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Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

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Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#61

Post by hansvm »

ceejayoz wrote: post #35
nfriedly wrote: post #27

For 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…

> 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? No, that'll lose you the benefits. https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-1575.htm "We will evaluate your work activity based on the value of your services to the business regardless of whether you receive an immediate income for your services." SSI is delib…

Could a group of SSI freelancers set up a co-op to handle that month-to-month averaging?

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#62

Post by mcv »

> I've been disabled since 2018, and my skills in software as such have largely become outdated.

I always find this such a weird claim. Sure, lots has happened in the past 5 years, but there's still tons of software out there that's older than 5 years, most major programming languages are decades old, and anything new can be learned.

If you want to be able to make money quickly, it's far more interesting to look at what you can do, than worry about what you might not yet know. Python is still around and still as relevant as ever.

> I'm in my early-to-mid 30s for reference. I'm not really able to get off disability as the condition is severe.

My personal opinion is that if your condition is that severe, you shouldn't have to work at all, but of course that's of no help to you right now.

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#63

Post by sailfast »

Unsure what is possible but perhaps remote tier 2-3 technical support for some might be an option? Potentially for a federal agency that hires contractors for such purposes?

Often hard to find people that can do the job right, and I’d imagine post COVID that remote is very doable. Unsure on flexibility but for escalations it’s nice to have somebody you can call whenever they’re available.

Edit: sounds like this type of job might lose you part of your disability so this may not be an option.

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#64

Post by nfriedly »

vbezhenar wrote: post #52
nfriedly wrote: post #27

For 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…

I tried for months to find a job in freelance site. I ended up doing someone's home work for symbolic price ($50 or something like that), got 5 stars and that's about it. Any work with reasonable pay (few thousands of dollars for few weeks) was overflooded with offers (like 200+ offers). I wrote my offer, tried to customize it, few times I even made some small demo to show off my interest but to no success. In the en…

That's a fair point. I am in the US, and I'm sure that was part of what helped me get the jobs that I did get. Most of my clients were from the US, a couple were even from the same city I was in.

It sounds like the OP is also in the US, so they will have that same advantage.

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#65

Post by codpiece »

XCabbage wrote: post #23
codpiece wrote: post #19

There 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.

Corrected, thank you. Could not remember.

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#66

Post by blowski »

7hr0waw4y wrote: post #37
blowski wrote: post #10

It's horrible feeling like the world has passed you by, perhaps even more so when it's forced on you by external factors rather than choices you've made. That being said, I wonder if you should challenge your assumption that it's out of date. I'm definitely clueless on whatever the latest JavaScript library is and whatever's going in machine learning. But my knowledge of foundational data structures, algorithms, and…

I don't have experience with external factors, but I can assure you that the feeling of failure etc when it's down to your own choices, seems much more acute than if you had a valid excuse.

Both are painful. When I'm struggling, is it better to know that I justly deserve it as a consequence of my own choices, or that fate has capriciously inflicted those struggles on me? Whichever situation I find myself in, I'd rather be in the other one.

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#67

Post by madengr »

jacknews wrote: post #29

It'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.

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#69

Post by ezedv »

Have you thought about becoming a Blockchain developer? You mentioned that you wrote Python scripts for automating and you did other front-end web development.

I would like to share with you this article: https://www.ratherlabs.com/post/the-roadmap-to-become-a-bloc...

It was written by Federico Caccia, CEO of Rather Labs.

From understanding the basics to mastering advanced concepts, this comprehensive guide has it all.

Let me know if it was useful for you! Good luck with everything!

Re: Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

#70

Post by blowski »

jacknews wrote: post #29

It'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.

In my experience, it's a loss leader designed to bleed you dry with never-ending "bug fixes" you have to pay for.

1. Put the cheapest junior they have to install and configure their default platform for you and present it.

2. You see progress, and decide spending another $20 will get you over the finish line.

And people remain stuck on #2 forever. The more they spend, the more the sunk costs convince them to keep paying.

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