5 ms·

Side gigs aren't worth it. If you're at a decent company, my boss feeling slightly more enthusiastic at my potential could mean tens of thousands of dollars mo

Side gigs aren't worth it. If you're at a decent company, my boss feeling slightly more enthusiastic at my potential could mean tens of thousands of dollars more in bonus/stock at the end of the year. I'd rather work harder on work.

msgodel 1y ago
I think the current instability is changing that.
- muzani 1y ago
  Exactly. I would have said the same 3 years ago, but these days, work hard, ship products, get laid off, and management pats themselves on the back for increasing productivity.
owebmaster 1y ago
A sidegig can bring you happiness that a few thousands of bonus won't tho. Also, the current market sucks.
bruce511 1y ago
It's a good practice to question the premise of the question when writing an answer. (In this case interpreting the question as "how do I make money on the side.") There are indeed other reasons for side gigs, but the parent question here does seem to be focused on the financial side of things. I would agree that work-related progress is likely to be more profitable in the long run. IF (and it's a big IF) there is a route at work to more compensation then that is likely the best use of your time. Of course not all jobs offer that path, and in some organizations it can take a bit of detective work to find out where things pay better, or where more value can be recognized.
burnt-resistor 1y ago
You're never going to get moderately rich working for someone else, especially at a corporation without a union.
- VirusNewbie 1y ago
  >You're never going to get moderately rich working for someone else, especially at a corporation without a union I don't know what you mean by 'moderately rich', but I know multiple people who have saved millions of dollars (including myself), some of which who were able to retire early by working for 'someone else' - also none of which are union shops. Do you really not know that many people have gotten quite rich working for FAANG companies? Do you also not know these people are much richer than union workers?
  - burnt-resistor 1y ago
    MS+MAANG only. That's a survivor-biased anecdotal example, not a widely-applicable strategy. Most people outside of the supersized corporations make around $60-100k, not $250k-1m+ TC at MS+MAANG. Founders exiting make much more, usually/hopefully several million per (successful) exit. I was making $10k/week doing tech consulting 10 years ago. Ordinary people, in specialized fields like contingent tax credit audit accounting, make much more on their own rather than working for someone else. This type of worker is, by far, more numerous in the real world™ of America than software engineers on HN.
    - paulcole 1y ago
      There is quite a big gap between $100k and $250k. If you happen to find yourself in that gap you can become moderately rich over a period of several decades by living frugally and investing in index funds with excess cash. Or don’t do that and don’t become moderately rich. That is fine, too! It’s not impossible but you must prioritize the goal of becoming moderately rich over other goals.
      - burnt-resistor 1y ago
        That's a lot of added work and extremely limiting constraints when you can just get a better job continually rather than getting complacent and grow one or more side-hustles.

msgodel 1y ago

I think the current instability is changing that.

muzani 1y ago
Exactly. I would have said the same 3 years ago, but these days, work hard, ship products, get laid off, and management pats themselves on the back for increasing productivity.

owebmaster 1y ago

A sidegig can bring you happiness that a few thousands of bonus won't tho. Also, the current market sucks.

bruce511 1y ago

It's a good practice to question the premise of the question when writing an answer. (In this case interpreting the question as "how do I make money on the side.") There are indeed other reasons for side gigs, but the parent question here does seem to be focused on the financial side of things. I would agree that work-related progress is likely to be more profitable in the long run. IF (and it's a big IF) there is a route at work to more compensation then that is likely the best use of your time. Of course not all jobs offer that path, and in some organizations it can take a bit of detective work to find out where things pay better, or where more value can be recognized.

burnt-resistor 1y ago

You're never going to get moderately rich working for someone else, especially at a corporation without a union.

VirusNewbie 1y ago
>You're never going to get moderately rich working for someone else, especially at a corporation without a union I don't know what you mean by 'moderately rich', but I know multiple people who have saved millions of dollars (including myself), some of which who were able to retire early by working for 'someone else' - also none of which are union shops. Do you really not know that many people have gotten quite rich working for FAANG companies? Do you also not know these people are much richer than union workers?
- burnt-resistor 1y ago
  MS+MAANG only. That's a survivor-biased anecdotal example, not a widely-applicable strategy. Most people outside of the supersized corporations make around $60-100k, not $250k-1m+ TC at MS+MAANG. Founders exiting make much more, usually/hopefully several million per (successful) exit. I was making $10k/week doing tech consulting 10 years ago. Ordinary people, in specialized fields like contingent tax credit audit accounting, make much more on their own rather than working for someone else. This type of worker is, by far, more numerous in the real world™ of America than software engineers on HN.
  - paulcole 1y ago
    There is quite a big gap between $100k and $250k. If you happen to find yourself in that gap you can become moderately rich over a period of several decades by living frugally and investing in index funds with excess cash. Or don’t do that and don’t become moderately rich. That is fine, too! It’s not impossible but you must prioritize the goal of becoming moderately rich over other goals.
    - burnt-resistor 1y ago
      That's a lot of added work and extremely limiting constraints when you can just get a better job continually rather than getting complacent and grow one or more side-hustles.