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Successful Moonlighting For Geeks?

Lawksamussy writes "Having just bought a really old house that's on the verge of falling down, I'm now trying to find a way to pay to fix it up. I have a great job in software development that pays the bills, but I'm looking to earn some extra cash in my spare time. Whatever I end up doing has to be reasonably lucrative (or at least have the potential to be so), not require any specific time commitment, and be doable equally well from home or from a hotel room. I'm also keen that it should be sufficiently different to my day job to keep my interest up, so the most obvious things like bidding for programming projects on Rentacoder.com, or fixing up neighbors' PCs, aren't really on. Above all, it should appeal to my inner geek, otherwise my low boredom threshold will doom it to failure before I even start! So, I wonder if any of my fellow Slashdotters run little part-time ventures that they find more of an inspiration than a chore... and if they are willing to share what they do and perhaps even how much money they make doing it?"

4 of 448 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Write an iPhone App by Heembo · · Score: 1, Troll

    Gross. Then you would have to buy a crappy mac - no way to build iPhone applications on a non os-x platform that I know of. Shudder.

    --
    Horns are really just a broken halo.
  2. star gazing & hand waving popular again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    could do worse?

    greed, fear & ego are unprecedented evile's primary weapons. those, along with deception & coercion, helps most of us remain (unwittingly?) dependent on its' life0cidal hired goons' agenda. most of yOUR dwindling resources are being squandered on the 'wars', & continuation of the billionerrors stock markup FraUD/pyramid schemes. nobody ever mentions the real long term costs of those debacles in both life & the notion of prosperity, not to mention the abuse of the consciences of those of us who still have one. see you on the other side of it. the lights are coming up all over now. conspiracy theorists are being vindicated. some might choose a tin umbrella to go with their hats. the fairytail is winding down now. let your conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

    http://news.google.com/?ncl=1216734813&hl=en&topic=n
    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/world/29amnesty.html?hp
    http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/02/nasa.global.warming.ap/index.html
    http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/05/severe.weather.ap/index.html
    http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/02/honore.preparedness/index.html
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01dowd.html?em&ex=1212638400&en=744b7cebc86723e5&ei=5087%0A
    http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/05/senate.iraq/index.html
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/washington/17contractor.html?hp
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/world/middleeast/03kurdistan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
    http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080708/cheney_climate.html
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080805/pl_politico/12308;_ylt=A0wNcxTPdJhILAYAVQms0NUE
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080903/ts_nm/environment_arctic_dc;_ylt=A0wNcwhhcb5It3EBoy2s0NUE

    is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=weather+manipulation&btnG=Search
    http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

    dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

    the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scri

  3. All computer science majors are stupid! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Computer Science majors are worthless people. Don't expect much, you are as worthless as the dirt on the ground, or the dirt deposited on cheap toilet paper. It shows how ignorant you are, because you bought a house on the verge of falling down? Yet you are not ready to fix it up yourself? Given the housing market, you will not ever return a profit on any improvements if you can't do it yourself. Jackass.

  4. Mister Snitch by Mister+Snitch · · Score: 0, Troll

    FWIW: I actually have a couple of projects that might offer the writer the flexibility and interest he craves. They are projects with beginnings and ends, not ongoing eternally (I don't think), so they're not 'forever' financial solutions for him. Although, who knows what could come of this. This also might be of interest to other Slashdotters, but I cannot discuss them here. Anyone wishing to contact me may do so at mister snitch [at] hot mail [dot] com, and I can offer broad strokes. BTW, the first thing I need is a patent attorney to protect the idea. It would be the sort of attorney comfortable with, say, patenting Amazon's various processes. Also: I HAVE rebuilt a house. Learned a lot, but it took forever and I don't know that I'd do it again.