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Ask HN: How do you make money on the side?

37 points by pharmakom ↗ HN
How do you make money on the side?

I'm talking about work that can be done one day per week on a weekend, or perhaps across a few evenings whilst maintaining a regular job.

Im interested in things that leverage a SWE skillset, as opposed to Uber or GrubHub type work, but also anything unexpected!

29 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 37.6 ms ] thread
code_runner
Boutique consulting firms sometimes have side work you can do and they don’t always care where you are located.

Just look for a consulting group that doesn’t have 40000 job postings on LinkedIn

ftxbro
all im saying is that every time you throw your clothes in the wash you are leaving money on the table
gregjor
OnlyFans?
deafpolygon
I don't think a lot of males can use OF as an income stream.
gregjor
I don't think OP identified their gender. Otherwise I agree that OnlyFans maybe not a great second income for a man. The men making money from videos seem to use YouTube and Patreon.
wintopic
Write a novel?
deafpolygon
Is that even remotely income-stable income these days?
bhu1st
I am thinking to start trying it myself. You can build useful code and put it on sale. Check CodeCanyon for ideas and inspiration.

People might be looking for something on your tech stack.

joeythedolphin
You serve people. Where is the overlap between what people need and what you can offer?
deafpolygon
I'm interested in making money on the side as a Deaf person, who can't use phones/voip to communicate with potential clients online (speech impediment+hearing loss). If anyone reads this, let me know how I can work around this and still be considered trustworthy.
quickthrower2
There should be a lot of work out there where email or some kind of async chat is enough. Almost any Microsaas idea would be compatible.
deafpolygon
Everyone says that, but no one can point me to anything concrete.
quickthrower2
What are you looking for? Something where you trade time for money with high certainty, or something more speculative, where you try to sell something online and market it?
deafpolygon
Somewhere in the middle, maybe. I'm quite clueless, honestly. I have 10+ yrs of experience as a Linux sysadmin and jr. level programming exp, but the jobs I had were good to me and I had a very understanding boss.
quickthrower2
On the sysadmin side, I don't have much experience. There might be opportunities out there for side "jobs". I would try posting on subreddits that allow it, and the monthly HN thread - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35773705. You might find someone who needs something fixed up as a 20 hour gig over a few weekends or something.

If you learn about SOC2 or something like that, then a "SOC2 fixer for linux boxes" is definitely something companies would outsource on a contract basis. SOC2 creates a tonne of temporary work (so they won't want to hire more people for it) that is specialist and distracting from the main development goals. The work might include things like creating evidence that a linux box meets various controls needed by an auditor. I think it would become a 90% knowing what tool/approach kind of job, and not deep thinking.

On the more speculative side, I think something that sysadmins have that most of us don't (most of us clicking around in the cloud) is a deeper knowledge of Linux, and knowledge of older tools that are better than the modern cloud equivalents - either cheaper, simpler, more reliable or less lock in. So if you are a knowledgeable "old man yells at cloud" type you could make some books/resources and sell them. This is a lot of work before money comes in because you need to write a book (no small feat ... but can be less than a published book - 40 pages is OK) and then market it. But simple Show HN, posing to reddits can get you going. Then write a blog where you have free tips, and share them occasionally as you post on forums when it is appropriate.

gregjor
You make money with software skills by identifying and solving business problems: adding value and reducing costs and risks. Every company has such problems. With so many people doing gig work and trying to make passive income on the side, if you don't have the capital for investing you have to sell your time and skills, which means finding businesses willing to pay for those.

I have freelanced for a long time. Word of mouth and reputation generally attract the most quality new work. Since 2014 I have had an agency representing me, and they seem pretty good at finding customers and gigs.

adhesive_wombat
I don't. I can't see any practical income stream in the little time and the limited energy I have that beats coming home from work and resetting so I can go back and do a decent job and advance that way. Sure, I might get, say, 1k per month, but it would probably cost me a large fraction of my free time (which includes things like reading, my own little projects and experiments and being with family) in exchange for a relatively small percentage bump in income.
mattbgates
Still working on a solid product that I'm hoping will bring in some passive income.

Bought two properties and already renting one out... in preps to get the other rented out soon, and then there's my house... already have some interest in that as well.

rozenmd
I run a SaaS business (https://onlineornot.com), and run a blog about React (I sell an ebook with condensed information to teach folks useEffect in an afternoon) on just two hours per morning before my workday starts.

I've been spending about two hours each morning on my own projects since 2017, it'll surprise you how much you can get done with consistent effort.

schwartzworld
Referral bonuses. The hiring pipeline at my company is tough to get through, but if you get someone through the bonus is very nice. Nice enough to make recruitment my side gig.
jameshush
Honestly, if you JUST want to optimize for money as a SWE leetcode + getting 3 competing job offers at FAANG is still the best use of your time than any side hustle.

I recommendend asking your self “If I ALREADY had all of the money, what would I do?” and do that on the side instead.

sn9
For SWEs, some combination of good personal finance practices and working towards being able to be hired at higher paying companies are probably your highest ROI activities.
wbsun
I invest $1000 on SPY every paycheck.
mkbkn
It's not much but it's something. There are a few relatively-safe strategies/methods that I employ to invest into stock market (only delivery, not intraday or FnO). It's primarily geared towards Indian stock market but it can applied anywhere with some modifications.