Live data from Hacker News

It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

markmaunder.com

101–110 of 180 posts

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people I've known who were eligible to but refused to use food stamps did not feel it was "beneath them"- I'm pretty sure they felt that they didn't truly need them, and that there was someone worse off who needed them more than they did.

are the food stamps really limited in number??

The money has to come from somewhere. Food stamps purchase real goods, and the government pays the stores for them. So, like the money they are a mostly direct proxy for, they are limited in number.

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#102

It is much more straightforward to take on a little side work. Set your rate to $100/hr and work an extra 20 hours a month. In today's market this isn't terribly difficult to do.

Where do you find clients willing to pay $100/hr for sidework?

I demo'd some apps I made at a local group and before I knew it they were beating the doors down. Job offers too, but I turn those down.

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#103
post #71
post #13

So, basically, create a demand-media site but without even paying writers the $3/hour to create crap articles? Just scrape them from the government? :-) I'm all for the lifestyle business thing, but there are more fulfilling ways to make $2k/month, imho... As the cost of creating businesses drops, the number of viable niches literally explodes.

I believe that most people would be willing to set up an "unfulfilling" side project to generate an extra $2,000 USD/month.

I wouldn't. I'd rather put that time into my fulfilling business. After a year of such extra effort, it'll probably make more than $2000/month difference in my bottom line; though that assumes I have a real business to invest my time in, and that I can afford to work for a year before seeing that $2k (or more) show up.

I have my doubts that yet another generated content spam site would be worth $2k/month, though I'm sure there are a few...I kinda suspect it'd take months of experimentation to actually find one that pays, and keeps paying over a long term. If you only get one $2k month, and it drops like a rock soon after (either after competitors sweep in and rejiggle the same data, or after the data becomes stale and needs more human intervention to update).

Also, ew. I'd feel gross if I were creating spam for a living. I've come upon this kind of site quite a lot when looking at government auctions (which admittedly have horrible sites, when provided by the government), and the level of spam in the industry is just disgusting. Everybody fighting for the same keywords, clogging up google results for the real data, always out of date, often pointing to no-longer existent goods, mingling many types and branches of government (each branch has different requirements for buying from a government auction; even if you qualify to buy at one, you may not qualify to buy at several others) to beef up their listings, etc. When done poorly, it's evil, plain and simple. A low-grade evil, but evil, nonetheless. I don't want that kind of thing on my conscience, and I don't see how anyone could do it well on a few hours a week or month.

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#104
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize the need to prevent fraud but there has to be some kind of balance to allowing someone in a bad situation to keep a little dignity. On the contrary, that would be counterproductive. At low levels of income, there is virtually no relationship between earnings and consumption. So if a person's utility function is proportional to consumption, with a slight disutility for working, they will choose not to work.…

What you are saying (and that link) sounds exactly like a person that has never been poor without a support network of family and friends. It's just a mental exercise with no basis in reality and no "hands-on" experience. The modern welfare system does not allow non-disabled people to draw an infinite amount of assistance - it's very restricted and for a finite amount of time. They must constantly show real proof the…

Could you tell me the flaw in my analysis? Or are you merely asserting that because I lack a certain experience, I am therefore incapable of analyzing the problem using statistics and logical inference?

They must constantly show real proof they are looking for work and even with part-time jobs their assistance is immediately scaled back.

This is simply false. The vast majority of the poor are not looking for work, nor are they working. Nevertheless, they consume an average of $30k/year.

Did you even bother to read my link?

You aren't going to make assistance less attractive than a minimum wage job, it's impossible.

It's hardly impossible, but I agree that a lack of dignity is probably insufficient to push more than a few people over the threshold. That doesn't mean we should skew the incentives even more toward couch surfing and away from work than we already do.

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#105
post #98
post #81

I made sites that list British post offices and post boxes: http://edwardbetts.com/postoffices/ and http://edwardbetts.com/postboxes/ I think both these sites went live in 2008. Here are the AdSense figures for this month so far (May 1st to May 27th): * $52.94 earnings * 21,708 Page views * 147 Clicks * 0.68% Page CTR * $0.36 CPC * $2.44 Page RPM

You do realize the Adsense tos bars you from disclosing this data, right? Not that I care (I think the TOS is b.s. on that point), I'm just saying...

Thanks, I had no idea.

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#107
post #13

So, basically, create a demand-media site but without even paying writers the $3/hour to create crap articles? Just scrape them from the government? :-) I'm all for the lifestyle business thing, but there are more fulfilling ways to make $2k/month, imho... As the cost of creating businesses drops, the number of viable niches literally explodes.

>As the cost...drops, the number of viable niches literally explodes My God, thank you for the warning. I will be alert for exploding numbers!

Obligatory XKCD: http://xkcd.com/725/

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#109
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that most people would be willing to set up an "unfulfilling" side project to generate an extra $2,000 USD/month.

I wouldn't. I'd rather put that time into my fulfilling business. After a year of such extra effort, it'll probably make more than $2000/month difference in my bottom line; though that assumes I have a real business to invest my time in, and that I can afford to work for a year before seeing that $2k (or more) show up. I have my doubts that yet another generated content spam site would be worth $2k/month, though I'm…

"Also, ew." Made me LOL.

Re: It’s OK to make an extra $2k per month if you’re a programmer. Here’s how.

#110
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've done no link building You have 1,211 backlinks. You have no meta descriptions on any of your pages. The links to your content pages (e.g., http://yakkstr.com/posts/3635-Cute-Friday ) aren't inside a H1/H2 tag on your index pages. You are letting Google crawl/index your tag pages (pointless/bad). Your robots.txt isn't pointing to a sitemap. Are you using Google webmaster tools? Get rid of the /posts/N-title and…

What resources do you recommend for learning more about SEO?

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

Is pure gold (there's tons more on SEOmoz).

Post reply on HN