Websites<\/em> are a big deal,” want to get in on the action, and picked up a copy of “HTML for Dummies” that was published in 2004. (or those who think that installing a default copy of WordPress and selecting a free template is “Web Design”)<\/p>\n
Either way, it’s unlikely to net any significant revenue to make a huge difference in your income. At best, it’ll be extra spending cash, not “pay off my car” levels, especially if it’s to be a side job (and the fact that you’re asking).<\/p>","upvoteCount":1,"datePublished":"2015-01-16T17:47:44.000Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/extra-income/369916/11","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"weirdfish","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/weirdfish"}},{"@type":"Answer","text":"
okay so maybe not websites then what i can do to get additional income?<\/p>","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2015-01-18T11:53:05.000Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/extra-income/369916/13","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"christianburak","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/christianburak"}},{"@type":"Answer","text":"
The tough part is that in IT, unless one is able to commit to full-time level support and care, one is not going to get full-time level income. It’s why side-jobs in tech support rarely seem to yield the revenue that makes it worthwhile. I think the problem stems from the fact that businesses that need that kind of support operate during the daylight hours where you’re already working your main job.<\/p>\n
Nobody needs an IT department in the evening when nobody is in the office, you know?
Don’t get me wrong – Web work and such isn’t a bad idea in and of itself. It’s just a matter of readjusting expectations. In my case, I couldn’t afford to quit my day job for the Web work that local breweries would want from me. Not only would they not be able to pay me in cash what I’d need to survive, I couldn’t survive on “beer credits,” so to speak.<\/p>\n
We worked out a barter system because<\/strong><\/strong> I don’t depend on their business to live. I did it as a favor (and because their previous Web site REALLY bothered me The same idea will likely apply to hardware/software support. If a business doesn’t already have an arrangement in place, you can step in, but again, don’t go in expecting that it’ll eventually supplant your day job’s income. It’ll be a little extra but nothing to depend on. Ultimately, it’s tough to work a budget around 2nd-string tech support for a supplemental income stream.<\/p>\n
When my wife worked for a law firm, they had a contract with A Guy for their tech support. The problem was that this guy treated all of his law office contracts as “second job” type business. So when they needed him, he wasn’t available. Understandably, his clients got mad because they were dead in the water, but he was nowhere to be found. Eventually, my wife became the de facto tech support for all of these offices, because she’d come home complaining about what was going on, I’d offer some mild suggestions, she’d try them, and it’d work. She absorbed tech-support concepts just because she was married to me!<\/p>\n
And that’s another risk that happens in the secondary tech support market; every IT nerd is responsible for him/herself. I actually did meet this guy at a bar with the lawyers one day, and we ended up doing the typical IT/wolf/coyote circling/sniffing each other thing to figure out where we were in the hierarchy. I think I won, because he was the one who initiated the “hey, let’s get together soon and compare notes!” thing that baby-IT guys do.<\/p>\n
Anyone who’s been in IT long enough and knows their thing doesn’t do the “let’s compare notes.” We can smell our own and certain key words and sentences are often enough to establish the IT hierarchy in the pack.
So to get back to the point, it’s difficult to find a second job in IT where income is guaranteed in regularity and amount to become a second income. If you treat it like “extra spending money,” you’ll likely do well. But don’t focus on it as required additional revenue. It’s difficult to get into in general, and the amount of work needed to maintain it may, ultimately, not be worth the pittance you receive.<\/p>","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2015-01-18T20:52:19.000Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/extra-income/369916/14","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"weirdfish","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/weirdfish"}},{"@type":"Answer","text":"\n\n
<\/div>\n
mrbostn:<\/div>\n
\nOur next door neighbor sells makes and sells soap on a PT basis.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n
His name was Robert Paulsen.<\/p>","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2015-01-19T15:16:32.000Z","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/t/extra-income/369916/15","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"danchamberlain","url":"https://community.spiceworks.com/u/danchamberlain"}}]}}
anybody have any ideas how i can make some extra money on the side doing maybe web development or something. any help or suggestions would be appreciated
14 Spice ups
Talk to local computer shops and/or consultants that may be looking for someone to refer small web projects to. I have a hard time finding someone local to take the small four to eight page sites. Most web developers don’t want to mess around with projects less than 5 grand.
1 Spice up
You could try looking on https://www.odesk.com they have a lot of freelance web dev stuff.
1 Spice up
mrbostn
January 11, 2015, 7:28pm
4
Our next door neighbor sells makes and sells soap on a PT basis.
1 Spice up
One word of advice would be to state terms accordingly with web dev stuff on a small scale. Had a buddy a while back who did this and did not have clear terms with business on the difference between setup, optimizing, and maintaining .
Maybe get involved with local community business groups. Pass out some info at their meetings or ask to pop info in there news letters.
1 Spice up
Check that your current employer doesn’t have a condition on your existing employment contracting forbidding you from extra work without their permission. Some employers do this so there is no conflict of interest. Checking may also prevent yourself needing to find new permanent work.
1 Spice up
Curious why can’t your current employer meet your income goals?
Is there growth potential? (Skill, Salary, Responsibility and Title).
Are you getting yearly reviews and proper raises? (Keep in mind 3% isn’t a raise that is just inflation).
If these are not being met, WHY not? (Do you need to do some training, do you need to find a new job).
I’ve had plenty of options to do side IT work over the past 5 years. Instead I invested in my day job, and my pay has increased substantially.
4 Spice ups
Your first place to find work is through family, friends, and business acquaintances. If you are looking to do tech work on the side, create a “consulting focused resume” - similar to:
Name/contact info
Introduction - a sentence or two letting people know that you are looking for after-hours and weekend work
Hard skills
Soft skills
2-4 Project summaries
short explanations of what you’ve done
You can also get very basic business card. Computer Consulting and Support.
Christian,
Consultant work may be a beneficial way to earn extra income, as other Spiceheads have also said in this thread. If you do pursue this, read the top tips for aspiring IT consultants . Good luck!
1 Spice up
thanks for the replies
i need extra income (second source)
i recently got a raise
trying to move out need extra money
i been training for networking using cbtnuggets.com
my current employer is a resort my manger and my coworkers talk about side jobs all the time.
weirdfish
January 16, 2015, 5:47pm
11
Make sure you have your own personal site built already to show off, including any advanced features. If you don’t already have a portfolio of sites you’ve built for others, you need at least something to show.
Also, keep your expectations reasonable. If you’re doing this as a side gig, you’re likely only going to get small local businesses who won’t be able to pay more than a few hundred dollars at most. Without the sales/marketing to push your services, you’ll be competing also with every high school and college kid as well as laid-off workers and the unemployed looking for a career change who “heard that Websites are a big deal,” want to get in on the action, and picked up a copy of “HTML for Dummies” that was published in 2004.
(or those who think that installing a default copy of WordPress and selecting a free template is “Web Design”)
Either way, it’s unlikely to net any significant revenue to make a huge difference in your income. At best, it’ll be extra spending cash, not “pay off my car” levels, especially if it’s to be a side job (and the fact that you’re asking).
1 Spice up
weirdfish
January 16, 2015, 5:53pm
12
In my experience, I’ve found that those small projects end up being far more work than the client can afford. I’d quoted jobs for $400-500 based on what the client told me, only to spend easily double that in time and effort when scope kept creeping (this was long before I learned about contracts and scope management). And then the after-care… !
It was interesting to note that these 1- or 2-person local businesses seemed to always be much more demanding than big corporations. Eventually, it just wasn’t worth my time or sanity to deal with small local businesses.
Right now, I’m only supporting one (my local microbrewery) and they pay me in beer credits! I ended up turning down the owner of another brewery just because I knew I wouldn’t be able to give him the level of support that I provide my friends’ brewery.
1 Spice up
okay so maybe not websites then what i can do to get additional income?
weirdfish
January 18, 2015, 8:52pm
14
The tough part is that in IT, unless one is able to commit to full-time level support and care, one is not going to get full-time level income. It’s why side-jobs in tech support rarely seem to yield the revenue that makes it worthwhile. I think the problem stems from the fact that businesses that need that kind of support operate during the daylight hours where you’re already working your main job.
Nobody needs an IT department in the evening when nobody is in the office, you know?
Don’t get me wrong – Web work and such isn’t a bad idea in and of itself. It’s just a matter of readjusting expectations. In my case, I couldn’t afford to quit my day job for the Web work that local breweries would want from me. Not only would they not be able to pay me in cash what I’d need to survive, I couldn’t survive on “beer credits,” so to speak.
We worked out a barter system because I don’t depend on their business to live. I did it as a favor (and because their previous Web site REALLY bothered me
The same idea will likely apply to hardware/software support. If a business doesn’t already have an arrangement in place, you can step in, but again, don’t go in expecting that it’ll eventually supplant your day job’s income. It’ll be a little extra but nothing to depend on. Ultimately, it’s tough to work a budget around 2nd-string tech support for a supplemental income stream.
When my wife worked for a law firm, they had a contract with A Guy for their tech support. The problem was that this guy treated all of his law office contracts as “second job” type business. So when they needed him, he wasn’t available. Understandably, his clients got mad because they were dead in the water, but he was nowhere to be found. Eventually, my wife became the de facto tech support for all of these offices, because she’d come home complaining about what was going on, I’d offer some mild suggestions, she’d try them, and it’d work. She absorbed tech-support concepts just because she was married to me!
And that’s another risk that happens in the secondary tech support market; every IT nerd is responsible for him/herself. I actually did meet this guy at a bar with the lawyers one day, and we ended up doing the typical IT/wolf/coyote circling/sniffing each other thing to figure out where we were in the hierarchy. I think I won, because he was the one who initiated the “hey, let’s get together soon and compare notes!” thing that baby-IT guys do.
Anyone who’s been in IT long enough and knows their thing doesn’t do the “let’s compare notes.” We can smell our own and certain key words and sentences are often enough to establish the IT hierarchy in the pack.
So to get back to the point, it’s difficult to find a second job in IT where income is guaranteed in regularity and amount to become a second income. If you treat it like “extra spending money,” you’ll likely do well. But don’t focus on it as required additional revenue. It’s difficult to get into in general, and the amount of work needed to maintain it may, ultimately, not be worth the pittance you receive.
His name was Robert Paulsen.