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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?

#211

Post by nsxwolf »

nfriedly wrote: post #121

Yeah, fiverr isn't going to pay well, that's right there in the name. I have had some success with other freelancing sites in the past, where I initially set my rates to $50/hour and raised it to over $150/hour by the time I stopped. More than once, I lost a job in the initial bidding, but was later contacted and hired by the client after issues cropped up with the cheaper hires. And, yes, as others have said, networ…

Also, you're at the mercy of the algorithm on Fiverr. I had a successful voiceover side gig for a few years, a thousand completed orders and 100% 5 star reviews - one day, the algorithm changed, and poof. Game over, in an instant. 0 orders, forever.

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

#212

Post by yojo »

giantg2 wrote: post #135
yojo wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory (and in a well functioning system), ambition in a populace leads to GDP growth as ambitious people seek ways to make more money by doing higher value work. This in turn leads to a higher standard of living, possibly for everyone if you redistribute some of the surplus via taxation schemes. Personally (and more selfishly), I tried to raise my salary to be able to afford not working for extended periods of ti…

That makes sense. I'm wondering more about net benefit. Is it really a benefit if our GDP rose if we spend increasing amounts on stuff like healthcare and have shorter lives due to the constant grind of work? I'm not sure we can answer these questions, but I agree with you that as long as the ambition is properly placed and the system works well that it would be good.

It’s a fair question. There is evidence that working increases your life expectancy, at least among men[1], and under the regime of western societal norms.

Working with “ambition” could result in more stresses that counteract this gain. Hard to say.

Also possible that the gain would disappear outside of a culture that places so much value on jobs and wealth.

1: https://crr.bc.edu/briefs/do-men-who-work-longer-live-longer...

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

#213

Post by bdog5487 »

itake wrote: post #196
angarg12 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you can answer a question that is nagging me. I recently moved to the US, and ever since I keep getting messages on LinkedIn offering contract/freelance jobs. However the hourly rate is so poor that it would pay less that my current job base pay (not counting stocks and bonuses). In Europe the rule of thumb is that contract job should pay 2x your full time job rate. This is based on the associated overhead plus…

I have a friend that has literally only done contracts for the last 8 years. To put bluntly, he is bad at coding and could never last in a full time job. He once bragged to me that he took a Microsoft Azure cert after failing the test 5x. There are high paying contracting jobs, but they are only available to people that know people that offer good contracts. A friend of a friend has a 6mo contract with a Fintech comp…

Two people I worked with, left and ended up landing a $150/hr consulting gig for the last 4 months. Neither had more than 6 yers of professional developer experience but they are AWESOME devs. 100% remote. They were just informed their contracts were extended for 12 months. Each are approved for 40-50 hours per week. Current project: MEAN stack. Next project looks like MERN or JAVA. Large company primarily in/around healthcare related services.

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

#215

Post by itake »

angarg12 wrote: post #200
itake wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend that has literally only done contracts for the last 8 years. To put bluntly, he is bad at coding and could never last in a full time job. He once bragged to me that he took a Microsoft Azure cert after failing the test 5x. There are high paying contracting jobs, but they are only available to people that know people that offer good contracts. A friend of a friend has a 6mo contract with a Fintech comp…

What would you say is a good and a top hourly rate?

Checkout this thread from last week:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32606348

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

#216

Post by itake »

bdog5487 wrote: post #213
itake wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend that has literally only done contracts for the last 8 years. To put bluntly, he is bad at coding and could never last in a full time job. He once bragged to me that he took a Microsoft Azure cert after failing the test 5x. There are high paying contracting jobs, but they are only available to people that know people that offer good contracts. A friend of a friend has a 6mo contract with a Fintech comp…

Two people I worked with, left and ended up landing a $150/hr consulting gig for the last 4 months. Neither had more than 6 yers of professional developer experience but they are AWESOME devs. 100% remote. They were just informed their contracts were extended for 12 months. Each are approved for 40-50 hours per week. Current project: MEAN stack. Next project looks like MERN or JAVA. Large company primarily in/around…

I know at least one tier 3 public tech company is paying $300k/yr usd ($200k base + 15% bonus + 70k in stock) for people with less than 4 years of experience + full benefits (401k, 18 days pto, etc.)

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

#217

Post by angarg12 »

itake wrote: post #215
angarg12 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you say is a good and a top hourly rate?

Checkout this thread from last week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32606348

Thanks, very useful! I see there are better rates out there indeed.

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

#218

Post by freeone3000 »

tremon wrote: post #188
pc86 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For me I encourage my staff to have "side gig" of their own business, but will not sign off on them contracting on the side. Imagine believing that you have the right to "sign off" on what your employees do in their free time provided they're not directly competing with you.

It's not imaginary, it's called copyright. In many jurisdictions (including the US, FAFAIK) your employer retains the copyright of things you produce in your free time that fall within your job description (e.g. if you might have done the same thing on company time). So if you have a side gig that matches your day job and your work output is covered by copyright: yes, you need your employer's sign-off.

This is illegal in Washington State and California, explicitly, and is not the default by far. Certain employers (such as Facebook) demand this, but, it's certainly not the default state of affairs!

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

#219

Post by synergy20 »

yolo3000 wrote: post #207
synergy20 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tried both full time and contractor years back, too stressful, can't deal with both with kids, I since focus on one of them, not both at the same time, for the sake of my own health.

By full time with 100/hr I meant that I'm a contractor working for a company for 40hrs a week. Since we started to work remote I picked up a second assignment of a few hours extra a week. But all in all it becomes more stressful.

Unless both jobs are doing very similar things on the tech stack(so our brain does not context switch too heavily), but they're not competing in the same market(an ethical issue), I might still consider it, the chance is too low, so far I do one job and I actually can have a life.

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

#220

Post by Lumos24 »

itake wrote: post #151
3pt14159 wrote: post #79

Side gigs don't really earn much. If you've got a friend that you've worked with before and they have a startup or something, ask for some peanuts amount of equity as an hands on advisor. It'll do more for your CV than 20 hour side gigs glueing some libraries together. Or pick a well known library / framework and contribute. Or rescue a "looking for [co-]maintainer" library out there.

I earn $10k/mo contracting 20 hours per week. Personally, this extra income helped me maximize my day job benefits (401k and ESPP) and provided liquidity during the home buying process.

Wow that’s boss dude! Congrats. That’s winning.
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