Jobs for Moonlighting Geeks? 109
BreadWinner asks: "My wife and I are adopting a baby in 2003 and it's very expensive. I work for a non-profit that can't pay me what I feel I'm worth. However, I really like my job, my boss, the time off, and my co-workers. So I'm considering moonlighting. I've done private contracting, but I don't think I can do my private clients justice when I'm working full-time. So what kind of job can I find that: I can leave at the job; maximize my $/hour? Anybody done commission-based electronics sales? I'm not an uber-geek, but I'm interested in whatever you folks at Slashdot can suggest."
Best Buy? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Best Buy? (Score:4, Interesting)
"Best Buy might be an option. The money isn't the best (about $7 to start), but they get 90% of the stuff in the store at 5% over cost. Which means a cheap plasma TV..."
If you read the actual question he was asking, he's looking opportunities that will allow him to bring in extra income, not ways of spending an additional low-wage paycheck on material goods that he doesn't necessarily need. Someone who's thinking ahead and planning on how he can leverage his knowledge and skill set into a better life for his expanding family (and kudos to him for deciding to adopt instead of 'DIYing his own.') has better things to spend his money on that expensive trend-whore gadgets.
And yes, I posted this as a response, instead of just slapping you with (-1 offtopic).
Re:Best Buy? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Best Buy? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Best Buy? (Score:3, Interesting)
You get to buy electronics gear at 5% over a national chain's cost. I bet that for certain items that leaves you with a pretty healthy margin. Shop for fairly expensive items with good margins and you should be OK.
Let's say you can pay $500 for an item that normally sells for $800. Throw it on ebay and hopefully sell it for 600 to 700 bucks. For this example let's say you make an extra $150.
If you're only working at BB 10 hours a week, you just made an extra fifteen bucks an hour. Add on the original $7 per hour and you're looking at a gross of over $20 bucks an hour for the week. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Round here, $20/hour isn't all that great. However, in some areas, you could cover your mortgage doing this. There are better paying opportunities I'm sure, but this one comes with very little stress and a flexible schedule.
Re:Best Buy? (Score:1, Interesting)
You'd be amazed at the markup of car audio and any type of cable, like monster... >200% sometimes. If you're smart, you could get away with though and have a nice little profit. The assistant manager paid for a Ford Explorer this way.
Re:Best Buy? (Score:2)
won't resell the stuff you got at a discount?
It's not stolen goods, after all; why can't
he sell it? Also, can you give it as gifts?
Re:Best Buy? (Score:2)
When I worked at Best Buy, a few years ago, the answer was yes. You did have to sign an agreement that you would only buy items at discount for personal use or for your immediate family. I don't remember the exact words it used, but it definately implied that you were not allowed to resell the stuff you got at a discount.
Re:Best Buy? (Score:2)
Re:Best Buy? (Score:1)
Re:donations... (Score:2)
Re:donations... (Score:1)
major downside.
just look at all the unsuccessful geeks
*caution this is called sarcasm. if you dont get it dont say a DAMN THING !*
Consulting but different (Score:4, Interesting)
The first suggestion, simple evaluations, can take you only a few hours at a time to do, and then another couple hours writing a report of suggestions to the client. User testing can be a bit more hairy, but the rule of thumb is for each round of user testing, you'll find all the snags with 4 test subjects, and tests should be 30 minutes or less per subject. Then you use about the same amount of time analyzing the results as the above option. The design-work can take many, many hours of designing, prototyping, and testing, but not every client wants immediate results. Some actually feel better if it takes you a couple months; they feel as if you'd been spending all that time musing over it and tweaking it.
Re:Consulting but different (Score:2)
You have a JOB???? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You have a JOB???? (Score:1)
Re:You have a JOB???? (Score:1)
Weekend Server? (Score:4, Informative)
This leaves me Sundays off, and Mon-Thur evenings for time at home, and in your case with Wife and baby.
Re:Weekend Server? (Score:1)
$2.13!? Assuming you're in America (as you put it in USD) then that's far below minimum wage. You should be getting atleast $6.75, I believe.
Re:Weekend Server? (Score:2)
IIRC, if the base pay + tips don't add up to minimum wage, the employer is supposed to make up the difference, but I'm not positive on that, and I've never heard of that actually being done.
Computer Operator. (Score:2)
Why moonlight? (Score:2)
YMMV.
Hey -- I just noticed that the preview time is slow by 15:46 hours..
an idea (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Male gigolo? (Score:1)
Some advice for the retail job seeker... (Score:5, Informative)
However commission based sales are a tricky business. Several years ago, I worked at a well-known department store that paid you a base hourly rate and commission. The thing is, if your commission did not meet or exceed what you would have been paid at your hourly rate, you only got your hourly rate and on the next pay schedule, you had to make up the difference before you could start counting the commission you earned toward your next paycheck.
Some people who work at these stores are also very aggressive and will do nearly anything to get their commission, even if it means sometimes taking credit for a sale you made. Trust no one at first. Handle all of your transactions yourself. Find out what items on the floor pay the most in commissions. Sell the extended warranties.
I had some internal conflicts before. There was a particular camera that paid $10 for each one you sold by the manufacturer. The thing is, it was a piece of junk that I think was designed to break in 6 months. I sold the daylights out of those but I hated myself for it.
Finally, it's a little late in the holiday season to be thinking about a retail job. Most department stores are going to start laying off their holiday help in the next week or so. And with retailers reporting less than impressive profits, it will be hard to find work there about now.
Re:Some advice for the retail job seeker... (Score:2)
I got off work, drove home in 15 minutes, and did not think about the job again until the next time I went in.
My suggestion would be to avoid larger stores and chains. Try a smaller shop. A family owned shop can be nice (there are definitely exceptions to this, but in general...). I would also sugggest something not in the field your major career is in (if you are working in tech I would not work at a computer shop, for example). Smaller shops can also be more flexible at times with scheduling, and generally look for more long-term help rather than hiring on seasonal people.
It would be far better to use the opportunity to have fun with a hobby.
Examples:
* Running stores
* Outdoor/camping shops
* Record/CD store
* Movie rental place
Re:Some advice for the retail job seeker... (Score:2)
I don't know how any honest person could make a decent living working for commission in retail electronics.
I worked in the training department of a certain nationwide "computer superstore" (yes, THAT one) while some of my friends worked on the floor. The only printers that sold were the ones that offered kickbacks from the manufacturer. Same thing with computers - you'd see four salespeople trying sell a POS computer system because in the A.M. meeting the store manager had promised $x per machine.
And yes, the competition! One saleswoman was actually PAYING the cashiers to put uncommissioned sales under her ID. Unsurprisingly, she had the top sales each week.
Making up garbage about virus infections and hackers to pressure people into buying warranties... sigh, *I* just couldn't live with myself.
Shareware (Score:4, Insightful)
Teaching (Score:5, Interesting)
This not only benefits your wallet, but it also improves your professional skills (which is a great bonus if your employer gives you flack about moonlighting).
Re:Teaching (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Teaching (Score:2, Flamebait)
I went to class to learn something - and was under the dillusion that many of the students were there for the same reason. Many of them aren't.
Once I stopped caring so much about people who didn't give a crap about the class I found that I didn't spend too many hours on the class and the pay wasn't so bad. Besides - you can spend a good number of the hours preparing class material, correcting papers, etc. at home and with the family. No you aren't as productive when you have to jump up and catch the kids before they knock over the xmas tree - but you do get to see them and interact with them at the same time.
Re:Teaching (Score:2)
Re:Teaching (Score:1)
Re:Teaching (Score:1)
I've been teaching at ITT for nearly a year now. This is a useful and relatively well-compensated method to augment your primary income. I started in order to flex my Linux skills, but I've enjoyed the teaching aspect too. And yes, as mentioned elsewhere, bachelor degrees are most likely required for any length longer than six months -- it's a requirement of the accreditation organization.
#1 of a top ten list that I got a giggle out of. (Score:3, Funny)
#1) Get a nice solid all steel serve case. Hide in a dark alley. As people move through the dark alley hit them with the case. While they are outcold take their money and other items of value. Wash, Rinse, repeat.
Somewhere near #5 was:
Find a not-too-ugly exhibitionist [female] and a web cam. Start collecting the checks and mailing out the once-worn panties at $20 a pop.
PC Guru (Score:4, Interesting)
And as we're coming up to Christmas, just think of all those computers that have been bought as presents and therefore the amount of stumped newbies on the 25th. You might be busy...
By the way, good luck with the new addition to the family, too!
seany
I was considering this for a while, the only problem being
Re:PC Guru (Score:1)
Re:PC Guru (Score:3, Interesting)
Build and set up a machine -- £50 + parts.
Troubleshoot some problem -- £15-£30+, depending on complexity.
The nice thing about this is you'll tend to get more clients the more you do, as people go around telling others about how you fixed their computer and how they should give you a call whenever they have problems.
Re:PC Guru (Score:4, Informative)
Good idea ... this is how I payed for my first year university textbooks. Once you help out a few people, your name gets around and you get referrals. This is when you start making some respectable money. It's nice to be able to go out for 2.5 hours to someone's house, run ad-aware, virus scan, reinstall an app or two, have a nice little chat about computer safety and come back $60 richer. If it's a business, you come back $100-150 richer. It's good money if you are a jack of all trades in PC tinkering.
Small contracting work (Score:5, Informative)
Not sure if that helps or not since I couldnt find what exact area you would like to work in, but here it is:
Rent A Coder [rentacoder.com]
The main site has problems right now, but I can get to specific subsites by bookmarked URL so it should be back soon.
With an account you can bid for small scale software dev projects.
A says "I want an TCP Stack for my microwave oven"
B says "I've done 10 projects so far and to implement your project I want 100 bucks!"
C says "I've done 1 project so far and to do your stuff I want 75 bucks!"
No a gets to choose if he wants to contract B or C.
I've created an account but due to lack of time didnt land a contract yet, but I've heard some quite positive things about this site.
I stumbled accross that site when people where talking about making some money in their freetime on some bulletin board - if you're good you can make like 1000$ a month with that.
Hope this helps!
Good luck to you & your family!
Re:Small contracting work (Score:2)
Re:Small contracting work (Score:2, Informative)
Most of the possible gigs are nothing more then 'do my homework for $10' or 'clone a major application/website for $100.' Even on the good projects, expect to be underbid by someone living in a low-cost country offering to do it for less then US minimum wage.
Re:Small contracting work (Score:1)
That site looks like pretty much a joke. If people are really doing that amount of work for $100, I need to start taking contracts and then subcontracting them on Rentacoder!
"I want a complete ecommerce website framework for $300."
Yeah, right.
Re:Small contracting work (Score:2)
Spam software (was:Small contracting work) (Score:1)
Open source (Score:2)
Re:Open source (Score:1)
Re:Small contracting work (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Small contracting work (Score:2)
1) I'm stupid but have a large trust fund. Do my homework.
2) I'm a cheapskate and want software that works exactly like $EXPENSIVE_COMMERCIAL_SOFTWARE but with some more features but costs less than half the retail of $EXPENSIVE_COMMERCIAL_SOFTWARE.
3) I'm delusional and want the impossible done. By tommorow. For under $50. And get full source-code & resale rights.
When I first heard about the site, it seemed like a good idea... a good way to pick up a few extra bucks, but then I realized it was just a bunch of sad, stupid people wanting ridiculous things done.
Don't worry: your new job is DADDY (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Don't worry: your new job is DADDY (Score:1)
Stress vs. Simplifying (Score:5, Insightful)
Think about working smarter rather than harder.
A year ago I sold almost everything I owned to move back to my hometown where I now work for the library at about half my former pay. At first I took the job as a stepping stone until something better came along. Like you I found that I really love the job and to my surprise I don't really miss the pay or the stress.
My life is more stripped down than it was but (now that I'm used to it) I don't feel the least bit deprived. In fact I am actually saving a bit of dough where I used to live nearly check to check before. I still travel and indulge in the arts and geeky hobbies and spend time and have fun. Mostly I just drive a payed for car and don't pay full price for stuff or eat out as much. Oh, and I won't be too extravagant about the Holidays although I never really was.
Think not about what you can do without, but what you could be free of. The quality time with the wife and kid are worth a lot more than any part-time job will pay.
Re:Stress vs. Simplifying (Score:2)
Hitman (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hitman (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Hitman (Score:2)
Go on the game? (Score:1)
Have you thought about going on the game? It's the worlds oldest profession after all.
It actually fits in with a geek lifestyle fairly well too, you do most of the 'work' at night, and it's all about networking...
Something completely different (Score:2, Informative)
I only worked once a month or so and though it was intermittently hard work, it always seemed like a vacation from my day job because it was a totally different, fun and layed back atmosphere. Plus I learned a bunch, met some great people and got to indulge my geeky and artsy aspects as well.
How I lucked into this job? I volunteered as a stage hand at a festival ONCE (to stalk^H^H^H^H^H see Mary Chapin-Carpenter) and my future employer liked my work ethic and started calling me with offers. Neat how that works sometimes.
Anyways, don't restrict yourself to mainstream jobs that suck. Look between the cracks. Follow your bliss, etc. etc. etc.
Moonlighting (Score:3, Insightful)
With the WYSIWYG boom, lately, it's becoming easier and easier for non-pros to emulate pro work... any graphic designer who changed 47 style sheets on a few hundred pages by hand because they forgot to put the text in Paragraph tags will tell you that they wish they had the skill and knowhow to efficiently do the programmy stuff based off of their illustrator or photoshop spreads.
I can get a web job for $3,000 as a designer. I can come up with the design (paper prototypes) for about 1/3rd of that. The other 2/3rds is spent hacking through code, when a "pro" would take not even 1/2 that time. . . it is then, obviously, profitable for me to hire a freelance programmer (repeatedly)
Will your wife be a single parent? (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyway, you've both decided that you want kids badly enough to adopt them. I assume you want to spend some time with them, but you're planning on taking a second job. When will you spend time with the kids? Instead of increasing revenue, can you maybe reduce expenses? I'm not trying to be mean or judgemental here, just want to make sure that you realize the tradeoff you are making.
Re:Will your wife be a single parent? (Score:1)
if he is really smart he'll stash some of it in long term investments.
Re:mixology (Score:2)
prohibit bartenders from drinking on the
job.
Ideas (Score:1)
I suggest UPS - NOT Uniterruptible Power Supply (Score:1)
Advantages:
- Best benefits of a part time job you will ever find - full health, savings plans, etc.
- $8 to start, at least when I was there
- No brainwork, and you definitely leave the job at the plant when you go home.
- Good job security - It's the Teamsters, remember?
Disadvantages:
- Can require physical effort - not a classical Geek strong point
- No brainwork - can be crushingly dull (I viewed it as soothingly monotonous)
- May not be hiring now with slowdown in economy.
Re:I suggest UPS - NOT Uniterruptible Power Supply (Score:2)
Re:I suggest UPS - NOT Uniterruptible Power Supply (Score:1)
Try something non-tech. (Score:3, Interesting)
I have to tell you, it is a lot of fun. In a way it is like being able to live out the BOFH fantasy. I work at a pretty swanky place, and I get no end of catharsis through getting in the faces of executive-types.
I guess what I am saying is that variety is the spice of life. It is great that you are doing something that you enjoy doing during the day, but there might be something else you can do that you'd like just as much at night.
Good luck!
-Peter
Re:Try something non-tech. (Score:2)
Do you drink OTJ? I'm allowed to but I have more fun staying sober all night. Do you notice when you don't drink you can actually tell how drunk the crowd is by the amount of alchohol on their breath? It's like a beowulf cluster of beer breath in my club because people are packed so tightly. The more beer I smell, the more I know shits gonna get crazy.
Leave it to a geek to look at shit like that
Cheers
Cat burglar (Score:1)
Re:Cat burglar (Score:1)
Re:Cat burglar (Score:1)
A lawyer-friend of mine told me a story about some notorious local criminals... these 2 brothers ran a roof repair shop, and they would go out and drill holes in people's roofs, to drum up some easy business.
Later on, one of the brothers got greedy and killed the other with a ballpeen hammer.
Lease the baby back out at a profit (Score:5, Funny)
If it works out well, you could even expand and get more babies. This is great, because your revenues will scale linearly with the number of babies (at least until you start to reach market saturation), but some of your expenses will scale up at a lower rate (that first baby is the most expensive, doesn't have any hand-me-downs, etc).
Another good thing about a massive baby rental business, from a geek point of view, is that you can handle some of the issues in innovative ways. For example, suppose the couple on the street behind you wants a baby for the evening, and they have a special request for Little Joey. But here's the problem: do you have Little Joey in stock right now, or is he still rented out to the Finkelstein family? You go out to the baby stockade where all the cribs are, but it looks like the cubicle complex in Tron (which you recoginize due to being a geek). Fortunately, you've planned ahead: every time a baby gets back, you use your CueCat to scan the barcode that is tattooed on the back of each baby's neck. This updates your MySQL or PostgreSQL database so you you always know which babies are available. When the family on the street behind you asks you on the phone if Little Joey is available, you have an instant answer.
But that's not all! Put a web-based front end on the database, and they can look up the availability themselves, without you having to man the phones. Now do you see how well this whole adoption thing can work out? Well, we're still not done. You see, that other family wants you to take the baby over to their house or get a large discount if they have to pick up Little Joey themselves. But as a geek, you can come up with all sorts of clever ways to handle the transportation. There's solar-powered rovers with robot drivers (fun to design!!), pheumatic tubes, etc. And it can all be automated and run at a profit. The sky is the limit!
Re:Lease the baby back out at a profit (Score:1)
Re:Lease the baby back out at a profit (Score:1)
Working the outdoors (Score:1)
I didn't move to Colorado just to work, I moved here to enjoy the recreation it has to offer. Another job I have considered is working in a 4x4 shop. Totally different from being a Unix Admin.
The secret of wealth as a parent is... (Score:1)
Never.
No amount of money can ever make up for lost time with a child.
So forego all of the latest and greatest Barbie/Furby/Who knows what and just concentrate on being a father.
Cut some corners: eat more at home, shop Salvation Army and Goodwill stores, dollar stores, see second-run movies, hold off on the X-Box games or that spiffy MP3 player you've been wanting. The investment in a human being is more important.
The biggest problem I see in America today is the government picking up the slack of the average parent. And, from what I can tell, the government is doing a piss-poor job trying to make up for the screwed-up priorities of an entire generation.
So, forego the second job until your child gets to know you better. Then ease in a few hours at another job later.
A new human life is nothing to take lightly.
Blue collar work pays better than you may think... (Score:2)
However, with everyone trying to land a glam white collar gig, there's still plenty of gritty work to be done, and it pays pretty well. You could easily clean pools, wash windows, do landscaping, property management, handyman stuff, paint, etc. The demand for this stuff never goes away, even when the economy is slow. And the people left doing it are often incompetent and flaky. If you have your shit together, you already have a huge advantage. All you have to do is show up for work, because chances are the other guy didn't.
The "good" $/hr figures being quoted in this thread seem like a total joke to me in comparison. My window washer in Irvine, CA, for example, charges around $40/hr, and has almost zero overhead. Pool men make almost that much too. So do carpet cleaners. Most painters are complete flakes, but the ones who aren't are booked all the time.
So get off your fat ass, do some honest work, and collect a real paycheck. Part time anyway, it will be a nice change of pace, just good exercise. Your time is valuable to yourself and your family -- don't give it away. Anyone who would take a job at Best Buy for $7/hr is a moron. Jobs like that are for kids who don't know any better. Anyone over 19 should have figured out by now what else is out there for them.
This must be your first kid (Score:1)
I worried about where the money was going to come from when my kids were born. It turned out that I didn't really need to be that concerned. You probably already have the money in disposable income. You just don't know it yet. Don't go moonlighting right away. Caring for a new kid is something you don't want to leave to your spouse.
You may briefly go in to debt while you reorganize your priorities, but you will probably come out of it in better financial shape than you thought. But if you go moonlighting, you'll never know what you've missed...
Congratulations and Good Luck!