What Do People in the IT Field Do for Side Jobs? 1405
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?"
tutoring (Score:1, Informative)
Photography (Score:2, Informative)
I now work Mon-Friday as a Network Engineer for a ISP (as I have done for quite a few years now), and do wedding photography on weekends.
I tell ya, we complain about putting up with "lusers" and stuff like that but let me assure you that
1) Hell hath no fury like a bride and her mother on a wedding day
2) To do a wedding properly is serious work. On Saturdays wedding I was up at 6am, out of the house by 7am - a 1hr drive to my business partners house where we check all the gear, load all the studio lighting, reflectors, ladder, camera bags, laptops, 30" LCD (for showing photos at the reception) into the car. We then go to the brides house at 10:30am, do the photos there and then drive over 1hr to the actual wedding venue, do the stuff there and then go to the reception which was only 10mins away thankfully. The reception finished 11pm, and I was back home at about 1:30am. A long day, and on top of all that it was extremely hot, about 35c (Australia). And I then had to get up at 7am to photograph a christening.
It makes my IT job seem fairly cosy in comparison
Re:I've never been able to make this work. (Score:3, Informative)
I'm at a loss. What could you get an education in that pays better than IT? At first, I thought of medicine, but 1) somehow I doubt your IT employer will want to pay for your med courses, 2) it'll take 20 years if you're not doing it full-time, 3) I don't think you can go to med school part-time, and 4) doctors are facing a very bad situation in the near future between cost-cutting HMOs and insanely high malpractice insurance premiums.
My next thought was law school, but 1) again, I have a hard time imagining IT employers footing the bill for another line of coursework which has absolutlely nothing to do with their business, and 2) I'm not evil or a scum-sucking bottom-dweller, so I'd never do well in law.
I hear this "get an education" crap all the time, but no one ever says what to get an education in, which has a decent salary and decent stability, and especially which is feasible on a part-time basis since most working people can't exactly afford to take 4 years off.
Free Software (Score:4, Informative)
Just because you don't get an immediate paycheck for it doesn't mean it's not worthwhile.
Re:what I do on my day job (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Gray Market (Score:3, Informative)
It's only illegal if you don't report it. Keep good records, keep track of your mileage, pay your tax estimates and expense everything that you ethically can to your business and you'll be fine.
Re:Consulting (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Blacksmith (Score:4, Informative)
The simple things teach you hammer control, curves, and let you get used to learning how the metal responds. from there you increase the difficulty of the things that you make both in forms and materials.
Re:I've never been able to make this work. (Score:2, Informative)
It's darn near impossible and for most of the reasons listed in the original post. You can always find a job that satisifies one of the needs; but, rarely two, and hardly ever all of them.
The closest thing I have found is working on my own OpenSource projects (no shameless plugs here). Working on my own projects is fun, challenging, and fits my schedule. It just won't pay immediately. If I keep at, though, other avenues will open; just look at Kent Beck.
The only way to get ahead in this business is to work really hard by devoting a lot of blood, sweat, and tears; which really sounds like a day job.
If you want easy money in IT, you'll need to generate demand in a market that you create yourself (which is not easy).
Re:What do I do? POKER! (Score:4, Informative)
My advice is to play home games with other poker players, go to local tournaments. There may even be free ones available in your area at local bars. Once you feel like you have a decent grasp of the game, deposit $100 or so to your poker site of choice (usually you'll get a deposit bonus too) and start playing. My favourite format for the value is the single table no-limit tournaments. For $10 + $1 you have a decent shot at winning $50 and the tournaments only take an hour or so.
Re:Blacksmith (Score:4, Informative)
But first things first: 1) dig up books on the subject. Check out Jim Hrisoulas' bladesmithing books. The first has a wealth of good basic material. That and later books also move quickly into Jim's specialty of advanced pattern welding techniques (See his website at http://atar.com/). 2) Nothing beats practical mentoring in a discipline such as smith-work. See if you can arrange to get classes/apprenticeship time with a smith in your area.
Enjoy!
Side Jobs for IT geeks (Score:2, Informative)
The lucky one's (me included) find a couple paying customers who need help when their porn won't download properly. *grin* All for $80/hour, or better.
Re:What do I do? POKER! (Score:3, Informative)
I'd recommend picking up Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play by Ed Miller et al. or Winning Low Limit Hold 'em by Lee Jones. They will easily pay for themselves.
For poker discussion, I'd recommend the forums at
twoplustwo.com [twoplustwo.com], unitedpokerforum.com [unitedpokerforum.com], bet-the-pot.com [bet-the-pot.com], and remmy.net [remmy.net].
Re:Nothing (Score:2, Informative)
Not if you work in California, where such abusive contract stipulations are automatically null and void, according to recent case law.
Re:What do I do? POKER! (Score:2, Informative)
Computer systems at the core are designed to be deterministic; under the same conditions using the same process we expect the same result. The vigilant IT worker breaks down the workings of each individual system and almost (sometimes literally) mathematically deduces a problem and a course of action to fix it. Generally they are trained for X, do Y.
With the exception of limit Hold Em (the argument continues whether or not a computer could play winning limit hold em - it's very possible), poker players often explore many different "correct" plays for the same situation. Sometimes folding is just as good as raising (but it certainly increases the variance of your bottom line).
Also, often poker requires one to play counter-intuitively (ie, raising when you have nothing because there remains a significant chance that you will when all is said and done). While there probably are a few counter-examples, most computer systems are designed to be used and maintained intuitively (such that you are required to do what you will probably do on your first try, without help). The success of software packages in that area is debatable.
Overall, unless you're playing limit hold em, playing poker deterministically is usually a formula for failure, or at the very last, mediocrity, and even if you are, most players will figure you out in no time.
Successful approaches to IT and poker are not similar.
Re:I've never been able to make this work. (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Isn't it obvious (Score:2, Informative)
(All the "I will not fix your computer" stuff)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/frustrations/3
http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/stickers/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/mugs/58c0
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/ladies/38e8/
IT _is_ blue collar (Score:4, Informative)
Get used to it.
Re:SIDE JOB: Volunteering for Human Rights (Score:1, Informative)
Given that it was the Communists who invaded Tibet in 1950, not the Nationalists, I'm not bloody surprised. Tibet declared its independence from China in 1913, and the newly formed Nationalist Government did nothing in response.
Of course, you wouldn't have even been allowed near a PRC diplomat, so I guess you tend to fight your battles where you can, against the people who are -- let's face it -- totally irrelevant to the matter at hand. Wake me up when the Nationalists take over in mainland China. Then you can start whinging about their treatment of Tibet.
Re:The last thing I want to do when I go home is.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Off-Hours Plumbing (Score:4, Informative)
Most plumbers also install gas/oil fired heating systems, for which the hazards of improper installation should be obvious. Even an improperly vented gas water heater could kill via CO poisoning....
Re:IT Consulting (Score:3, Informative)
I don't have the link to that Slashdot discussion, but it basically fell along the lines of "good advice!" and "no way it'll work."
A discussion about how to set up your consultancy was at http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/19/20502
That one's a little more informative.
There, now I feel somewhat justified for actually bookmarking that stuff. Good luck!
Re:SIDE JOB: Volunteering for Human Rights (Score:2, Informative)
Of course he is speechless. You should at least get your international facts right before going out and embrassing yourself.
It is China who is contesting over Tibet... NOT Taiwan.
Re:Blacksmith (Score:2, Informative)
ABANA (The Artist-Blacksmiths Association of North America) is a international community for artist-blacksmiths (as opposed to farriers). They have some awesome magazines that come out quarterly, one of which is dedicated to teaching the trade. The website also has some discussion forums, and some knowledgeable people hang around.
I've hit the iron a few times myself, but I don't have the passion required. It is awfully fun though!
Build LEGO sculptures (Score:1, Informative)
Eric Harshbarger is one lucky dude.
Re:SIDE JOB: Volunteering for Human Rights (Score:3, Informative)
But I mean, don't just ask him what he meant... start dissing him out. Stupid myopic american "put-down" culture.
Re:I'm an adult literacy tutor ... (Score:3, Informative)
We have a single server in a co-location house in London - just a 2U box - running our own distro. We pay a fixed rate per annum & the hosting company have been very good to us. The server box belongs to us. I look after all the sys op stuff while the co-lo folks do the hardware/networking support.
Care to share how many clients you have on your hosting project
We're running about 30 domains with one or two biggies (it's all relative, mind!). Sometimes I view it more as a co-operative scheme. The fact that we have complete control allows to write custom solutions for our customers. Postgres back-end with C++ cgis.
and the sort of revenue you're earning
Very little, trust me. We're not making the effort we could be to attract business but at least the whole setup pays for itself each year.