How many hours can you potentially work?
Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
21–30 of 219 posts
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#22It seems that you write well. Perhaps you could do technology writing?
Another idea: try to find a grant for an Open Source project to document it. For a large project like Rust find something not well documented.
In my experience and of that of my friends -- we are Deaf by the way -- about nine of ten projects won't give sustenance. It's like startups, you need to try again and again. Either you will strike gold or you will have several horses to bet on.
Finally consider leaving the country. The US is good for people who are well off and not so good for the rest. With some luck you could work as a digital nomad.
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#23There is a lot of work connecting various platforms via API. Marketing agencies in particular need this service. You could look at the big CRM platforms like Salesforce which require only a modified version of Java called Apex to customize. I find there are a dearth of good programmers working in the platform. EDIT: Both of these options allow you to work remotely.
Apex is based on Java, not on JavaScript.
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#24Depending on the rigidity of your conscience you could whip up some buzzword laden project with "blockchain" written all over it. Some suckers will throw money at that if you give it a colourful website with plenty of vague promises that you never have to deliver.
Replace blockchain with AI
Blockchain based AI NFT disrupter
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#25In early 40's with outdated skills, I am in the same boat except a physical disability. While development only roles have gone out of reach now, I have been able to find QA, documentation, support, generalist roles at a non-profit, academia, and an early stage startup in that order. Reached advanced interview stages with employers looking for outdated skills (Perl scripting) or in-office positions, so you might want to explore similar. LinkedIn, Fiverr never worked for me. My resume generated a lot more interest via HN's monthly threads. Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#26I don't know where you'd find it, but seems like one possibility would be match up one of those people who wants to bootstrap a startup with very little money. The kind that would normally use some overseas gig worker site, or used to post on Craigslist, but you'd probably be a better bet for them.
Or maybe a business has an existing in-house Python application they need maintained, including frequent changes made on short notice, and they don't want to hire someone at several times the cost and try to retain them. They have to find a trustworthy contractor for a long-term relationship, and you might look like that.
You could also do two of these kinds of engagements at once (to lower the cost even more, avoid any concern about looking like a de facto employee, add recent stuff to your resume faster, and not have all your eggs in the same basket).
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#27For what it's worth, I used to do work on freelancing sites ~10 years ago and just tended to ignore the race to the bottom. I initially charged $50/hr, and regularly raised my rates so that I was up over $150/hr by the time I stopped doing it.
Of course I got passed over for a lot of jobs in favor of cheaper folks. But the jobs I did get were from clients who actually respected me. Also, more than once, a client who initially passed over me for someone cheaper came back a few months later and asked me to do the job after all.
So, perhaps something like that could work for you.
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Regarding the $1,200 per month limit, I'm not sure what the rules are, but perhaps you could set up a corporation that takes on the freelancing jobs and then pays you a salary of $1,200 a month? That way you wouldn't have to turn down a job for paying too much.
Maybe have the corp owned by a trust rather than you personally?
I wouldn't want you to get in trouble and lose the disability, though, so talk to somebody who actually knows what they're talking about before doing any of this stuff.
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#28How many hours can you potentially work?
I don't really know. I can say with confidence that I cannot be consistent for months at a time. I've been in and out of the hospital every 6 months since 2018.
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#29It's hard to take Fiver seriously.
For example a quick search for 'Ruby Rails' and one of the top service providers lists a premium service of 'full stack development app' delivered in 3 days, and including a 15 minute consultation, a project plan, and audit, for ... $20.
Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income
#30Have you considered technical writing? I've talked to a number of folks who are in a similar position, and writing (as opposed to generalist development) has a number of advantages:
- It rewards experience though, except for niche-specific writing, does not require understanding of specific frameworks or programming languages - It is often 'important-but-not-urgent' work, so intermittent availability is less of a deal-breaker - Clear writing is very much an orthogonal skill from programming aptitude writ large, and you don't need to compete with new grads