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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?"
it depends what kind of IT skills you have.
i am working for few online games like iclod and xmoo, they generate a bit of incomes and open up opportunities for other jobs.
the advantage is i don't need to be there physically to carry out works, but with that advantage, i also get the disadvantage of having thousand of similarly skilled people fighting for the same work.
i believe hardware-IT may have more opportunities. just post an ads on local newspaper to "Fix Your Computer Problems At Home" and there bound to be some elderly people who would rather get a local service from a local person at home.
Play iCLOD
Punch the monkey!
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
The moment they know you're in I.T. everyone in your family, and all your mother's friends, want you to fix their PCs.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
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.
Because the company I work for owns everything I think and do, according to my employment agreement. Nothing is considered "side-work."
--Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
and spam from people in the neighborhood.
Help end the use of Sigs. Tomorrow
I have started my own IT consulting business for home PC users. I advertise locally in the neighbor hood and work nights and weekends.
Women swoon when I talk to them about high-speed computing, VOIP, and the inherent tension between creator and consumer in the post-copyright world. It's a tough gig, but I'm happy if I can fall asleep knowing that I brought a smile to just one face.
I find that it's a very fun, and profitable, hobby to have on the side. I'm playing enough now that I do consider it a side job... in fact, I make a better hourly wage than at my real job! The best part about it is, I can play whenever I have a spare hour or two... I don't have to schedule it in.
I've started getting all of my other friends in IT hooked on it as well :)
If you're already doing contract work its not really a stretch from your existing skill set.
Throughout my years as a Unix admin, I have been a working blacksmith and woodworker in exotic woods. Recently I have branched into selling BDSM gear and sex toys, but that's beside the point.
I suspect many IT workers have a more artistic/creative outlet, whether it earns them any money or not. Its amazing how theraputic hammering hot metal is after a day dealing with computers and their users.
...So make sure it's not turned off, then you're set!
I spend my spare time writing open source software.
I proofread books, both treeware and e-books for three different publishers, including doing scan-and-proof of old books for electronic republication. It's a great way to relax and put my computer skills to use without having to dive into the details of the bits-and-bytes after hours.
I deliver pizza as a side job. Only a couple nights per week, and a few hours per night. Get $$$, and find loads of WiFi hotspots.
I preach for money. (many churches look to seminary students or former seminary student to do fill in preaching - they call it pulpit supply - when a pastor is on vacation) I've been tempted to put together a business card with that side job on it, "Serving God and mammon since 1997." Also, I work in a children's home. The overnight shift at the home allows me to work online during downtime. And then sometimes I do the freelance gig too. Who doesn't?
yes. that's all I'm going to say in all comments from now on.
By day I work for IBM as an engineer. By night, I'm an investigator for my wife's private investigations company http://www.travisinvestigations.com/ . I get to help spy on cheating wives and husbands, catch people in insurance fraud and other such things. Probably the part I enjoy the most is when I get to make use of new electronic tools like covert GPS tracking devices etc... What I dislike are the long nights surveiling some cheating spouse or watching someone to see if they are poor parents in custody cases. Of course I also take care of the company computers (mostly Macs believe it or not).
Just do what schoool board members in Tennessee do... make moonshine. Remember to avoid the tax-man, though...
There are only so many suckers, don't go telling people who are likely to be good at poker where our suckers are! You're giving away our money man!
Erm, I mean, this is a horrible idea, all of the IT people I know lose lots and lots of money playing poker online.
paintball
The speaker was, for the first time in his pathetic life, speechless. No one had ever challenged him on the issue of Tibet.
Is by not spending any...
A penny saved, is a penny earned!
100% Insightful
embezzlement
(in case my boss is watching, I'm j/k)
(if he's not, contact me for more info.)
What's that smell? Ah, that's my karma burning...
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.
One side job that doesn't have the problem of clashing with office hours is writing. Over the past few years, I have co-authored two O'Reilly books: "SSH, The Secure Shell (The Definitive Guide)" and "The Linux Security Cookbook." In addition to a substantial second income, I have had several follow-on writing and consulting opportunities (white papers, articles, etc.). Of course, there's the question of whether you want to spend even more time sitting in front of a computer in your off hours...
While it's obvious the original poster seemed more interested in IT-only side jobs, I think non-IT side jobs are worth a mention. I worked in room service in Las Vegas for a few years after college to help pay off my IT schooling. I finished paying it off just this last September so I promptly gave my two weeks notice.
Though honestly I do really miss it at times. My job is computers, my hobby is computers, it was nice to make some cash and spend my time on something other than sitting in front of a computer.
And up until my most recent IT job, I was making far more money doing room service.
"Excellence in Mediocrity"
I don't really have a side job. Instead, I go out and help build houses for Habitat for Humanity. I'm a computer nerd by trade but I'm a carpenter by heart. I love to build things and building for those who otherwise would never own a home is very rewarding. I also do the occasional church raising out in the rural areas.
There is nothing inherently safe about liberty. That's why so many people died protecting it.
You have obviously NEVER done tech support.
Me:Ok whats on the screen.
Them: Some box thing.
Me: ok what does the message say in the box.
Them: I dont know.
Me: Can you read it to me?
Them: It says something about windows.
Me: OK what does it say about windows.
Them: Something about Internet being Shut down.
Me: Were you on the internet when the problem happened?
Them: (defensive) NO!
Me: Was anything changed since it worked last?
Them: NO! CAN YOU COME OVER HERE AND LOOK AT IT?
Me: I'll be right over
So I go over because they have messed up VNC somehow and I cannot connect to the computer, and the error is something to the effect of
Your document has been sent to the printer
|OK|
Or my personal favorite, is when some issue happens and we get a bunch of calls about it, so we send out a net message asking everyone to please not call about the issue we already are working on it... Invariably 5-10 people will call immediately either stating that they have an error on thier computer what do they do, or they ask about the message and what do we want them to do about it.
READ IT DAMNIT. ITS IN ENGLISH, YOU MORON!
moo.
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
So, a few weeks ago my wife asked me if I could clean up the computer of one of the other Girl Scout den-mothers. After listening to the job description, I said, "Let me get this right. You're asking me to go to the home of a 27-year-old divorcee who wants me to look at a computer full of porn while her kids aren't home. No problem!"
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
After that reply, did you still get to go?
-30-
Maybe he should. When I get home, I know that I loathe opening up a programming environment. I've thought about some various side projects and stuff, but I never follow through on them. The reason is that I get paid to program. I think it's fun, but I don't find recreation in it.
I also have quite a bit of IT knowledge: fixing up computers, abolishing ad-ware, fixing user accounts, training, getting things to "work..." I hate it when my aunt says to me, "Mike, I've got a problem with my computer. My scanner..." First off, I dislike the headache I get when trying to fix things, when I could be doing something fun (i.e. playing pool). Second, I hate that I feel an obligation to work because she's my aunt.
A good side job is what I had a couple of years ago. I was a barista in a coffee shop. I could relax, talk to the customers, shoot the breeze with my co-workers, and generally not think about computers at all. I came home tired, but happy. I was refreshed in the morning as well.
You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button.
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.
Ad-Aware has just about totally stopped me from charging people I halfway like. When someone agrees to a. change to Mozilla or Firefox, and b. Install ad-Aware, and learn how to use it, I will usually help them not only with that, but fix a few other niggling little nuisances their PC suffers from. If they are blindly loyal to IE, they tend to get charged about 30 bucks an hour.
I only charge one relative, but he's a second cousin that is convinced he can make more money in the market if he has an even faster connection. He is currently using cable internet because they said it was up to 5 times faster than local DSL, ignoring that he can't get that speed during the hours the market trades, and when he heard that the cable speeds tend to be faster early in the morning (like 4 A.M.), he decided to start trading on forign exchanges, even though he knows next to nothing about the companies involved, because he's that convinced the extra speed somehow matters. He hears a distorted explanation of resetting MTU's in the Windows registry for faster access systems, from one of his clueless friends, and I get another call. Him, I charge for calls.
Who is John Cabal?
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.
One year they clamped down and started only letting math/science people log in. I was sitting in the lab working one day, shortly after this policy was instituted. To give people fair warning, I wrote the following message on the white board:
PLEASE READ (<-- in HUGE letters)
There is a new policy in place where only people
on the ACLUsers list can login in this lab. You
are on this list if you are enrolled in a math or
science class in this building.
You could not possibly miss this sign. And yet, over the course of the few hours I was there, I saw countless people exhibit the following behavior:
- walk in the door
- glance momentarily at the sign (long enough to read "PLEASE READ", but no more)
- sit down at a computer
- try to log in
- look puzzled
- try a few more times
- try a different computer
- come over and ask me "is there something wrong with the computers in this lab?"
It was maddening! I wanted to smack them!It's tempting to conclude from this story (as I did at the time) that most people are just ignorant and lazy. I think that the more useful lesson is: you'll never get people to pay attention to something by asking them to. Writing "PLEASE READ" is a futile effort. You have to make them WANT to read the sign; people read things because they WANT to, not because they SHOULD.
A much better strategy would have been to change the heading from "PLEASE READ" to "CAN'T LOG IN?"
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
Alright alright, I fess up. As a side job I subscribe billg@microsoft.com to various pr0n and spam lists.
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.
You get to sleep in until 8? I hate you.
My sig can beat up your sig.
Welll...would you expect your brother to charge you if you kept throwing, say, Depends down your toilet and expected him to keep fixing it for free, despite the fact that he has repeatedly told you not to throw your goddamn incontinent diapers down the toilet? Especially since after you flushed the Depends down the toilet, you decided to flush a box of tampons and a couple of rolls of toilet paper too to see if that would clear it up?
That's what fixing my families' computers feels like anymore - they don't update their virus protection, they open anything that they get in their email, they don't plug their computers into surge protectors, and then they wonder why we dread their phone calls. Every time we make the drive to their house (nine hours away if the weather is good and my toddler is very cooperative, thirteen if the above conditions are not met), we end up working on their computers. We have friends down there that they could call that would gladly come work on their computers at the first sign of trouble for the price of a home-cooked meal, but they try to fix it themselves, hose it up even more (like doing a parallel install of an older version of Windows 98 just because someone gave them the disk, then not understanding why all their apps cease to work) and then wait until we travel home for a visit to tell us their computer isn't working, but fail to mention things like the parallel install or the lightning striking their house after they decided to put the surge protector on their washing machine instead of leaving it on the computer. They also fail to mention that it's not working before we start the drive down so that we can pack parts from the graveyard, so it ends up either costing us money to buy them parts or they complain about the cost of computer parts when we make them buy the replacements.
My attitude toward the whole thing would probably be helped if my mother didn't keep telling me how much she hates the computer I gave her for Christmas last year. All the hardware was failing on her old computer, so I gave her and her partner both refurbished computers for Christmas. All I hear is how much she hates the damned thing.
If I treated my plumber like that, he would never come to my house again, no matter how much I paid him.
OK, I can end my rant now. I would probably be calmer about it except that we just got back from a trip there - we were working on their computers until a half hour before we left to drive back.
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
I trade shares for hobby and at the current rate that hobby will pay enough for me to quit by high paying day job (senior computer systems engineer in a defense company) in 3-5 years (I've been doing it for 2 years). This takes aabout an hour a week (value investing, not day trading).
I also went back to study phsychology and ended up as a qualified counsellor where a see a couple of clients a week to help keep me in touch with real humans. I also do some tutoring work for counselling students (which is all weekend and evenings). This takes a few hours a week plus 8-16 hours when I'm tutoring.
I write written scripts (have done two cartoon episodes for The Toons: Where are they now?) and am working on a self help book and a novel. Not to make money but because I like writing. This is usually only a 1-2 hrs a week (averaged over a year)
Because my day job in IT is so senior I don't get to do interesting technical/creative stuff I do little PC setup jobs for friends and write php/mysql apps for friends businesses (currently doing a 1.5TB image management and workflow system). This is about 10hrs a week at the moment.
I'm also developing some self help workshops which I hope to start running early next year. This takes 2-3 hrs a week (at the moment).
This is on top of my 50hr a week job, a wife and 4 children. I do as much extra stuff as I can after everyone else is in bed (eg 10pm onwards) and sleep about 5 hrs a night (with the occassional 10hr night to catch up).
The idea is to develop paying work that has a very high hourly rate so I can work less hours. The share trading is best, earning several hundred dollars an hour and in future for the same effort this will increase as profits are simpy reinvested and not consumed. Secondly the counselling is experience towards doing the workshops, where you can charge 30 ppl $200 for a weekend workshop (16hrs) to give a similar hourly rate (minus overheads and prep time).
Currently all this augments my income by about 30% (up from 10% last year) so I'm on track to retire within 5 years.
I also used to play in a band (did 3 albums) which was an aweful lot of fun but an aweful waste of time. Once kids came along that something had to give!
The best way to relax is playing with the kids, programming and writing (for me at least).
I still toss around ideas of high tech startups (I had one in the late 90s with angel funding but we never got to the big venture capital stage) but nothing is as assured as 1) value investing with shares, and 2) a 9-5 job.
If money and creating spare time weren't a concern I would probably just counsel people and write, but I wouldn't make a good living out of it (well, I might but it's unlikely - I'm not abuot to plan on an improbably income stream when I have a mortgage and kids!).
pithy comment
I used to use a single box for everything at home. Pentium 133, with 128MB of ram. It was my jukebox, firewall, mailserver, database server, web server, etc. Worked fine, but I didn't like having a single point of failure.
These days, that box *was* my mail server (just now replaced it with a P2 550), and I have a separate firewall, and 'everything else' server (PIII ... forget the speed). The 'everything else' box is hooked to the tv, and has web browsing, Xine, Xmms, and such. (I'm too lazy to build a real mythtv box :) In addition it is doing dhcp, mysql, apache, etc.
Right now, I am using a P75 with 16MB of ram as a smoothwall firewall (that will be the P133's new function), and of course the other two servers I mentioned.
So, yeah, I know what you mean about older hardware. It's great being able to use it. Heck the stuff I have is way overpowered for the amount of work it has to do (watching videos being the exception).
I also own a Toshiba Libretto...now that thing is 'low power'. I have it overclocked to 266MHz, and it can play Mpeg-1 videos pretty well. It runs firefox respectably too. The real bottlenecks seem to be the non-DMA drive in it, and the 64MByte memory limit. But it is a great little box to use as a car jukebox, wireless stumbler, photo repository, and browser when I need it. I put a 20Gig drive in it, and partitioned the LVM so that I can still hibernate it (the bios dumps hibernation right at the 4 Gig mark).
My girlfriend's dad is a highly skilled plumber - he was hired at the nuclear power plant for some special work there. He definitely knows what he's doing.
Nonetheless, when the pipes freeze or a toilet clogs, he, without fail, always calls someone else to do it.
I'm a western man living in Beijing. Westerners are often used here as foreign experts in TV commercials to lend some additional semblance of credibility to the product pitch. I have played a doctor, an Australian scientist, and suit & tie businessmen. Products have included breast enlargement kits, hi-tech underwear, and chinese herbal medicine (the Strong Bones Particles of Six Flavors). Usually I just have to mouth some words because they'll do a voiceover in Chinese later, but occasionally I have to speak - and translate very bad English into something a real person might actually say. Its not very lucrative but it is diverting.
I have my father convinced PEBKAC is a legitmate computer virus.
Him: "Uh, you wanna come over and take a look at my PC."
Me: "Why? Whats Up?"
Him: "I think I have another PEBKAC on my PC again."
Me: "Were you looking at email from people you didnt know and opening attachments?"
Him: "I can't remember. Just come over and take a look"
Me: "Sounds like a PEBKAC issue."
Him: "That is what I'm thinking too."
In my Sociology 101 book I found some interesting facts.
When they are at home, blue collar workers don't do anything. They usually watch TV and do small tasks. Thats because their work is so physically hard that they are exhausted when they arrive at home.
White collar workers when at home usually do some hobby unrelated to their actual work. They do some sport or any other hobby.
Managers (or the upper class) usually do the same job when they come home. In a way they do the same job the whole day. That is because their work is not physically demanding so they can work the whole day.
Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
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.