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Hi Guys,

I’m a full time Helpdesk Tech, recently my friend who owns a small business, finally got a website up and running, alot of work needs to be done, and I thought maybe there is something I can do to help him, in my spare time, as he is not Tech Savvy, I have little WebAdmin knowledge but I’m willing to learn as I go.

That got me thinking, how many of us full time technology professionals have some sort of a sideline job, and what are you currently doing?

10 Spice ups
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Here’s my take on sideline jobs. Not worth unless it’s business to business. Residential support sucks. I’m a full time sys admin, and I rather reinvest that time I have outside of work into certs and self improvement as those will generate more income over time. I could do a side-job and earn X or I could get certified in Y and when the next job shows up get a 10-20k/yr bump over my previous position (this has happened twice now).

Not to mention I don’t go into business with friends as it can ruin friendships. It also requires insurance and keeping tabs on the additional income to be able to claim it on taxes. It also opens you up for the potential of being sued over your own assets if things go sour - all of which are things I could not possibly want further away from my life. Likewise I don’t venture into fields I’m not strong in. Web development is probably my weakest point into IT, so I certainly would not take something I have little to no knowledge of and do a sidejob out of it. As my specialty is infrastructure and ActiveDirectory, I’d probably offer services in that area but not on something I’m totally weak on.

5 Spice ups
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I would think it is hard for many to avoid at least being asked in the line of work we do, as to any side-line job, I do more ad-hoc when I feel like it repairs or fixes, I don’t really have the time with a full time job.

That never stops people asking

2 Spice ups
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While I am still setup legally to do side work, and aside from very rare occasions nowadays, I pretty much do not do any outside of 9-5 anymore. And I absolutely will not do any for friends and family, as not only is reciprocation not apples-to-apples, it has a habit of becoming ever encompassing and stressful on relationships.

In other words, don’t do it.

1 Spice up
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if you have the time, or feel you do, the do it

but don’t expect to make a lot of money from it. I tend to focus on my job, which is always expanding, or my skills for my next job.

proceed with caution

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I do consulting at times. I enjoy the chance to meet with others. I thought I charged a lot until I heard what some of my colleagues charge but, I do charge enough to make it worth doing (it pays my property taxes).

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I’m working full time doing IT and office support. I am starting up a side business because there is a market that is not being supported where I live - and I prefer the tech work to office work. I’m working to gain experience and money to get the certificates I’ve been studying for for years. I work full time, have three kids, always have some type of training course on the go and now adding to it a business.

I guess it depends upon where you live - what the local economy looks like, what stage of life you are in, and what other opportunities are out the for you. I live in a very rural area where the economic future is rocky and I have an active family - I’m years from retiring and I want more than what’s readily available.

This (ad)venture is important to me, I look forward to helping the community regrow and provide essential services,

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As others have said, you are entering a B2B relationship here, keep it that way. Do not do things free and charge full price. Doing anything else is asking for trouble.

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I do consulting on a project base. Plan / build something, teach them how to use it and let them take over. Done. If problems comes along I’ll consult them to fix the problem, but other than that I am not touching anything again as it is ‘theirs’.

I’d never touch private computers anymore other than mine or close friends and family.

Make sure to have a contract or scope agreement. How for are you with things? What if things break while you are at work? You can’t be at both places at the same time. What if it goes down and you don’t know how to fix it? Etc etc.

As others said B2B is the way to go. Just be careful what you do, consider a LLC and well, the bigger the job the more likely you want some king of liability insurance just in case…

1 Spice up
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I got into corporate IT because I don’t want to do ‘side jobs’… not to say that I’ve never helped someone out… but I keep it the exception rather than the rule. Otherwise, you’ll find what little free time you have evaporating quickly.

2 Spice ups
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I don’t know anyone around here to moonlight. In my last life in another town, my second job became my first and that helped me out considerably.

Don’t over promise. Always remember that you’ll never know everything, but never stop learning. Get experience in as many different environments as you can. Build a lab at home and step out of your comfort zone there or at work (under supervision).

Charge a justifiable rate. For an hourly rate, that’s going to be a fraction of what others are charging unless you are as efficient as they are - this comes with time, knowledge, and experience.

Honestly, though, if your knowledge is limited, you will better server yourself and others with studying and labs to supplement what you don’t learn from work and to reinforce fundamentals.

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I’d imagine most do. It’s easy money when you already know the technology.

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If you are willing to accept the risks and the work performed is not a service line of your primary job, then you should be fine. The only issue I could foresee on the political side is if you are providing the same services as your full time employer charges for.

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Yeah, the owner doesn’t have high expectations. and he certainly wont invest in getting real web developer to do the job.

I work for Computacenter, they dont really care unless your selling services to a company with 500+ employees. that could be a problem.