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Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#151

Post by dnautics »

3pt14159 wrote: post #125
levesque wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd share more, but too many people would figure out who it is. Feels like your example is very specific and would not generalize to the average programmer.

I know many people that did this. Not all of them are making $500k a year, but here is some more examples: - Multiple Rails contributors, one that turned core. Those folks are making well north of $200k a year. - Ember contributors or contributors to projects around ember-data or similar. Multiple people making north of $200k a year. - A guy that dove into contributing to Postgres. He wouldn't even share how much his…

I would put it this way: for a person in his situation, skills and professionalism are table stakes (others in more privileged position can get away with less of those). Pay is relative to networking ability.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#152

Post by vorpalhex »

wokwokwok wrote: post #54
crc32 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP didn't say "work for free", they said "work for peanuts". I agree that freelancer sites have some problematic aspects, but I don't think there is anything wrong with the idea that you need to start small and build a reputation/profile. This applies to any bootstrapped business, not just when working via freelancer sites.

I would argue work for peanuts and work for free are not significantly distinct on many freelance sites. Unless you're suggesting that there's a meaningful difference in doing 40 hours of work for 5 bucks and working for free?

Freelancing websites are about playing a game (reviews, ratings, stats) and you have to play the game to win.

The first thing I do when I write a game or software is send out advance copies for free.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#153

Post by Volrath89 »

3pt14159 wrote: post #21

What I've seen that has worked in the past is this: Pick an open source project that is in a language that is respectable and commit to contributing to it for three or four months. Full time. Try to make sure that your written English is clear and professional in things like PRs. Try to keep your code as clean and as well tested and linted as possible. Once the core team gets to know you a bit you'll be able to reach…

Any recommendations of open source projects to work on for a C# dev?

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#154

Post by derefr »

synthc wrote: post #137
3pt14159 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know many people that did this. Not all of them are making $500k a year, but here is some more examples: - Multiple Rails contributors, one that turned core. Those folks are making well north of $200k a year. - Ember contributors or contributors to projects around ember-data or similar. Multiple people making north of $200k a year. - A guy that dove into contributing to Postgres. He wouldn't even share how much his…

There is also tons of people that work on OS projects and get paid nothing. The ones that get paid a lot are the exception.

I hypothesize that the people who get paid are the people who actually set out with the goal of getting paid.

I really doubt there are many long-time FOSS contributors who want (as their top-level goal) to be paid to do FOSS, but still haven’t managed it after months/years of trying.

Most people who do FOSS don’t do it with the goal of being paid for it. Just like most people who play a sport don’t do it with the goal of being paid for it. For most people, it’s either a hobby, or a byproduct of the efforts they go to in their day job (i.e. fixes to their company’s private fork of a FOSS project, that can then sometimes be upstreamed.)

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#155

Post by pzduniak »

mtsmith85 wrote: post #5

I would apply to something like Toptal. When we were first built our team for my startup, we used Toptal contractors for quite a while. They were solid, and to my understanding, made good money. Toptal takes a significant cut of course. The bar is you have to pass a qualification test, which given your 3.5 years of experience, should be enough to get up and running.

Here's my experience trying to find a job on Toptal from Poland: they are good if you're OK with earning peanuts - then the rate charged to the client is reasonable. I suspect that they tried to double my rate. Can't tell any specifics because that'd break their contract.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#156

Post by wongarsu »

dpweb wrote: post #140
pc86 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that people are conflating "one guy got lucky and got a $500k remote job" with "here is a repeatable process to generate a full-time income by working on open source on spec." Even getting a $50k remote job is not a guarantee, and telling people to work for free on open source is the Hacker News equivalent of telling a designer that you'll pay them if you like the logo they make you. Only this is much…

People attend college and spend enormous money & time with no guarantees. The unpaid time spent is not throwaway. If I was 19 today - and wanted to code for the most $$$ possible. I wouldn't be in college. I'd be building up skills + know people. Know people even tougher I'd argue for technical people who are often introverts.

And being a reliable open-source contributor on projects people use can open doors that college could never open. From personal experience Open Source is also a great way to get to know people, especially if the project has an active IRC or Slack.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#157

Post by random_visitor »

rubber_duck wrote: post #126
notRobot wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What third world country has median income of 1500$/month anyway? Many of them: https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/median-income-by...

According to your list, even if you take the household income, 1500/month is 18000/year - which of those countries above 18000 would you describe as third world ?

Median income lifestyle in first world country does not equate to median lifestyle in say India or Brazil.

For example, In India, fresh out of college students earn ~$6k/yr in TCS and similar companies. They make ends meet by pinching pennies. At the same time the median household income is ~$3.6k, that's what a household of a hardworking physical labourer would make and the conditions they live in aren't pretty.

I don't think it's outlandish at all for someone from a similar country to target $1k/mo. Heck, it may not even be enough if he has a family he wants to give a comfortable life.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#158

Post by nurettin »

@noddly I have some actionable advice. You are in an excellent spot.

week 1, 2 maybe 3: search for popular android applications that have low ratings that you can implement, sort them whichever way you prefer, do some wireframes and plan your first project. Do not spend less than 3 weeks. Do not spend more.

Week 4: This is the most important week. Figure out the tech you will be using. Make lots of demos projects, fail a bunch of times, set up libraries, APIs, accounts, integrations, link them to your project, whatever you need to get this to work. You have to know what you are doing before starting the project.

month 2, 3: implement a very simple frontend and a backend for that project. Cut corners on features, but make sure it doesn't crash. Test, test, test. Plan ahead. When a feature is done, do not look back. Do not spend less than 2 months. Do not spend more. Monetize, that's why we are here. Free to download, but put 1-2 features inside the app that can be purchased via google play. Make them $10 each.

month 3 week 1, 2: Automate deployment on server side, deploy on google play, send to friends, go on reddit, HN, itch.io, spread the word. Your goal is to get at least 20 customers a month. So one person a day. Assuming you did something that has a conversion rate of 1/100 (worst case), you need 2,000 people to see it every day. Google play will do most of the work for you.

Start the next project. Hopefully the first project will start getting traction.

Repeat this 3-4 times. Let your previous project's ratings and money motivate you. Things will accumulate over time.

Things don't work? No problem. Now you have four apps on the market to show to your next employer and a bunch of new experience.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#159

Post by safog »

sushshshsh wrote: post #149

I see two options for you: -Try to emigrate to a country with a strong tech sector and get a day job there. -Build a web service that people love and will pay money for, because it does something very useful for them. Everything else probably isn't going to result in you making money.

Out of curiosity, can you build a service and collect payments from US customers while not being a US resident?

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#160

Post by rukshn »

I'm a doctor from a third word country and we make around ~$1.2k per month.

Imagine training to become a doctor and being a doctor with no family life and making ~1.2k per month?

If I can make around 2-3k per month I would quit being a doctor and do that job any day.

And someone from a third world country I can totally relate and understand your situation. The politics and corruption has rotten the country to the core.

If you would like to connect I'm open for taking. Hit me up if you are interested on taking and maybe brainstorming something.

Good luck

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