simple enough, the other 2 seem like massive undertakings for one person though. I'm sure they started simpler. Are you willing to share any profit or traffic stats about your site?

http://i.imgur.com/dAkAa8z.png

Posted on Reddit twice, (first initial spike once I finished it, second spike when I added more of the cases.) That's about the extent. Got me all the Google-juice I need to ride it out.

Total work probably around... 40 hours, at most. I stopped supporting it in 2014. HTML + Canvas. Used images hosted by VALVe instead of hosting my own. Never had the motivation to make it better. Hosting was provided for free by a friend.

Was at the top of Google for a while. Got knocked down by a much more active developer (which is monetized even better than mine.) I only display 1 banner ad instead of an aggressive 3. I didn't improve it at all since then. However, I feel I had a technical advantage over the Flash-based competitor, as mine ran great on mobile. I assume the competitor has since improved that aspect of theirs.

I get ~$100 payout every 4 months now (~$25 per month)

Spikes in January 2015 and Sept 2015 coincide with new CS:GO game updates. They added new cases to the game, which I never got around to implementing in the simulator. No doubt missed opportunities.

Things I could've done better:

- Actually keep working on it. (New cases, new features, better backend, trade-up simulator)

- Better monetization (Only 1 banner ad, when Google allows 3 on one page)

What went right:

- First person on the playing field. (Still was delayed, since cases were released in Aug 2013 and I released it on March 2014)

On the subject of the others: They're just aggregating data about the game. You can start with the smallest, easiest bit and slowly build up from it.

For Wowhead it was: Aggregate item data. Then quests. Then zones w/ maps. Resource spawn points. Raid information and guides. Etc. etc. They were one of the first information providers for World of Warcraft and then they got acquired by Curse.

In the case of the Ark calculator, it started as: "This algorithm in the game is mysterious to players, I'll recreate it in the browser." Then they added stuff like "this Dino destroys X stuff", "this Dino can do Y"

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

#98

Post by unethical_ban »

chris_7 wrote: post #90
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…

> 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.

Regardless on your opinion on drinking alcohol, it's folly to ignore the perceived effects people use it for. Tea, milk nor water affect the mind in the same way.

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

#99

Post by csallen »

thenomad wrote: post #93
csallen wrote: post #61

I've interviewed about 100 developers on https://IndieHackers.com about how they're making money online. Based on what I've seen and what I've done myself, here's what I would do if I wanted to quickly ramp up some side income: 1. Pick a topic I'm interested in, or that I would like to be interested in and follow regularly. It could be anything from sci-fi to front-end web dev. My only requirement would be that I kno…

Good tips, but I'd add one more requirement: the group who are interested in what you're writing about should be a group with money to spend . Advertisers generally have a lot less interest placing ads with audiences who will never pay them. There are certain niches where you can passionately write about stuff, amass a large audience, and discover that audience is very poorly monetisable. Best to avoid that if you're…

Great tip, definitely helps to have an audience that advertisers consider valuable.

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

#100

Post by sametmax »

bsvalley wrote: post #72
alashley wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or "dumb" in developer terms? There are things that are easier for developers than the general population and there are also things that are easier for developers with experience in a particular niche. Also, not everyone has the capacity, time or even desire to pick low hanging fruit. For some the extra additional effort, even if small, is just not worth it outside of a full-time job and other commitments.

This is just a sub group. Same rule applies. We, developers, would all be rich by now if we knew a dumb way to make money. to make money as developers we need to sell something. The selling part is the non-trivial aspect I'm refering to.

No we would not. I could make easily tons of money by doing spam, advertising, selling viagra only and phishing idiots at macdonalds. I don't do it because it's not the way I want to make money.

Last week a friend of mine came around. He had too much money sitting on his bank account and was looking to spend it on a flat. He is a terrible programmer. He just spams. He make 10 times what I do.

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