Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Making Side-Money As a Programmer?
earlzdotnet writes "I've been programming for a few years now, and I have a full time job. I'm one of those lucky souls that actually enjoy programming, so I commonly work on my own open source projects on weekends. However, I wouldn't mind working on a short-term projects (i.e. not more than ~2 months) every once in a while on weekends. I've looked at freelancing before, and I could probably make more money by working at McDonald's on weekends than that. I've also looked into making web sites for small businesses, but it requires a bit too much commitment and support for me, especially since I'm terrible at graphics design. I've tried my hand at writing reusable components to sell to other programmers, but that was pretty pointless (I made one $20 sale). I've seen teaching suggested, but I'm self-taught and probably not experienced enough to responsibly teach people. Are there any other options to make a bit of cash as a programmer? Is programming just one of those things that requires complete dedication, or what?"
There seems to be a fair amount of demand for small projects on the Salesforce platform. I think there's a web site or two out there for bidding on such jobs, but the URLs escape me.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
There's always room for another bug tracking app.
Write an app to sell in an online app store. I've friend who have done very well out of Mac one. It would be helpful if you can find a graphic designer to work with you. Pretty apps sell better.
You should work at McDonald.
Ask for a raise at work, and continue your open source contributions on the weekend?
You can always develop iPhone and Android apps. Of course, you might not end up making any money. But you could get lucky and strike it big. Even if not, you'll be having fun.
I know you're looking for was to bring in some extra cash, but in the long run submitting patches to OSS might actually be the way to go. You get to see a wide variety of code (both in terms of quality and subject matter) so it's usually interesting, you get to "make a difference" especially if it's a project you care about, and there are a lot of managers out there who look favorably to having such things are a resume (so it might help you bring in more money in the future, just be sure you have your patches associated with you to prove that you were the submitter to a reasonable degree). Probably not what you were looking for, just my $.02.
What about Rent-A-Coder?
This seems to be the kind of thing they do -- no idea of it pays well or anything about it, but I'm someone around her has experience with them.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Honestly you should do things that you can post to Github. If you make a useful library then you can get a job that pays more when a large is looking for someone with experience in that technology. You can then spend your freetime making more open source stuff to post. Rinse and repeat.
Full-time programmers often sign an employment contract that assigns all IP to their employer for $1. Be very open with your employer about producing software that you believe belongs to you as opposed to them. Labour laws are regional so this may not apply. Does your employer offer any incentives to contribute extra work? I'd start there.
Before you start doing freelance stuff, check your current contract for whether or not there is a clause about you telling them (and getting approval) before starting another job. You never know...
Also, if you can make websites, you don't need to have design skills or anything. Look into reusing WordPress templates (or similar free design templates for other platforms) and then just build websites around them. Plus, if you use WordPress, you don't really have any issue, 'cause there are so many other people who can just then take up the support after you disappear.
Also just chuck ads in the local paper. "Programming done", but beware of cranks.
HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
It's certainly possible to do programming work in your free time if you can find someone who needs a small amount of stuff done and can deal with being the secondary priority to your real job. I've been doing it on and off for at least a decade now, and I make enough money at it to make for tax headaches. Requires a lot of attributes that you might not need in the regular scheduled day job world; you get to be the entire team, testing and QA and documentation included. No safety net. Can be sorta stressful. Can also be fun.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
I often thought the same. My conclusion was that you need to get a group of top notch programmers together so that you can take on the larger more profitable pieces of work and still only put in a few hours a week.
The next problem is that the people you know that are top notch may not be willing to take the same risks as you.
"I've also looked into making web sites for small businesses, but it requires a bit too much commitment and support for me"
I used to do this for people I know, but actually having to support stuff I wrote for money:
-killed the fun of it
-started to interferece with day job.
So either go for the apps like suggested or just keep writing stuff in your spare time for fun without pay.
Look around craigslist, there are always people who need little programming things done, scripts and such. A few years ago I was making an extra 800-1000 per month doing these kinds of gigs on my spare time.
and expect to keep your current job. Employers HATE that. They pay you to do your job and keep your mind on their problem. If you aren't, they'll fire you.
Doh, "But I'm sure someone" ... I have no experience with them.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
You could try your hand at various programming competitions such as those offered on TopCoder or Kaggle. Some of the prizes in these competitions amount to serious dough.
Alternatively, you could try algorithmic trading. Several online brokerages offer an API, such as Interactive Brokers and TradeStation.
I have good news and bad news: you can totally get little contract jobs on the side for extra cash as a developer, but you have to put time and effort into drumming up clients, list as if you were doing contract development full time. You have to convince each new client that you're worth their money. I've had some luck doing contract work for previous employers that already know I'm trustworthy, but I can't just turn it on and off like a money faucet.
Your other option is to make something and sell it yourself, which is even more of an up-front investment of time with less guarantee of a return. You'll be spending even more time doing marketing and business management.
So, the short version is you're not likely to get easy money without putting more effort into it, unless you've already built up numerous business relationships. Sorry! I wish I could just write useful code and get paid for it too, but it turns out I have to keep convincing someone to give me money for my work.
I am doing this all wrong.
A couple of years ago I tried this myself, although I didn't start out with the intention to make any money. I was working on some mobile apps for BlackBerry's PlayBook tablet. They were offering a free tablet to people who made an app, and I'm a real sucker for "free" electronics.
I discovered it was fun making mobile apps, so I have kept at it, spending perhaps 500 hours of time over the last two years. For the first 6 months or so income totalled about $3,000, which was enough to make it fun/rewarding, but not lucrative. But eventually, I made an app that did really well, and it only took 8 hours to make version 1. In the last 16 months or so I have earned about $190,000, and sales on BlackBerry 10 are already more than they were on PlayBook.
If you enjoy C++ development, I'd recommend the BB10 platform. I wrote this up last spring on my "secrets of success":
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Bnts26oxfhXACMYf_leCZvFENk2mqEV55f8UIaOrcpA
Look into creating code for AV control systems, AMX and Crestron being the big dogs in the game. Both offer online classes on how to write code for their control systems. Many AV companies are looking for good coders either to hire or contract. A few of my acquaintances who are independent have a deal with a luxury yacht builder to supply the code for the entertainment/living control systems they install on their boats, to list an example, but get the top level certifications from the above mentioned manufactures of these control systems and you can make some good change on the side. These systems are in use in all environments, plenty of need and opportunities.
Botnet programming can be quite lucrative, but I hear FPMITA prison is a real bitch.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
I just looked at that website and browsed some of the projects. Based on how much the people putting up these projects want to spend, you probably WOULD be better off working at McDonalds.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
Where did you get the idea freelancing paid next to nothing? Are you looking on Craigslist and shitty places like that or something? Freelance iOS developers, for example, can earn in the region of $100/hr quite easily.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
You want money and that's understandable, but one way to get there is to do work for non-profits. Others see what they have and may refer you as a result. You can also then make money maintaining that same system for the non-profit and others.
Write an app to sell in an online app store. I've friend who have done very well out of Mac one. It would be helpful if you can find a graphic designer to work with you. Pretty apps sell better.
And when did he do that?
From what I've seen, that's so 2009. That "write an app and make $$$" days are well over.
I have a LOT of ideas for apps, but when I look at the Apple store, Android - Google Play, etc ... I see that whatever I want to do has been done to death and it's available for FREE - by experienced app programmers who are much better than me. Try as I may to see if there's something I can do better, there isn't.
Granted that's just me - not someone who may be much more gifted than me.
Look it everyone, when you see advice online, it's jumped the shark. The folks who are going to do something that wil make one rich are doing it because they think it's cool (and WELL ahead of the curve) and they get lucky if it makes them $$$$. Yes, it's always hard work, but to hit the money? Luck.
And then there are times when things have jumped the shark. iOS or any mobile app development has jumped the shark (I've said that too much) .
Where in programming is a need not being filled? There's your answer.
I don't know because if I did, I'd be doing it and not spouting it off on the interweb.
I think he was lookign at websites- rentacoder, freelancer.com, elance, etc. The hourly rates there are very low, because they're used to hire people in 3rd world countries and by people who have no real respect for your work. And plenty of high school/college kids who bid low thinking it will lead to future work. Freelancing pays well, but only if you drum up the work yourself.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
You'll probably do better focusing on excelling at your current job and acquiring new skills.
The pay rate for unusual skill pairings is much better than either skill alone or common pairings.
So what do you know besides programming? Do you know the subject matter? If not, learn that.
Always make sure you learn a bit more than just what you need to get by. If someone you work w/ is doing something you don't know how to do, learn at least a little bit about that. If thye outrank you at work, learn more.
The key is being ready when the opportunity appears.
I also was very lucky that a very-long-term project project in which I invested a huge amount of time (thousands of hours) starting in 1995, with absolutely no expectation of financial reward, actually started making me a non-trivial amount of money starting in 2009. I'm certainly not going to claim that this is a likely outcome, but it can happen.
As an example of a small and very obscure personal project, in July of 2011 I rewrote the Apple I ROM monitor to work on an MC6800 microprocessor (rather than the 6502), because the Apple I hardware design was theoretically capable of being configured for the MC6800. It's of no practical value whatsoever, and will never make me any money, but I submitted it as a RetroChallenge contest entry and actually won second place and a small prize. Just recently someone in Australia actually installed an MC6800 in an Apple 1 replica, did a little hardware debugging, and got my monitor code running on it. (I'd only run it in simulation with MESS.) It was very satisfying watching the video on Youtube.
Team up with a business partner who has better ideas and is more business-savvy than you. Such people typically can't code anything. Together you can achieve what none of you could have done alone.
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/27/business/how-a-tax-law-helps-insure-a-scarcity-of-programmers.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
I cannot find the references, but the reason I remember this factoid is because there was a man who went postal, citing his inability to make a living as a programmer due to tax laws.
I don't think many on Rent-A-Coder can actually program. I once put a job on there. I had a simple Python program that would retrieve and format in a standard form WHOIS data from one registrar's WHOIS server. I wanted modules written for about 50 other registrars. That's a simple formatting job; I just didn't want to write all the variants. Three Rent-A-Coder "programmers" in succession tried and gave up. Not one ever delivered a single line of code. This wasn't exactly rocket science.
I tried "freelancer.com" once for some simple web design work. I was willing to pay about $500 for one well-designed page with some specific original artwork. I got back crap clip art. I finally paid $500 to a student at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and got back good work in a week with no problems.
"Freelancer.com" was difficult about returning my money. I discovered that the regional small claims court in Australia accepts online filings. I filled out the appropriate online forms, paid a small court fee, and within hours of filing a case, Freelancer sent me a refund by wire transfer.
Also just chuck ads in the local paper. "Programming done"
If it's already done, then why would he need to code it again?
Put an ad in the craigs list m4m section. My friend makes $1000 for a couple hours on Friday night.
Offer to do assignments for people at a cost. Once you've done a certain amount, they all just recycle on each other.
Learn the salesforce platform or similiar. Boring, but $100-$200 per hour minimum range for any work done is standard.
This isn't a typical setup, but here's my situation. I was employed as a programmer by a company whose regular business had nothing to do with software development; they had what they thought would be a short-term contract need. Long story short, they kept me around for five years, during which time there was one company who used them / me to support and continue development of a ColdFusion business web app. When I was let go last year (due to, of course, lack of actual business need), I asked that employer to allow me to "take" this customer with me.
I negotiated a $75/hour rate, which saved the client about $35/hour while padding my own pocket nicely. I have a regular full-time salaried gig again, but I have kept the customer with the agreement that they have to understand that my ability to respond real-time during the day would be limited at best, and am still going strong with them.
The point is, to fit it in with a day job, you can advertise your services (I personally advise getting clearance from your employer - some hate moonlighting - but that's up to you of course) and let the customer know what your personal availability is, and then hope to find that lucky situation that works for both of you. My situation was certainly partial luck, but given that, a clear understanding between parties has worked out nicely for both of us.
For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
I'm shocked, shocked I tell 'ya. You've ruined my faith in mankind. OK, not really.
And, yeah, I see people offering $100 to migrate a web site from Flash to HTML including animations, and someone else who looks like they want their homework done.
People seem to expect miracles and professional software for pennies ... like the guy offering $50 to write the credit card processing for an allegedly complete MMO.
It seems like it would be prone to shady players and clueless clients who don't know anything about software and how much it actually costs.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Pick a platform and start making games and apps. It's low cost to get into. It's fun. And even though I've not made much money at it yet I may in the future. I honestly don't understand why every programmer doesn't do this on the weekends.
My mother-in-law was taking a C++ class taught by an accountant. One project included code that was syntactically incorrect (the purpose of the assignment was not to find the syntax errors).
My point is, if you wanted to teach, you could and do so in a more responsible manner than others.
I've always said English was my second language. Had Romeo and Juliet been written in C, I might have understood it.
If you have no mobile devices and have to buy them from scratch to do your development and testing, you will be in the hole.
No, testing environments and simulators don't cut it.
App development for most - unless a bolckbuster app - is a money losing experience.
Son of Bugzilla
I hear it was huge in Japan!
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
> making web sites for small businesses
What is this - 1995? Why is a programmer doing marketing?
> reusable components to sell to other programmers
Good choice to avoid that. Programmers tend to like their modules free AND with source code. AND they suck up your time with edge cases (which is why they probably began looking at your component rather than writing their own in the first place). In three different companies now I've had a hand in killing off standalone components targeted at programmers...and I'd do it again.
> Are there any other options to make a bit of cash as a programmer?
As a side job? Find an ecosystem, even a niche ecosystem where people are actually buying components (Exchange plug-ins, Blackberry apps, mainframe software, whatever) and write something simple. Do that once or twice a year and enjoy!
You can make money on the side programming, especially with web development projects. The problem I see with the original question is that the person asking doesn't want to work on anything long term (less than two months) and doesn't want to support existing projects (no long term support) and doesn't feel skilled enough to sell one-time modules. That doesn't leave a lot of room. What can you do in less than two months, do well and not have to support in the future? Not much, really. I think one of those requirements needs to go.
I did something like this (though more sysadmin stuff than anything), but I worked for a former co-worker who started his own full-time contracting business, mainly web design work. I got paid by the hour for odds and ends, but I was there to relieve his workload and add some fine-point expertise. If something came up support-wise it was on his shoulders to find someone to handle it if I wasn't available. It worked out pretty well for both of us. If I was doing more coding work then it would have been even better as that is where his skills were so he could fully support it himself.
speaking as the owner of a successful 7 person software consulting firm, its not worth my time to manage you.
We have tried time and time again to try to utilize people for '15 hours on the side'. It fails miserably. You aren't there when I need you to unblock someone looking at your work, and if you have any other commitment, overtime on your main job, a sick kid, a band rehearsal, a stubbed toe, its evident that the '15 hours on the side' is your lowest priority... and that's fine, I mean, I wouldn't give up time with my kids for some beer money on the side, but generally, our priorities don't line up and its only a matter of time before I pay the price.
Contribute to open source, build a portfolio, then determine if its something you're ready to commit to.
Many of the successful freelancers I know pretty much stayed with clients from previous fulltme jobs. They may branch out to clients inthe same field. breaking into totally new areas is not easy.
The full set of task include:
-developing clients
-obtaining a project
-specifying the project
-writing tests for the specification
-writing the code
-testing the code yourself EXTENSIVELY
-documenting the code
-teaching the program to the client
-storing the code in a versioned database
-fixing bugs (for months or years)
-documenting bugs/enhancements in a database in case they return again
-marketing the code to secondary customers if allowed
-downtime between projects
-learning/obtaining new hardware and software
If you freelance, you do these all yourself. Maybe a quarter of your time will be spend coding. There are many open-source/online aids to help you with some of these tasks. Newbies and college kids think a programmer spend 90% of their time programming. Hah!
If you work for as developer for a software company many of these tasks will be off-loaded to specialists. Then you might code as much as half your time.
Where, pray tell? Around here there's an ample supply of kids just out of school who work for far less, "just to get experience".
There are a few large open source projects that offer bounties for particular features or enhancements. Some frameworks, such as Joomla, also have various kinds of enhancement that can be offered for a fee. Google's Summer of Code is a competition based answer. If you have your own idea, you can try kickstarter or indiegogo and see if people are willing to give you money to provide a solution.
Than most community college professors, from a "teachable" standpoint. If you really want to teach (although I think colleges are strict about requiring relevant degrees), the few classes I took before quitting school had some of the most novice "programmers" I've come in contact with. Even at a junior level programming, these people were not qualified to teach a class, let alone actually build anything that wasn't in the book they were reading to us. Oh, and for people who think it's only small colleges.. this community college had over 50,000 students-- not bad for a 2 year school. If you're serious, it shouldn't be too difficult to take their place.
I did two jobs on the same time.
DO NOT DO IT.
Spend the life together with your family, your kids.
Forget the bits and nerd stuff.
Read and walk with your children.
Get a dog, that makes you move out more frequently.
The electrons in the CPU do not deserve your precious time, they are immortal, you are not.
That's a really good and valid point. The salary level depends on the non-profit. Non-profit doesn't mean they don't pay salaries, even good ones. I guess the point I was trying to make was that if you're starting from zero, doing a little free/low-pay work to build a background isn't a bad thing. It can lead to maintenance contracts and other more lucrative pursuits.
Well, yes, but if a company pays that they'll want a certain level of commitment. Not just a weekender.
Most of the obvious avenues are oversubscribed. Either by people from poorer countries who can undercut you, or by full timers who can commit more than you.
Seems to me the obvious ways to make this pay are either work on something in an area that pays well in order to get a job in that field, or do some market research and find out if there are any iPhone or Android apps (or even WP7) that people seem to indicate they'd be willing to pay for.
If you can make more money at McDonald's than you can at freelancing, then you aren't freelancing properly. If you've properly networked with former coworkers who know what your skill set is, you ought to be able to find plenty to do.
Also, I tend to stay away from sites like elance. I found it's mostly a race to the bottom in terms of finding work that pays well - many of the postings I looked at were bid down to $10/hr by people who live in a part of the world where that's a lot of money.
I have been doing side jobs for a long while now, and I've can't stress the parent post enough - it's a lot more work than just programming. Like, 80/20.
It means that I have to be an incredible communicator, since I'll not only be the entire technical team, I'm the analyst, tax accountant and lawyer as well. I need to distill the verbal needs into discrete requirements, estimate costs, lay out contractual obligations, and so on. It's a heap of work. It's _real_ work, same as I do in my day job, just more varieties of it in less time.
Say I'm contracted to build a website - nothing too fancy, 1 main page template, 1 subpage template with 5 variants, a sign up form, bunch of javascript, database on the back end. I can manage that in a few hours. Actual effort including changing requirements, various designs, deciphering their documentation, getting hosting/account/access, fixing the provided assets, walking through setup, helping the copywriters populate the pages etc = 40+ hours. Doing it well enough that they feel I'm not only professional but exceptional - and they're getting their money's worth - quite a bit more.
Don't get me wrong, it can be personally rewarding both financially and intellectually, but it is a job, and it's not even my primary job.
I've found that I can manage as long as I set strict limits. I have to cut off potential clients as soon as they start making demands that aren't compatible with having a separate full time job; meetings during my normal working hours, travel, iterative development, taking vacation time from my primary job to work on a contract, etc. I stress the importance of having a predictable schedule - they can have it fast, but they can't have it now - I can't count the times a client left a voicemail with something like '...and it turns out we need it by tomorrow's 8 am meeting'. I try to stick with known business contacts, and maintain my business relationship with them - which is more time spent.
In my experience, projects of smaller size end up being horrible. I avoid Rentacoder and other similar sites since they appear to be unable to pay actual market value for the many of their tasks, or focus on items of dubious use - like the old request for forum-specific email harvesting programs. Outside of certified job posting sites, I have to worry about even getting paid. (If you want a scare, read http://clientsfromhell.net./
I don't know how you could do this casually and profit. It takes dedication of time and energy. I probably spend 30-40 hours a week on my side contracts when I'm active, but I work less than every other week, on average. Everyone wants an early completion date, but they rarely have their projects lined up in a row. I also find myself scheduling breaks, days I don't work, just so I can unwind a little.
It's ironic, but it takes a lot of stress to get yourself to a point where you can relax and enjoy what you're doing.
I think that if your goal isn't money, but rather to have fun, I recommend what other posters have suggested - find an OSS project. Something you can enjoy for itself, but not something that you're contractually obligated to spend your nights and weekends on.
if you go to the rentacoder.com and stuff you will be competing directly with everyone else. However, if you can find your own customers, you will be at a huge advantage. For example, go up to university grad students/prof/post-docs and offer to help them with their projects. Go to older folks and ask them if you can make their life easier. Go to medium-sized businesses and offer to streamline their workflows. Maybe they need excel scripts, or whatever. I propose that the untapped markets (people who do not know about rent-a-coder, or do not know that they are being inefficient) are the people that could benefit the most from your services.
Look. Everybody seems to like Facebook, but nobody likes the fact that Zuckerberg thinks it's okay to identify everybody against their will, and to sell that information to other companies and government agencies to be used for who knows what.
If you were to create your own version, and absolutely guranteed people the ability to remain anonymous, and would never trade their information, or provide it to a governement agency unless they had an actual warrant, then people would flock towards your product.
As with getting a job, it's often who you know not what you know.
When I started contracting on the side I had let my friends know about my interest in other work. Someone contacted me one day with something that sounded interesting so I went forward with it. I was quite open with my day job about it. They of course weren't totally cool with it, but they had no legal standing as it didn't conflict with my day job responsibilities or dance into NDA items. Of course they had a right to feel uncomfortable, because I ended up leaving for my side job.
Finding work shouldn't be an issue if you have a decent collection of friends in various fields. Even my lawyer was asking me about doing some project with her if I had time and now the people I used to work with are asking if I have time for their friends seeking on software people. There are always small businesses that need software and companies that need part time resources on contract. I think the issue is making sure you are legit (meaning you have proper business license, are dealing with taxes correctly etc). If you are someone who can come in and save the day (fix some other dev's f-up) then people will love you and you'll have more work than you can handle. It's just getting your first gig and setting yourself up for business that are the "difficult" part.
Of course if stuff starts taking off expect to drop your day job. Keeping up your own company and working for someone else isn't much fun. Would you rather work OT working on some BS feature sales demanded last (for single time at best) or be making a bunch more working for yourself getting back what you deserve for every hour put in?
"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
That. You've certainly heard of open-source. Software wants to be free. This means that programmer salaries want to be $0.
I wrote a nice little game that I enjoyed playing on a Palm Treo and could not find on the Android App market. It gets good reviews and I make a couple hundred a month from the sales and the ads in the lite version. Not enough to quit the day job, but a nice side income. My next game will be more involved and I think appeal to a wider audience, the first is very logic puzzle orientated.
There are lots of apps and games on these markets, so finding something new or different in some way can be difficult. Or you can look for areas that are not done very well and try to improve them. I am simply looking at games I would like to play and make those. If others like them, then great, if not, then it was a good exercise and I have a game I like in the end anyway.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
Good Tips. Weekend work. Number 9 on the top ten list of jobs to meet women.
As a coder, everything from parallel microcode to SQL, and administrator, systems and data bases mostly, I've found that have both skills can increase your value. Admin work lends itself to nights and weekends.
Just my 0.02 USD worth
Once someone offhand asked me if I could write something like that quickbooks has(managing rental properties). I said "probably for the subset of it that you need, but it'd take a lot of time." And then he said "Could you do it for under $100? Quickbooks is too expensive for me to buy." Literal facepalm.
I'll probably get laughed at - but i know a few scripters making ok part-time money on Second Life.
The beauty of it is; you create-to-market once, then it's basically passive income.
Artificial life, avatar controls, weapons/combat systems,games, physics, vehicles, web-on-a-prim, and lots more fun stuff.
And lots of talents in there - artists of all sorts
I know you said you don't have the design skills or patience for support for SMB websites. But you can crank these things out overnight with a Wordpress or Joomla installation and purchase well designed templates for next to nothing. You can make enough changes to make it unique by tweaking font faces/sizes in the CSS and replacing the stock photography with your own. You can have fun coding widgets for the unique aspects of the site and if it looks too in-depth or uninteresting, there are available widgets for free or purchase to cover the gaps. And the platforms are generally stable enough to have few support issues. I do them right and left and it only took a couple of jobs for a couple of local graphic designers to put me in as their on-call person for websites. Typically, I have one meeting with the client (and often, just the designer who's met with them earlier) to pick out a template and tell me what content goes where. They usually want imagery to match their print materials, so that's often done for me ahead of time - except maybe purchasing a couple of stock photos here and there. I spend maybe an hour typing or copy/pasting text, maybe an hour or two cropping and resizing photos, as much time as I want playing with the code for fun and purchase a $75 template and maybe a $25 widget on occasion. I'll make them a little manual in Word with step by step instructions on how to change the items they're likely going to want to change (hours, contact info, announcement blog, etc.). Then bill them for $2500 - $5000. If I ever have support issues, it's usually with the hosting company and I'm just being an intermediary.
I agree with the poster who suggested becoming an expert in an particular package except... you may already be an expert in a particular package, market that. Also, there are a number of existing opensource packages out there in the scientific world that don't have an easy frontend. If you want to pick something to work on, learn one of those, then build some tools to make managing them easier. You can spend your time dealing with interesting complex stuff and hand the simple bits over to whoever you're doing the work for.
There was an article a few months ago about being a well paid technical consultant. Kind of a chubby guy, he put up some posts where he was brought in as the technical consultant on several shows.
Granted, his advice works very well if you're in IT, but it's probably adaptable.
He said to use Craigslist, but before you scoff, he talked about how to use it.
Find that one thing that folks don't like to do, or that's ugly to do, and be the expert in THAT.
Maybe it's setting up an LDAP installation, or Integrating it with some odd piece of software, or setting up a Route file for a DNS point. .htaccess files or configuring apache.
In our cases, it would probably be things like writing drivers or bridging data formats, or highly specialized and rarely used APIs, or setting up batch files for a DOS system or REST interfaces or setting up specialized
In essence, you're looking for things that are fairly quick to do (1-2 days) and done rarely, because once they're done they're done, but they are ugly and painful to do because you don't do them often.
Then go market yourself to people who need THAT done.
I've occasionally done work there, but very infrequently. I've been gainfully employed as a software engineer for many years now and make good money; usually I look at RAC/vWorker when I'm bored. Unfortunately, most of the work I see are blatant "do my homework for me for $5" projects or "I want someone to duplicate obscurecommercialwebsite.com for $37". Not worth my time.
The projects I have worked on have been fun and engaging, but it's really difficult sifting out the gems from the mountains of crap.
Tutor High School Students. Probably can make $40 to $80 per hour, depending on the prosperity of the school district, and the desperation of the students and/or their parents.
I haven't seen anyone else mention it, so my answer is: Staffing Agency
If you become one of the 'go to' coders for a staffing agency, especially a smaller regional one, you can make almost full-time money and completely set your own schedule.
Your options depend on where you live. In a tech focused large city, you probably have at least a dozen options, if you include larger staffing agencies with a tech division. In BFE, North Dakota you will probably have only the larger chains, but they can be ok.In my area, they call them 'IT talent agencies' but that's just the West Coast. They do coding stuff along with 'UX' and w/e else they call marketing these days.
Do whatever work you're willing to do. Just be clear and consistent. The Staffing agency people won't know WTF most of your job description means anyway. Just do good work.
I would suggest doing some basic network engineering along with coding. Web coding is bad for the mind, and routers have the comfort of a command line.
Thank you Dave Raggett
You should check out Dice.com! I hear it's teh hot shitz right now!! I am in no way affiliated with Dice.com --------- Check my profile olip85 @ Dice
I agree with parent and GP in regards to the overal question. Coding 'mobile apps' is a great idea for part time coding ca$h...
However, it sounds silly to hear any debate on the suggested platform. It's got to be IOS/Android...make it for both. All the best 'apps' are in both.
To suggest otherwise would be to essentially the same as doing FOSS work. If you're going to make the $$$ then do it right, or find FOSS to play around with...no half measures.
Also, Blackberry is practically dead. Really.....are there Blackberry fanbois out there? Well it's dead. Just be honest with yourself.
Thank you Dave Raggett
This is exactly what Cloudspokes is all about. www.cloudspokes.com
"Participate in challenges, build a diverse portfolio, learn something new, and earn a little cash money on the side too."
I found (through a friend) a contracting house that had overflow work, and got on their list of people to call when they need extra bodies. It isn't tons of money - the most I've billed is $900/month, and some months there isn't any work at all. But I also don't burn time chasing clients myself - I get paid for basically all my time, with just a little overhead for estimates, billing, etc. The keys for me were (1) knowing someone who would vouch for me and (2) already having developed some in-demand skills. And getting lucky, I suppose.
As for how your day job will treat it - depends on your employer. I'm the technical manager at my day job, and I actively encourage my coders to take some side jobs. We're a small shoestring-budget company, we don't pay exceptionally well, and we have no benefits or real training program. So if I work a guy 40 hours per week and let him do 10-20 hours a week of side work, he makes more money, and he learns techniques that he wouldn't otherwise know if we took a "not invented here" stance. If I worked him 50-60 hours a week just for me, he'd ultimately be a less happy and productive employee, and the company would suffer. I know a lot of places take completely the opposite stance, and either frown on or (try to) prohibit side work. Hopefully yours is on the happy side.
Find some smart High School or Junior College students, start mentoring them, take on simpler projects, manage them and start building up. Some of these kids are hungry but don't have the exposure or experience.
Spend a month reading everything - every Python message board, every Perl mailing list, every HTML5/Droid/iPad blog, every C/C++/Java gaming article etc
If you can bear to read about 20k worth of messages you will find about 50 that will rock your world. 99%+ of everything is useless - but the good bits are really good and can be found if you do your homework. Simple example - there are valuable expensive devices to be had free and legit in exchange for coding some OS program on them - which is a great way to be paid to get into something you don't know and learn on the job. Another example - sometimes it is better to do anything that is *really* in demand with a genuine labor shortage than it is to do something you like and are trained to do which is flooded with applicants - find those places. Good luck.
It sounds to me as if the best thing you could do is use your open-source project work to improve your skills in something you are interested in. Then work on getting a different job or just a transfer and raise. Work a little harder now, then do the same amount of work for more money later, not have to spend all your free time "working." It's kind of like, the best "investment" most people can make is to simply pay off their credit cards. It is so simple, many people overlook it.
Nice strawman. Even idealist RMS says you should be able to charge money for free software.
freelancer/rentacoder are there if you want to starve. And I say that as a Romanian programmer who works in theory cheaper than USers. Maybe I do, but not *that* cheap.
If you network, you will end up with side projects without even asking for them. Someone you know will need just a little help on some project, someone you know from a previous job will contact you to tie up a loose end, or do something simple, etc etc.
From personal experience, my holiday expenses for the last 3 years have been paid from money made outside the day job.
I apologize for the lack of a signature.
Just watch Breaking Bad for the how-to.
You'll see a lot of suggestions here that involve you being dependent on others: customers that buy apps. Why not take matters into your own hand and develop applications that trade for you? This could be anything from arbitraging between ebay and something else to finding arbitrage opportunities in the stock market. And yes, those still exist and you don't have to be a HFT firm for it. You'll just need to be satisfied with less money; these things typically don't scale. I started down this road about 10 years ago, and have seen a steady increase in income through them. I only work on the software when I want to (which is often, since it's such a fun thing to do), but it makes money for me 24x7, 365 days a year. It has given me independence: if tomorrow I'll lose my job I'm not sure if I ever need one again.
Please login to access my lawn
From: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/04/11/17/0011245/is-the-lone-coder-dead -- "The Lone Coder was found dead in front of his home computer this evening" In a later news release of the Preliminary Autopsy Results: 1. He had Type II diabetes from the consumption of Mountain Dew/Code Red. 2. He has extremity palsy from the intake of Jolt Cola. 3. He was having Grand Mal epileptic seizures from the MSG in his local Chinese takeout. 4. He had become reclusive with the shock of finding out that real, live women DIDN'T have staples in their navels. 5. He hands had become claws due to the carpal tunnel and tendonitis from his non-ergonomic keyboard. HOWEVER, the proximate cause of death was... 6. He attempted to read the entire set of Don Knuth's TAOCP (The Art of Computer Programming) AND "Regular Expressions in PERL" in the same evening and HIS HEAD EXPLODED!!! LATE BREAKING NEWS: In a joint press announcment, Microsoft, Sun, Apple and SCO announced that they were SURE that the Lone Coder's work infringed on their IP, and they would be seeking redress beyond the grave, from the appropriate authorities, saying "If ANYONE thinks that merely by DYING they can escape the reach of our lawyers enforcing our intellectual property rights, they will find out just how far we will go to make sure that every line of ever written has the protection it deserves!" He is survived by his parents, who will be paying off his student loans from MIT for the rest of their natural lives, and his high school sweetheart, who, unknown to the Lone Coder, due to lack of consortium, became a lesbian several years ago and moved to North Beach. Richard Stallman has annouced that he's quite sure the Lone Coder's work was pretty much something that he had written in LISP on a napkin, one lunch 30 years ago at the Lampoon, but he was kinda buzzed and "...wasn't sure what i did with the *&)&*(&)( napkin...!"
I've looked at freelancing before, and I could probably make more money by working at McDonald's on weekends than that.
Wrong!
The going rate for a development to hire is at least $500 per day. If you are able to talk to a client in a professional manner and find out what they need then work in an agile manner to deliver something they like then you can earn at least half that and still keep the client happy that they got a bargain.
I have only done this once though, and not through a website. One of my friends works as an eCommerce consultant or something and put me forward as someone who could rescue a project from a shitty mess of tangled code that nobody wanted to work on. I earned couple of grand over a few weeks for working evenings and weekends and realised I get burned out if I try and code full time all day then do more when I get home at night.
I dont read
Something else I haven't seen posted yet is teamwork. I'm a contract developer running as a limited. I employ [as a contractor for easier accounting] a friend who is also only part time (1 day a week). My business' main revenue is my main office hours contract which covers paying my friend when there's nothing on, and we write a product that we want to write in our spare time. When clients come along, the combination of my friend and my spare time can cover it. We're only starting out, but it's clear that if there's several of you in the same boat that teaming up means you can take on bigger work without giving up the day job. Though I agree with one of the other posters, the dev work is 10-20% of the work you actually end up doing (and you'll most likely only get paid for that 10-20%, if anyone wonders why we ask for such high rates!!). Why can't more business types get involved with devs like us??
They do require web development...
I have been inspired by the HBO show ''hung', and begun moonlighting as a male prostitute.
or you could write an automation that would click the hell out of a PTC site (pay-to-click) like this one...
I signed up and they display/email passwords in plaintext. No thanks.
A colleague passed this thread on to me, seems like the perfect fit for CloudSpokes! We are a crowdsourcing development community that runs programming challenges as contests and pays cash prizes. Almost all of our members are in the same boat as earlzdotnet, looking for some extra cash on the side. Check out or site www.cloudspokes.com and register. If you have any questions send us an email at info@cloudspokes.com
I've been trying to pick up some ad-hoc / freelance work, much like the OP. Freelancer.com has been a complete waste of time. It's obvious from the bids on projects that a lot of the bidders don't have a clue and are just trying to get in the cheapest bid -- but even when I have been the cheapest bid, I have yet to actually be contacted or acknowledged. The sad thing is that I'm happy to do the work at a cheaper rate just for some extra $$ and I'm pretty good at what I do: I have 12 years software dev experience in a range of languages and tech. My current job is good and I have recruiters scrabbling to get me on to the next thing -- but none of that appears to matter on these sites. :/
I've actually given up with trying to find work there -- it's a complete waste of time for me as a dev. It appears to be a complete waste of time for the people looking for devs too
Learn COBOL.
I thought Mac OS X ran only in VMware for Mac OS X, in order to satisfy the Mac OS X EULA's requirement of an "Apple-labeled computer" or however Apple words it nowadays.
The situation for developers targeting it has steadily improved over the past couple of years.
When did that change? I thought the sandbox limitation blocked a lot of applications from the Mac App Store, such as developer-grade text editors and backup utilities.
Increase skill-set, ability and move to a job that pays more
Apparently employers aren't willing to pay enough to relocate new hires anymore. How much savings should one accumulate before moving to a state with jobs that pay more?
I can tell you from direct observation that freelance work on Moodle (PHP/MySQL) and other Learning Management Systems is in demand and paying well at this time, and the great thing is that most of the companies I have seen looking for freelancers/small agencies to do work for them DO NOT WANT PEOPLE IN INDIA OR OTHER THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, even if it means paying a whole lot more than people in those countries would charge, so if a dev is US based, knows PHP/MySQL, and becomes well acquainted with Moodle, he/she can get some pretty decent freelance work at this time.
Moe
SARAVA!