Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer • Hacker News Board

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#21

Post by asicsp » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 5:54 AM UTC

soulofmischief wrote: post #18

asicsp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been wrecking my brain how to make $10 on anything online If you are really serious about $10 (and not some other larger number), here are some tips: * Pick a topic you know really well (programming, cooking, sea diving, whatever) * Make an infographic (get started on the topic of your choice, some specific and useful practical tip, etc) - picking a template from free tier Canva will go a long way in producing…

I'm extremely curious who Julia's target market is. The zines seem very well done and I'm wondering if they would be better appreciated as a purchase for myself or as a gift for a younger or a more nascent programmer.

I follow her on Twitter. It is very common for experienced programmers to reply saying they learned something new or understood a concept better.

For example: https://twitter.com/willmcgugan/status/1533056162417070081

>Just read How DNS Works by @b0rk. I love how easily digestible this is. A 10 minute read and i feel I have a solid understanding of DNS! And I’ve been a web developer for more than a decade.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#22

Post by __mharrison__ » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:03 AM UTC

asicsp wrote: post #20

anitil wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently threw $100 at jvns because of this model. I wanted the docker zine and it was $10 for one, or $100 for the lot. It doesn't take that many $100 purchases to be a respectable income source

Depending on where you live, you can get discount too. For example, I get this: > Hello! It looks like you're in India, where this zine might be expensive. If you need it, please use code at checkout to get 70% off the regular price.

Out of respect for the creator, hopefully that code is not valid.

(Content creator here.)

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#23

Post by __mharrison__ » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:05 AM UTC

darod wrote: post #15

interesting that he recommends starting a one-person business but the last section of the article are listings for "featured pragmatic engineering jobs"! do you believe in your own advice?

Part of his one person job is brokering jobs...

Recruiting seems so broken that I've been tempted to do it myself.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#24

Post by __mharrison__ » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:15 AM UTC

Gergely parents many of the pros of being a full-time creator but there are drawbacks as well.

- (US) government doesn't necessarily incentivize self employment

- Buying a house is a pain. I make more than I ever made working for the man but few want to give me a loan.

- Unless you have a saas, income can be variable.

- You get to do the fun stuff... But also the other stuff (payroll, marketing, ...)

That said, it would be very hard for me to go back to working for the man. The flexibility, creativity, and community are wonderful.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#25

Post by asicsp » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:19 AM UTC

__mharrison__ wrote: post #22

asicsp wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on where you live, you can get discount too. For example, I get this: > Hello! It looks like you're in India, where this zine might be expensive. If you need it, please use code at checkout to get 70% off the regular price.

Out of respect for the creator, hopefully that code is not valid. (Content creator here.)

Thanks, I edited out the specific code. But I hope the code applies based on actual location with solutions like Parity Deals.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#26

Post by doppp » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:19 AM UTC

josephg wrote: post #4

sakopov wrote: post #3

I've been wrecking my brain how to make $10 on anything online for a good part of the past 10 years with a couple of failed startups and even more side projects that went nowhere. I envy anyone who can do this and I think it is truly an immeasurable amount of effort to make any kind of side income let alone something that replaces your salary. But I think articles like this one advertise it like it's something you ca…

It’s also a lot of luck. A friend of a friend made some trashy weekend website in php years ago which calculates profits from options trades. He somehow makes 6 figures from advertising on the site. Apparently he tried doing a big rewrite a couple years ago to fix the UX and whatnot, but his income dropped to 1/3rd of what it was after the change. Probably people spent less time on the site. So he put it back how it…

Did he advertise the site or optimize SEO or just put it up and then it just got traffic?

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#27

Post by throwaway202288 » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:23 AM UTC

Just a word of caution from someone who paid a ton of money to a lot of the people mentioned in the article in the last 2 years and was part of more than a few of these communities. Note these are my observations and opinions.

- Read any testimonials these people out with a dollop of salt. Success rates seem to be around 1-2%(if you are lucky) with most of the others leaving or barely getting by. Easier to make way more money as a software dev in an established company than in the "creator economy".

- Copy what they do to sell their courses rather than buying their courses. Their courses are out of date, but they are still milking it.

- Assume any financial number you see from these people or people in similar spaces as suspect. It is either massaged or an outright lie to make it look much better than it is most of the time.

- Assume you are being marketed to with any content they put out

- There is a TON of luck. A million people put in the same hard work but do not make it. But most of these people spin it as hard work.

- Most of these people cannot teach. Great at marketing themselves, but not much else.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#28

Post by foota » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:29 AM UTC

josephg wrote: post #4

sakopov wrote: post #3

I've been wrecking my brain how to make $10 on anything online for a good part of the past 10 years with a couple of failed startups and even more side projects that went nowhere. I envy anyone who can do this and I think it is truly an immeasurable amount of effort to make any kind of side income let alone something that replaces your salary. But I think articles like this one advertise it like it's something you ca…

It’s also a lot of luck. A friend of a friend made some trashy weekend website in php years ago which calculates profits from options trades. He somehow makes 6 figures from advertising on the site. Apparently he tried doing a big rewrite a couple years ago to fix the UX and whatnot, but his income dropped to 1/3rd of what it was after the change. Probably people spent less time on the site. So he put it back how it…

... https://www.optionsprofitcalculator.com/? I used this during some trading to double check things lol.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#29

Post by snoopy1 » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 6:57 AM UTC

No post body was provided.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#30

Post by input_sh » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 7:07 AM UTC

jsemrau wrote: post #17

asicsp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been wrecking my brain how to make $10 on anything online If you are really serious about $10 (and not some other larger number), here are some tips: * Pick a topic you know really well (programming, cooking, sea diving, whatever) * Make an infographic (get started on the topic of your choice, some specific and useful practical tip, etc) - picking a template from free tier Canva will go a long way in producing…

I've been doing that for the last 12 months and tbh, it does not work unless you already had an audience before. Highly likely I am the worst social marketer on the planet. But in terms of RoI your advice doesn't work for 99% of the population.

I have a couple of simple stuff on Gumroad, paying is optional, they get some downloads (like a couple of dozen) despite zero advertisement from my side, but not one person that downloaded them over the years entered anything but $0.

Buy Me a Coffee on the other hand has actually gotten me some money (~€50). People find some niche stuff I wrote, it helps them, they click on a prominent link at the bottom, leave a tip, and that's it. I intentionally mimic tips one might give offline: no attachments, no benefits, I don't spam your email months later.

But if I were to try this full time (I don't have the consistency for it), my difficulty would be much higher simply by not being in a country supported by Stripe. There's all sorts of cool new stuff in the area I've discovered over the years, but basically all of them only support payouts over Stripe while I'm pretty much limited to PayPal, so tough shit!