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Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

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Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#1

Post by Dale1 »

I'm currently a student and wonder how developers tend to earn their money? Do you work for someone as an employee or have you got your own company? Or is it a mixture of both throughout your careers?

I do work part time as a developer in a start up and can't help feeling i'm building a dream for someone else. Not that the experience isn't really good, (It definitely is and I learn more in work than in uni!) but i can't help feeling that the current university paradigm of work hard, good grades, get a job seems to be bit of a misnomer unless you're happy building things to make others wealthy whilst you earn £30,000 a year?

Unless i'm missing something important, I am young and naive after all!

This is a subjective question. I just want to get a few thoughts especially from you old timers who want to tell a youngster some home truths! :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#2

Post by robobro »

I receive donations for my writing, coding, and art. I do some tutoring, too, which pays alright. I'm not a conventional developer, but I'm more than happy with the freedom I have and I feel I can really appreciate the things I have a lot more because of my self-imposed poverty.

Re: Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#3

Post by DaleHarries1 »

robobro wrote: post #2

I receive donations for my writing, coding, and art. I do some tutoring, too, which pays alright. I'm not a conventional developer, but I'm more than happy with the freedom I have and I feel I can really appreciate the things I have a lot more because of my self-imposed poverty.

Thanks :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#4

Post by bindley »

I'm kind of in the same boat. I took a year off college to focus on learning web development.

A year later, I'm working for a startup, but I am also making double I was at my old job. It was really a paradigm shift in my mind.

I looked at college as my entrance to a career, and later learned that wasn't the case. People value unique skills, not cookie cutter graduates.

You're asking some deep life questions, that extend outside programming. a book: The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin really helped me when I was at a place you're in right now. Helped me understand how really successful people do it. hope that helps :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#5

Post by antonius »

bindley wrote: post #4

I'm kind of in the same boat. I took a year off college to focus on learning web development. A year later, I'm working for a startup, but I am also making double I was at my old job. It was really a paradigm shift in my mind. I looked at college as my entrance to a career, and later learned that wasn't the case. People value unique skills, not cookie cutter graduates. You're asking some deep life questions, that ext…

People value unique skills, not cookie cutter graduates.

I'm hoping to be able to work in Seattle next year at either Microsoft or Amazon and the main requirement they look at is whether the applicant has a degree in Computer Science or related field. Only after do they begin to look at personal projects/past accomplishments etc.

Not trying to say a university degree is for everyone, but for people like me looking to get into a top technology company, it's a requirement.

Re: Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#8

Post by quaffapint »

All depends upon where you want to end up in life. For me I was getting married and knew I'd be having kids. So job stability was very important. Also got my graduate college degree, which at the time opened the doors to corporate dev jobs. Maybe it's not so necessary in smaller/startup places now, I don't know. So, I'm jsut a cog at a big corporation. It's not glamorous, but it pays the bills for my family.

On the side is when I do stuff I (kind of) want to do - I still need to make money to pay more bills (kids are expensive :-)), but at least it's a little different than my day-to-day 9to5 stuff.

Re: Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#9

Post by Steveism »

"...can't help feeling i'm building a dream for someone else."

I can relate to that feeling and it's something I revisit occasionally. Though, being a founder or joining a startup and taking equity has it's own set of anxieties. I think the right approach is to just focus on what you're building and if it's right for you. If you believe in the projects you're working on it's a lot easier to find happiness in your work. Some tough decisions need to be made along the way regarding money but it is possible to find a balance between compensation and doing what you love. You just need to be relentless in reaching the goals you set for your career.

I personally split time between a regular 40 hour a week job as an in-house web developer and freelancing. I just try to find new projects that interest me so that I don't get bored.

Re: Ask HN: How do you earn your money?

#10

Post by DaleHarries1 »

bindley wrote: post #4

I'm kind of in the same boat. I took a year off college to focus on learning web development. A year later, I'm working for a startup, but I am also making double I was at my old job. It was really a paradigm shift in my mind. I looked at college as my entrance to a career, and later learned that wasn't the case. People value unique skills, not cookie cutter graduates. You're asking some deep life questions, that ext…

Thanks for the book suggestion, will try and get it :)
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