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Ask HN: Finding a second part-time job for some extra cash?

32 points by someuser4234 ↗ HN
I find it bizarre having to ask this question because by almost all standards I have a high income (let's say between ~$150-180k). I'm comfortable and not under any financial duress, but even at that income I'm saving very, very little living in a HCOL and high tax city.

I'm a senior level engineer and good at what I do. I'd love to find some part-time way to make some cash in the evenings and weekends that doesn't require a long 6+ month contract or w\e. Something where I can jump in, do the job, and jump out.

Upwork is close but I'm finding that many people posting there are looking for things like full mobile apps for $400 which is absurd.

Where can I find this sort of work?

29 comments

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TotoHorner
Are you in the US?

If you're a senior dev making < $180k, then you can probably double your salary by joining a FAANG. Probably the easiest route.

ss108
Is this still true? Aren't most such companies freezing hiring?
someuser4234
I like my job so would prefer to stay at my current employer.

That said, I did get an interview with Meta but it was cancelled due to the hiring freezes. Is Google hiring again?

TotoHorner
I don't know but this is constantly in discussion on Blind, so I'd check there.
Shindi
> let's say between ~$150-180k

> even at that income I'm saving very, very little living in a HCOL and high tax city

Not the answer you want to hear but the problem is your spending. I have no idea what your life is like, but I was able to safe comfortably making 100K living in SF. Keep in mind the median HOUSEHOLD income in NYC is 67K.

lilsoso
Your numbers for household income in NYC must be off, see the following sources:

https://usafacts.org/data/topics/economy/jobs-and-income/job...

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N

For 2021, the median household income in the entire United States was above $67k, at ~$70k. And the median rent in Manhattan is allegedly $4k (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/realestate/manhattan-rent...) (and the average is allegedly $5k, https://www.curbed.com/2022/08/new-york-rents-july-record-hi...), which renders a ~$150k income much less comfortable.

Shindi
> And the median rent in Manhattan is allegedly $4k

Remember that Manhattan != New York City.

You provided numbers for the US but not New York City. If only there was an easy way to find median rent of New York, New York

lilsoso
The median income for the US is higher than the median income you provided for NYC, therefore it seems reasonable to assume your numbers are incorrect.

I then provided rent prices for an expensive neighborhood of NYC to illustrate how a $100k+ income can disappear on rent alone. A $100k salary is not a lot in NYC.

joemazerino
Find some cash work. Contracting, freelancing, service-based work.
graypegg
Are you sure you couldn’t find better benefit in reducing expenses? A second job is exchanging more of your time to add to an already high salary, which seems like it might take more effort than cutting a few extra expenses you might be spending.
jjice
I'd start here too. It isn't just increasing the amount you can save, but also increases the power of every dollar saved, since you need less to subsist now (assuming you stay at a sustainable reduce level of expenses). Your savings rate is a big talk in the financial independence community for this reason. Even if you're not interested in retiring early, Mr Money Mustache's article "The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement" [1] really puts that ratio into perspective. Just the idea that lower expenses is more than just another dollar saved was really powerful for me and made me feel much more in control over my finances.

[1] https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si...

h4waii
I hate these non-answer answers, but anyway.

I would consider moving before getting a second job which saps even more of your finite time. I have never regretted moving to a completely new place, but keep in mind, "wherever you go, there you are".

Consider what you want this extra cash for also.

Barring that, gig delivery job if you're in a city you're familiar with? Bike around, pick up and drop off things. Get exercise, get fresh air, get paid a little.

kleer001
> I'm comfortable and not under any financial duress,

How comfortable? Maybe get less comfortable.

> but even at that income I'm saving very, very little living in a HCOL and high tax city.

It may not be the city. Do you make all your meals from scratch? How much do you spend on drink? Etc...

This looks more like a budget problem than a cashflow problem.

dieselgate
There are a lot of ways to go with this but the most obvious in my opinion is to form a company and do consulting/dev work through that. It seems like you want to continue making money from engineering in addition to your day-job, the only way to guarantee you're making a quality wage with flexibility is to go on your own IMO. Advertise yourself as having a lot of experience and being good at what you do and target folks who want someone to "jump in, do the job, and jump out".

This may be more overhead than initially desired but certainly more satisfying and longterm sustainable than Upwork or some other random gig company.

Other than that selling things you own (bikes or whatever) is probably the easiest way to make "cash" but seems you want more than that.

Good luck to you

Edit: a lot of comments talk about saving more and while that's higly relevant it's not something OP mentioned in their post

_trackno5
You're going about this wrong. You shouldn't work more for more money. You should figure out a way to get the work you do be valued higher.

Best bang for your buck here would be to jump jobs. You can definitely get around $300k in the US if you're a decent dev.

absnetneg
I'd also add that generally to break the ~$150-180k threshold you need to look for companies that offer RSU (stock)
helpful_person
The company I work for has an opportunity available that you might be interested in: conducting remote technical interviews.

It pays pretty well & is a great fit for an evenings-and-weekends level of involvement.

Email is in my profile -- if you'd like to learn more, feel free to reach out!

rtp4me
Sounds like an interesting & cool opportunity. I did not see an email domain in your profile. Can I presume it is @gmail?
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HeyLaughingBoy
There was someone on the Freelance Transformation podcast who explained how he was making six figures from Upwork. IIRC, it basically revolved around looking for buyers who had a history of paying reasonable rates and finding out what they needed. The podcast stopped a couple of years ago but last I checked, he still had the episodes up on the site.
v1l
If you're experienced at what you do, I may be able to help and would love to hear from you. I am building an exchange for high-quality fractional work specifically for experienced folks. I already do frac. CTO consulting myself and have worked with 8ish clients in the past two years.

My email is in my bio.

bergenty
You can deliver Uber/instacart. I make enough to pay my grocery bills for the month with a week of driving.
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giantg2
Better off finding a better job based on what you're looking for.

I took a second job working weekends at Lowes as a sales associate for a while. Once in a while I'd get a customer telling me the importance of college, a type of work I should get into for more money, or some other thing like that. It was funny to watch their face and hear their questions when I'd say I have a masters and work as a software dev... but also kind of depressing when you think about it.