Ask HN: Ways to Maximize Income | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Ways to Maximize Income

13 pointsthrowawayobvy12 comments

I’m doing great at work, but working for pay bumps has diminishing returns.

I’m impactful, but this also seems to have a limit.

Within the last year I got a 16% bump, but I’m trying to do better.

I can take on more work, but I don’t think that would result in more pay.

I’ve thought about getting a second remote job (SWE or similar).

What alternatives exist besides switching companies?

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Silicone valley type company or quant fund type companies. Target those.

Is what you earn so far out of whack with cost of living? How many standard deviations above average for your age are you at present?

Not to disrespect the "can I do better" part

Taking a second job in SWE is risky. You may hit IPR rules both sides and you risk termination at will for perceived disloyalty.

Would you tell your current employer you have a second job? What would you do, if they found out indirectly?

I’m 30 and I make $165k in a MCOL area, but I am trying to find a way to double that number without RSUs etc.

I think I can do better, so I’m trying to map some paths out.

My employment contract doesn’t disallow a second job, but I don’t think I’d announce this straight away.

I have a good relationship with my current employer.. I don’t think they’d care as long as I wasn’t working for a competitor.

I'm in a MCOL making half that and maybe got 16% cumulative over the past 5-6 years. Seems like you're doing well. You might want to look for a higher tier remote job.

My second job one year was Lowes for $10/hr

Why not RSUs? You're going to find it hard to get a job making more than ~220ish in base salary but with RSUs the sky is the limit (although right now it is much harder to score one of these jobs than normal)

I've worked two jobs and you get diminishing returns. Yes, at the end of the year you have more money, but the cost of a second job is way higher than than one job.

From a benefits' standpoint: you only get one 401k and one health insurance plan.

From a personal health standpoint: you have to outsource more of your life. You won't have time to go to cook healthy food for yourself or socialize with friends.

Tread lightly.

If you’re going to do the second job thing I highly recommend founding a software consultancy so you can be upfront about the fact that you have multiple clients. If you’re good and you attract clients and other good people to work with you, you can make a lot of money.

Do you mean software consultancy as in a company that accepts invoices and you work on that basis billing hourly for work they define? Or do you mean clients and consultancy like starting a company that does websites for businesses, marketing them, attracting clients, etc.?

Any tips on getting the first one going?

I am also thinking about starting some sort of software consultancy, formerly for extra pay and then to become more job-indepentent. What I'm noticing is that, just by chatting with people, it's relatively easy to find some companies that need a simple, quick, and cheap SW product, the kind of things a solo developer can do quite easily. So my suggestion would be: just talk with people about your interest, someone may get back to you with interesting projects to start with.

The only thing that is blocking me right now is that having a client is like having another boss, and it's probably gonna be angrier if anything doesn't fit well. I would prefer like "you pay me for X hours and I bring your SW from here to there" kind of stuff, it would probably be much easier to start with while maintaining my main job.

In the last 20 years or so, working for Google or Facebook was the best effort to reward ratio. It's hard to pick winners ahead of time though.

Do get you stock / RSUs?

Options, but they’re worthless at the moment.

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