Side Jobs

TechZilla

Does anyone do side jobs? How did you get started? Do you advertise? Only on the weekends? What services do you handle?

I'm trying to get some extra cash. Currently I'm working as a Sysadmin.

bacardi_dwb

I just tell my family and friends that if they need computer work done I will do it for about $40 an hour. Yes i am cheap but I always get business and most of their issues are solved rather quickly and while I am studying or watching TV. Whats better than to watch an TV show and earn $40-80.

panik

When I lived in the UK I set up the remote offices for a small insurance company. They had out-sourced their IT to a company based in Belgium.
The daughter of the outsourcing company's owner ran an internet cafe that I used to go to, to play World of Warcraft. I got the gig after chatting to her.
They needed someone in the UK with a car who was IT proficient and could randomly drive to the other end of the country for a day.
I set up offices in Wales and Scotland, but being from Australia I didn't mind 3 hours drives each way.
I worked 24/7 shifts at a datacentre, and moonlighted for them on my days off.

Never advertised, just fell into it

ptilsen

I used to do anything I could find on Craigslist, back when $25/hr or more seemed like a lot of money even for a side gig.

Now, I have two clients I occasionally still do work for who I've kept on over the years. I only keep them because I've kept raising their rates. Work can vary from basic user issue support to small business server or network setups. Neither type of work even interests me anymore, personally. Do it enough and it probably won't interest you, outside of the money.

I'm on Workmarket and I check periodically, but I've never seen any good assignments. The best I ever got was about the same as my annual salary made hourly, which is to say it was not quite worth my time. The rest are way off the mark.

Overall, I've found that side work which isn't extremely lucrative is just not worth it. My time is better spent doing something that either makes me happy or furthers my career prospects. There is lucrative side work out there for those who really go after it, but I haven't found it very compelling. I want $75/hr minimum and I don't want to have to jump through hoops for it. Finding and doing that kind of work while doing a day job, 2-3 classes a week, maybe studying for a certification and having some semblance of a social life is just not worth it to me.

If you have the time and need the money, try Workmarket and Craigslist. Get yourself a web presence. There are some members here who do this type of thing a lot who might have specific tips. The key from what I've seen is getting stable business and referrals. Ideally stick to working with small businesses as much as possible. There just isn't much money to be made in the consumer and home office space. Hardly worth the frustration and risk.

rsutton

I do Exchange & Active Directory consulting on the side. It has turned quite a nice profit. I found the gig by putting an ad on Craigslist for after-hours consulting work.

sratakhin

I got a lot of work by advertising on craigslist. Over two years, it grew into an equivalent of two full-time jobs. Stopped doing it a year ago when I had to move.

Essendon

I'd love to make some money on the side too, but all I could ever find was office fit-outs (replacing monitors, tying up desk cables etc). Never found something that paid decent money. I only managed $25 an hour and that's not worth my time.

It's great you guys in the US have sites like workmarket, onforce and the lot where you can get contract work. I've never found something like that here. Maybe it's time I created such a website!

dave330i

As ptilsen said, unless you're really hurting for money you're better off spending your free time to advance your career. Also, when you become a hermit to advance your career, your money problem tends to go away.

jmritenour

When I was a desktop support tech making $35,000 a year, $25 an hour was a great way to supplement my income. I'd do a couple gigs a week, rake in an extra $50-100 and use that for my entertainment and PC hardware budgets.

Today, not so much. I value free time much more than side money at this point.

tpatt100

I barely have enough free time to study at home

powerfool

I am to the point that now that I am wrapping up my MS, that I will have some more time on my hands. The way inflation has been going and raises being cut in half, indefinitely, I am going to want some more money. I want to finish paying off my student loans and then buy some land in the middle of nowhere.

I have never been good at getting steady side work. My old realtor hires me to work on her PCs, but I only really do that as a favor to her, as the work doesn't interest me at all (desktop support... when I do Exchange and security stuff) nor is the pay worthwhile.

I would really like to start pulling in an additional $1300/mo. It would put me over my monthly/annual goal for 2013 that I set for myself a couple of years ago when I turned down a lead engineer position that was paying then more than $12k over what I make now. I turned it down because of all of the other factors... insurance, 401k, flex-time, etc. I really pressed them hard, too. I asked for another $10k, which would have made the decision really hard, but they said that they couldn't get any more for the position... they were even in a rough position as they hire the person for the job six months before it was scheduled to start and they thought that they had it wrapped up... but a lot can, and did, happen in six months, and the guy took a different job.

I am on WorkMarket too and I see ridiculous jobs like replacing PIN pads on POS systems...

I have been looking on Craigslist and found a local accounting place that isn't too far from where I work... I just think that they would want too much time, and they are only looking to spend $25/hour, when I bill at $250/hour currently (I don't see that, obviously).