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Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#51
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making a value judgement on someones financial ambition is a little ... weak. Does it really matter? I'm on £200k gross in the UK, outside London ... but i'm not done climbing that mountain. Of course £200k is "enough" for anyone, but that doesn't mean you can't aim higher. Ambition should be celebrated

I can get behind celebrating ambition, but only if it doesn't as a side effect involve widening wage inequality in the society.

Oh stop it. Every time we make progress there will be some unequal effect. Some people will benefit and others will lose out. We should do our best to balance the trade offs, but to say someone shouldn’t be ambitious if there is some unequal effect is preposterous and pessimistic.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#52
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah nice. What was so painful about the application process?

Be prepared to have to do off-screen and later screen-shared, timed leetcode challenges. Fail one, it's an automatic disqualification.

I'm not sure where you got that info from, but unless you completely tank everything, there isn't an automatic disqualification. Even if you fail two out of three questions, you'll still get a chance to meet with the screener.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost like a full job interview process with many parts. Keeping details minimal because of NDA, I had 3 "rounds" including online assessment and video interviews.

Jeez. Which networks still exist that do not require this large upfront timesuck (regardless of how well it may filter candidates)?

If you think that’s a large time sink, try business development. Seriously marketing yourself takes s lot of time.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#54
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making a value judgement on someones financial ambition is a little ... weak. Does it really matter? I'm on £200k gross in the UK, outside London ... but i'm not done climbing that mountain. Of course £200k is "enough" for anyone, but that doesn't mean you can't aim higher. Ambition should be celebrated

I can get behind celebrating ambition, but only if it doesn't as a side effect involve widening wage inequality in the society.

I'm reminded of Margaret Thatcher's response to this: "He'd rather the poor were poorer, as long as the rich were less rich."[1]

Every ethical dollar earned is a byproduct of value creation. Maybe you meant something more like "as long as he's not ripping off his customers," but otherwise that's an odd thing to say in response to someone who makes good money but is still looking for side jobs.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdR7WW3XR9c&t=48s

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#55
post #49
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok... that has nothing to do with my comment. Of course they're entitled to want a side gig. But why is ambition something to be celebrated, especially in the context of this example?

>Of course they're entitled to seek a side gig. With the caveat that no small number of companies are not OK with that if it could be perceived as competitive in any way.

Thanks, I changed it to "want".

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#56
I've lucked into some great places being cool with part-time work. That said, just yesterday I spoke with a recruiter for a 40hr gig and they had deep concerns that I've had work overlap (my part-time business + 40hr contract work) on my resume. I've pulled out of consideration for that role because of it but am thinking of adjusting my resume to not show overlap. I would've thought it showed drive but I guess - at least in some recruiting circles - that it causes concern.

Should I remove my business from my resume? A lot of my exciting experience comes from my business whereas the 40hr stuff is just standard work I've been doing for years.

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah nice. What was so painful about the application process?

It's almost like a full job interview process with many parts. Keeping details minimal because of NDA, I had 3 "rounds" including online assessment and video interviews.

Do you still have to go through interviews with clients? If so, how onerous are those?

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#58
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would I go about making that kind of money? I'm planning on moving to London next year. My professional background is as a web dev.

Probably not as a web dev; senior / lead Java developer, Oracle DBA, managerial level at big companies like banks and insurance might get you closer to that. But to be blunt, you're probably not worth 200K as a web developer.

Thank you, I appreciate the honest feedback. My academic background is technical (math), but not CS.

Been wanting to transition into another role. Not sure what exactly but within software development.

Can I send you an email?

Re: Ask HN: How do you get side gigs?

#59
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FANGs? startups? contracts? It's been a while since I looked, is 200k the norm now? Asking for a friend...

In Boston and NYC I am seeing $150-200k at well-funded startups for "experienced IC" roles. If you have several years of experience, and you're actually a good engineer, and aren't at least above 150k in a market like this, you need to start interviewing, because your current employer is taking advantage of you.

> If you have several years of experience, and you're actually a good interviewer

FTFY.

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