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Ask HN: How would you come up with $1500 in 30 days or monthly?

Good Evening & Happy Saturday, If you didnt want to have a corporate america job, but was a beginner-type novice programmer/proficient Electrical Engineer with okay skills in Java/PHP/C/C++, how would you come up with $1500 in 30 days or monthly?

davidsmith8900 13y ago
I tried freelancing, but all the work I got were way over my head. The easy ones that I try to get were already taken. I tried building a startup app but I need more time.
- NonEUCitizen 13y ago
  It sounds like you should get a job at the moment so you can build up your skills. Then you can quit and build your startup app much more quickly, and freelance on the side as necessary.
  - davidsmith8900 13y ago
    - Thanks for the wisdom NonEUCitizen, but what about the time that I'll be losing while working for someone else? I can never get that back. Also, in life, I wont always have the skills needed to conquer a job/project I just have to be ready for whatever n learn along the way. I can never learn everything.
    - phaus 13y ago
      I work 40+ hours a week, I'm a drilling reservist, I have a wife and kids, I'm enrolled full-time in college, and I still find time to learn about programming, design, network security, and a wide variety of other topics. My ability to learn new things is only hindered by the amount of time I spend playing videogames. A job won't stop you from learning to code. A job also won't stop you from launching a start-up. I suggest that if you are broke, find a job and continue working until you actually have an idea that seems marketable. Sorry to sound blunt, but if you are in financial trouble, you seriously need to just start working again, even if you have to take a worse job than you had before. If you don't need money immediately, try thinking of problems that you had as an electrical engineer that can be solved by software. Do the same thing for any other niches that you are familiar with. Many successful companies succeeded by solving problems that their founders experienced while working in another domain.
      - davidsmith8900 13y ago
        - Phaus, Im so grateful for your input. I appreciate your direct honesty with me. It makes me want to reflect on life.
  - armenarmen 13y ago
    Exactly, make a list of companies doing something similar to what you plan on doing try work for them and learn the trade on their dime.
    - davidsmith8900 13y ago
      - I can see where you are coming from now. I never thought of getting a job in an area of the same skills I wanted to become an expert in.
sukaka 13y ago
There is risk involved, but you could be a trader. Lots of successful algorithm traders are one person shops that are later bought by banking firms like Goldman Sachs. I'd trade forex because it's simple. Two simple strategies are trading at ema crossovers and arbitrage. As a programmer, you have power to play with data and build automated trading systems (bot or assisted trading). I recall from a book on stock/futures trading that around 70% lose money, 20% stay the same, and 10% make money. Also, 10% is the average annual return rate of the stock market, but you also need to calculate taxes. This thread is a great resource on exploiting bitcoin trading, which is applicable to forex in general. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60501.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60501.0
- davidsmith8900 13y ago
  - I dont mind the risk, I believe, life is a risk itself. Thank you so much for this info sukaka. I will look more and, do research in this.
  - sukaka 13y ago
    good luck! Also know about stop loss. More often than not, sell if the price has dropped more than 5%. If not, you'd be out of the picture and might be waiting indefinitely for the price to crawl back up to just break even.
    - davidsmith8900 13y ago
      - Okay sukaka, I wil keep everything u said in mind.
- TheLegace 13y ago
  I have been doing Forex on an off, lost tiny bit of money, but overall having a lot of trouble consistently profiting in the market. Do you have any serious tips on how to be consistently successful.
  - billybob255 13y ago
vinceguidry 13y ago
Why the hate for corporate America? It really isn't that bad. You work half as hard for twice as much money as you would freelancing or consulting. But if you must, front-end development is hot right now. Learn a popular JS framework like Angular or Backbone and whore yourself out to design shops. They'll work you to death but you'll have your $$. Bonus points if you can pick up Rails and therefore be able to develop an entire app soup-to-nuts.
- davidsmith8900 13y ago
  - I have no hate for corporate america vinceguidry. I had 2 jobs as an Electrical Engineer before I resigned and decided to do a startup. Still,, I want to thank you for your advice and knowledge. Im famaliar with HTML, JS, & CSS but I will step my game up as you've suggested.

davidsmith8900 13y ago

I tried freelancing, but all the work I got were way over my head. The easy ones that I try to get were already taken. I tried building a startup app but I need more time.

NonEUCitizen 13y ago
It sounds like you should get a job at the moment so you can build up your skills. Then you can quit and build your startup app much more quickly, and freelance on the side as necessary.
- davidsmith8900 13y ago
  - Thanks for the wisdom NonEUCitizen, but what about the time that I'll be losing while working for someone else? I can never get that back. Also, in life, I wont always have the skills needed to conquer a job/project I just have to be ready for whatever n learn along the way. I can never learn everything.
  - phaus 13y ago
    I work 40+ hours a week, I'm a drilling reservist, I have a wife and kids, I'm enrolled full-time in college, and I still find time to learn about programming, design, network security, and a wide variety of other topics. My ability to learn new things is only hindered by the amount of time I spend playing videogames. A job won't stop you from learning to code. A job also won't stop you from launching a start-up. I suggest that if you are broke, find a job and continue working until you actually have an idea that seems marketable. Sorry to sound blunt, but if you are in financial trouble, you seriously need to just start working again, even if you have to take a worse job than you had before. If you don't need money immediately, try thinking of problems that you had as an electrical engineer that can be solved by software. Do the same thing for any other niches that you are familiar with. Many successful companies succeeded by solving problems that their founders experienced while working in another domain.
    - davidsmith8900 13y ago
      - Phaus, Im so grateful for your input. I appreciate your direct honesty with me. It makes me want to reflect on life.
- armenarmen 13y ago
  Exactly, make a list of companies doing something similar to what you plan on doing try work for them and learn the trade on their dime.
  - davidsmith8900 13y ago
    - I can see where you are coming from now. I never thought of getting a job in an area of the same skills I wanted to become an expert in.

sukaka 13y ago

There is risk involved, but you could be a trader. Lots of successful algorithm traders are one person shops that are later bought by banking firms like Goldman Sachs. I'd trade forex because it's simple. Two simple strategies are trading at ema crossovers and arbitrage. As a programmer, you have power to play with data and build automated trading systems (bot or assisted trading). I recall from a book on stock/futures trading that around 70% lose money, 20% stay the same, and 10% make money. Also, 10% is the average annual return rate of the stock market, but you also need to calculate taxes. This thread is a great resource on exploiting bitcoin trading, which is applicable to forex in general. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60501.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60501.0

davidsmith8900 13y ago
- I dont mind the risk, I believe, life is a risk itself. Thank you so much for this info sukaka. I will look more and, do research in this.
- sukaka 13y ago
  good luck! Also know about stop loss. More often than not, sell if the price has dropped more than 5%. If not, you'd be out of the picture and might be waiting indefinitely for the price to crawl back up to just break even.
  - davidsmith8900 13y ago
    - Okay sukaka, I wil keep everything u said in mind.
TheLegace 13y ago
I have been doing Forex on an off, lost tiny bit of money, but overall having a lot of trouble consistently profiting in the market. Do you have any serious tips on how to be consistently successful.
- billybob255 13y ago

vinceguidry 13y ago

Why the hate for corporate America? It really isn't that bad. You work half as hard for twice as much money as you would freelancing or consulting. But if you must, front-end development is hot right now. Learn a popular JS framework like Angular or Backbone and whore yourself out to design shops. They'll work you to death but you'll have your $$. Bonus points if you can pick up Rails and therefore be able to develop an entire app soup-to-nuts.

davidsmith8900 13y ago
- I have no hate for corporate america vinceguidry. I had 2 jobs as an Electrical Engineer before I resigned and decided to do a startup. Still,, I want to thank you for your advice and knowledge. Im famaliar with HTML, JS, & CSS but I will step my game up as you've suggested.