Ask HN: How to leverage a side project to get out of near poverty
I work a regular 9-5 job doing data analysis (Excel, SQL etc) which brings in just enough money to pay for a 1 bedroom apartment where I live with my wife and 2 daughters (7 and 2 yo).
Truth be told it's not like we live in what the average person would describe as "poverty", but we hardly ever have money to get to the end of the month. And living with 2 fast growing kids in a 1 bedroom apartment is unsustainable. This is starting to bring an unbearable strain on the family.
I consider myself an amateur programmer, I routinely do little python scripts, and I have developed and managed some WordPress sites and all sorts of little tech odd jobs for friends and acquaintances. I'm a very fast learner, but I always failed to take the plunge and dedicate myself to making a better living in programming/dev work.
I feel like an idiot for not using these skills I have to boost my income, but at the same time I'm stuck not having the formal qualifications to apply for a legitimate dev job.
Does anyone have any advice on how you would go about making this transition? I thought about doing some side projects that would bring some extra income, but I absolutely must not leave my current 9-5 and I'm failing to see what type of projects would bring in a bit extra money and still not consume a lot of time. Even an extra 300Euros/Dollar a month would make a lot of difference. What sort of dev work do you think would give me the best "income/time-spent" ratio?
Sorry for the somewhat vague question... I guess I'm the typical perfectionist with imposter syndrome frozen in fear of failure...
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I do not have a degree, I'm a self-taught programmer/ web developer. I started in a position similar to yours, doing QA for peanuts. I came home every night and built side projects until I was comfortable enough to start landing side work for my own clients. Now I'm building web apps for a few more peanuts, but life is better. I've worked a few web dev jobs and I'm getting a lot of good responses when I send out resumes as well.
It's a difficult road, so I won't sugar coat it. But I believe you can make it if you keep grinding long enough. I'm not exceptionally smart but I do think I have grit. It took me five years of coding every night to get somewhere with it.
Good luck to you.
You have other options you can also try:
1. Try to get a raise at your current job. Are you being paid fairly, given experience and other people's salaries?
2. Try to switch to better paying job within your company. If you have additional skills, maybe you can switch to something where you're a little less qualified. Since they know you, hopefully they will trust you to be able to learn new things.
3. Apply to entry level developer jobs elsewhere. "Formal qualification" matters less than skills and willingness to learn to many companies.
There are guys making a ton of money with Excel skills. Here is a (smaller) example : https://www.indiehackers.com/interview/ce0aadf068
So it is not a bad skill, and Excel will likely be around for a few more years.
Education and honing your skills. Study on your spare time, make something as a hobby project hones your skills, and also, maybe try bringing this up with your employer. Also, work overtime.