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What Do People in the IT Field Do for Side Jobs?
Flagg0204 asks: "Growing up in a primarily white collar household I wasn't exposed to 'side-jobs' until I met my girlfriend whose family was mostly blue collar. This got me to thinking. What do people in the IT field do for side jobs? Electricians, plumbers, HVAC, mechanic, these fields have many opportunities for a little extra cash on the side. What are some IT/IS side jobs that Slashdot readers do for extra money?"
Aside from that, I've noticed that the lion's share of part-time skilled labor still takes place between 9 and 5. There are plenty of 10-15 hour a week IT jobs, but very few where you're not on regular work hours. Even if you find one, any bit of success tends to pull the work towards business hours -- I briefly had a side gig as a trainer at night, but that quickly devolved into "can you do this during the day?" once companies started demanding our services.
As a consequence, you are forced to look for jobs which are both off-hours and feature very flexible schedules. This tends to translate into low skill and thus low paying. I don't mean to sound elitist here, but when you're making good money at a regular job I think you'll find that it's just not worth surrendering your free time for what you can bring in working at Starbucks. Remember: just because you're not paid when you're not at work doesn't mean that time is worthless.
If you're not making enough money, it might be a better use of your time to continue your education. Many universities cater to people who work a 9-5, and a lot of employers will help pay for you to go. The payoff isn't as immediate, but in many situations it's a far better plan overall.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
...turn on a computer.
If we could only charge our grandmothers for every time we fixed their cord not being plugged in...
Runnin' On Empty
Is by not spending any...
A penny saved, is a penny earned!
100% Insightful
Maybe you shouldn't be in the IT industry then. When you have a passion for something you tend to enjoy doing it when ever the opportunity is available. I cannot imagine an artist saying I cannot wait to quit painting or drawing...
Just my 2 cents.
Why is this insightful? I doubt the last thing a plumber wants to do when he gets home is unclog his sister's toilet, nor does the mechanic want to talk to his neighbor about that tapping sound his car started making. People generally take side jobs because they need the money. I don't really want to clean megs of spyware off a family members' computer, but if they want to slip me some cash I'll be right over.
I don't really want to clean megs of spyware off a family members' computer, but if they want to slip me some cash I'll be right over.
Trouble is, many family members do not want to pay you to clean megs of spyware off their computer and straighten out lord knows what goofy symptoms it has. They want you to do it for free.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
But like the poster above, the last thing I want to do when I get home from working with computers all day is to touch another computer, even if it is something really cool. Every now and then I'll get hit with inspiration, and that is when I add cool new features to the cycling team database, or to my mail server, or my home jukebox, or whatever. The nice thing about it is that I can do it on MY TERMS. I refuse to do 'tech support' type work, however; even for family members. I didn't STOP using windows years ago just so that I could fix OTHER PEOPLE's problems with that PITA inflexible pile of crap.
Trouble is, many family members do not want to pay you to clean megs of spyware off their computer and straighten out lord knows what goofy symptoms it has. They want you to do it for free.
Ahh the joys of family. Does your mom charge you for Thanksgiving dinner? No, of course not. So we all get to "fix" our families pc's for free because it's what we do.
Oderint dum metuant
Renée Magritte (of "This in not a pipe" fame) went to his studio every morning after breakfast, then came home at the same time every day for dinner with the family, effectively treating the art as his dayjob.
Just because someone really likes doing something - even if they are passionate about it - people may well want to not do it all the time. Most scientists do not actually spend all their waking hours thinking about their work, most mucisians aren't always playing or thinking about music.
Most people, passionate or not, do want a life.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
I don't really want to clean megs of spyware off a family members' computer, but if they want to slip me some cash I'll be right over.
take a tip from Billy Gates.
nobody get's something for free. bill charged his family and that is how he started microsoft.
Aunt Meggie can either give you $50 bucks or she can give the computer super center $120.00 to fix her computer.
It works great, and the first time they get real prices to have a computer repaired and it returned to them with everything erased they will gladly feed you, give you a beer and 50 bones in cash.
I stopped giving away my weekends and weeknights to relatives and friends years ago. give them a deep discount like my example, but do NOT give it away free.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
If the particular CC company is used by porn sites to process payments, that might just be the reason!
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
If the particular CC company is used by porn sites to process payments, that might just be the reason!
Unless the merchant site itself hosts pr0n, I see no reason for blocking it for porn reasons since presumably they'd be unable to get there from the blocked porn site, or back from there to the pr0n site.
It's more likely that the thing blocked the site to keep the kids from sneaking the cards out of mommys purse (or some numbers off IRC) and going on a shopping spree.
I'm a contract Java programmer and work is spotty right now. I occasionally do volunteer work for non-profits, but they usually call me at odd hours and expect me to perform miracles on a shoe-string budget. Right now I'm helping my senior neighbors install and use their new PC. I'm moving at the end of the month and they bought a new machine and a store service contract (at my recommendation). They're paying me in free meals and beer.
I fixed a (non geek) friend's girlfriend's PC and she's asked me to help a few of her friends. I make it a point when I install things like Firefox to emphasize that I "customize it" with special features, so she when she bragged to her friends about her experience there was only one place to go to - ME. Another advantage is that if you're dating someone and she doesn't work out, either she won't bother you for tech support any more or she'll go out of her way to ensure that you remain good friends.
The best "side-job" I've found
I know some a creative mechanic who drives a "tweaked" car, an electrician with a fantastic christmas display, a chef who likes to throw dinner parties to show off, and a few carpenters with some really nice home interiors. If you're not happy using your skills outside of work, then you're probably not totally happy with your career. To me, that's difference between a career and a job.
As for seeking greener pastures, I worked 3 or 4 truly hellish jobs. One firm moved me 4 times in a year; my colleagues had resumes that spanned 20-40 job sites in 5 to 10 years. Another was small enough that the ceo and his wife split managerial duties, and their marital strife led to us getting conflicting orders twice a day. And so on... until I got in with a company full of wizards and acolytes that was managed with an eye toward us having balanced lives. Full telecommute privileges, anything-goes flexibility to hours we worked, etc. What I'd call 'professionals leading professionals' is so much better than the crap you're enduring. Yeah, I work wicked long hours, but I do it in my own fashion: I come in late, I stay a bit late, I go home and play with my kids and then go to my computer room and work for another few hours (or not) at my own discretion. From that first good gig, I've gone to another firm with similar rules. The work's fun and cutting-edge, with plenty of time for retrospection and self-training. Oh, and I make double what I did for any of the sweatshops. As the kid says, "I highly recommend it."
One last comment: having been around the field for quite a while, I suspect that we're still shedding non-geeks from the DotBomb years. The extra pressure and strain is a good thing in that respect: it gets rid of people that don't do this out of love. A few more years and we should be back to where demand exceeds supply just enough to give us more options.
Yeah, I know that flies in the face of outsourcing/etc, but a guy can dream. Everything I see still points toward no end to the problem of expanding complexity and increased I/T security risks. That, for me, means plenty of work to be done.
I don't want to be in a position to have to "pass judgement" on them, nor do I want to narc on the kids. I figure that if they're having me clean up porn popups, then they've already figured out that "someone" has been visiting naughty sites. It's their job to deal with their kids, not mine.
As for me, I don't care for blocking software, and I don't have it in my house. I think parents need to be parental, rather than hope for some automated solution. Besides, I think most kids are smart enough that they view blocking software as a sign that "dad doesn't trust them." If you're running blocking software, then guess what? They're right.
John
How ironic that in going for the tired "Bush is ignorant about the world" sophomoric humor, you demonstrate your own ignorance about the world.
The poster you were responding to is correct in what he said about *Taiwan*. While fighting back the attempts of the mainland to extend their tyranny over them, they yet wholeheartedly approve of Chinese tyranny over Tibet.
The Taiwanese and the Mainland Chinese, you and Bush, your use of "idiot", ah, the ironies are rich....
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
>I never understood why peons sitting at a desk all day feel superior to people doing physical or skilled work.
I can explain this for you. Everyone feels that whatever sort of work they do is superior to the type of work everyone else does. White collar people feel superior to blue collar people because they are rough and uneducated, blue collar people feel superior to white collar people because they are soft and lazy and don't know how to change their own oil or catch fish. And sociologists feel superior to of all of them, because they think they are the only ones who understand the whole thing. And me, I chuckle at the inferiority of all of you with your week minds and simple thoughts.