Ask HN: I make $8/hour and can't pay for college. Any advice? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I make $8/hour and can't pay for college. Any advice?

19 pointskeiferski20 comments

My situation: I work a food service job and make slightly above minimum wage. To make a long story short, paying next semester's tuition bill is going to be tough. I could get another food service job, but I think I know enough to make a better living. The question is: how?

Here's what I can do / what I've done:

- I have two side projects: PitchRemix.com, a service that creates elevator pitches, and NamingKings.com, a name-creating service. Both have made money and are profitable (although costs are obviously low).

- I can write well. Check out my HN comment history or NamingKings.com/Blog for writing samples.

- I'm proficient at HTML, CSS, and WordPress. I can design minimalist sites and logos (check out the two sites above).

- I know "how" programming works (loops, variables, OOP, etc.). I just don't know how to implement it and make something. I'm currently going through Hartl's Rails tutorial to fix this.

Any advice on how to make more than minimum wage? Should I try the freelance sites (eLance, etc.)? Aim for a remote job/internship?

Thanks a million.

Hint #1: Your naming service is hugely underpriced. You could probably charge 10x-20x as much. See http://www.namedatlast.com/

Hint #2: You have an audience (your customers) Talk to them! Ask them what their challenges are. Call them up or email them and get an interview. Dig really really deep and find out what really annoys them, frustrates them, makes them fearful, or wastes their time.

Then, you can take one of several possible courses of action:

1) Do a lot of research on the topic... read everything you can find about it on the Internet, plus 5 or 10 books (free at the library!). Create an eBook, audio course, or video course that walks your customer step-by-step through solving their problem, and sell it.

2) Find an expert in the subject area and partner with them to create an eBook or online course, then sell it.

3) Find a programmer buddy and build a web app that solves their problem, and sell it.

Check with your school's financial aid department; there may be grants and scholarships available. I know this seems pretty obvious, but many of my former classmates never even attempted to check.

1. Regarding pricing your services PitchRemix and NamingKings (btw, love the ideas, see potential to be more), check out Joel on Software's blog post: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckie... I'll certainly be taking it into account now that most of my customers are saying that my book Ice Cream Startups: http://sellfy.com/p/9j2z is underpriced. See background information here: http://startupframework.tumblr.com/post/29634915106/what-i-l...

2. If writing's your thing, check out http://fiverr.com/ for selling minified versions of your services. Winning projects at https://www.elance.com takes more than showcasing skills; it comes down to communication, which you're really good at, so I think you can win some bids there. Focus on the fact that English is your first language, because they're many on there that aren't fluent (and just auto-bid). Also set yourself up as a company, rather than as an individual.

3. Love your minimalistic approach (don't spin it as you're not a coder). Spin it as you've got that scrappy attitude that most hackers have. If you're looking into Python/Django, I'd start here: http://eddychan.com/post/15775730174/how-i-learnt-enough-pyt...

4. Finally, don't get a second food service job, but neither should you quit your current one. Having one job I feel gives you a network that you may not otherwise have access to, and keeps you sane in times of persisting amongst failures. Keep your second job to building your websites. It's not easy, I know - I'm a student working a day job, and on web projects as well - it tires the crap out of me - but you gotta love what you do (here's why: http://startupframework.tumblr.com/post/29585034512/why-do-w...). Email me if you want to bounce more ideas off. Seems like you're in the boat I was in 2 months ago (I too got one year left of school with tuition money very hard to come by). You've got a lot of options, and it's great you're taking action to figure them out. Good luck. aaron [at] brownieinmotion [dot] ca.

I will fund your education in exchange for 20% of everything you ever make pre-tax.

Funny, Sallie Mae offered me the same deal.

In the Bay Area and NYC, a self-taught coder can find work without a college degree. I recommend that you work very hard on your Rails skills, build a website all by yourself using rails, and put the source on github. If your site works, looks good, and you know how to present yourself in an interview, you can get a paid internship at a startup that uses rails. Of course this doesn't solve your short-term cash crunch, but depending on how disciplined you are, you might not need to finish college right now.

I'd prefer to finish my degree right now. Thanks for the advice though, that may be my best shot post-graduation for a real job.

I make $8/hour and can't pay for college. Any advice?

Join the Air Force or Navy for the GI Bill.

If you are not in a large city (DC, Boston, New York, Chicago, etc.), move to one. My first job paid $9.25/hr. I was an office temp for 2 months. I networked like crazy and 2 months later I was doing web "stuff." I got this job through someone I met. It wasn't glamorous. I was scanning word documents and books, proof reading them, and formatting them with HTML. It wasn't glamorous, but I got to work with some great people. Some of which led me to a better job later. In the evenings, I volunteered my time helping setup a server room and doing reinstalls when employees left. I didn't get paid for this b/c I wanted to learn and volunteered for the sake of doing so.

Never stop meeting people. Always be learning. If you read Hart's book and it doesn't stick. Do it again. Once you're done with it a 2nd time, then go over to CodeSchool.com and work through Rails for Zombies 2 ($20/mo.).

Good Luck!

Well I can't exactly get up and move to a large city at the moment (I'm in a college town and I just signed a lease).

I will look up some meetups, though. Thanks.

Many states allow you to break a job if you are moving for a job.

http://www.lsnjlaw.org/english/placeilive/irentmyhome/tenant...

Typo: "break a lease" I'm assuming?

This typically has very little to do with the state, and everything to do with the particular lease. Your link provides no supporting evidence for your statement.

If you move out before the end of the lease, the landlord may be able to hold you responsible for the rent that becomes due until the apartment or house is rented again, or until the lease ends.

Links, if you want to check out my projects:

http://namingkings.com

http://pitchremix.com

- start a blog -> blog about your experience, hits & misses while working on your 2 projects. - share your codes via github. lookout at the monthly hiring thread for job offers.

most importantly look around you to find issues/problems that people are willingly to pay a tiny $5-$20 to get it solve. build mvp, reiterate...

I second the fiverr reply..and I will buy your first gig on there..

I would say just get the loans. Study something that makes sense and just get the loans. Also, to get a better part time job ... Well, are you applying to positions. Keep learning and actually apply to positions. If you write your resume well and are energetic, etc in the interview, you have a good chance of finding an employer if you are in a populated area. Hope this helps. :)

I agree, looking back, low wage jobs were an incredible waste of time and energy. I would have been better to do some simple business than work. That being said, not everyone qualifies for federal loans due to drug convictions, being a foreign national, and a couple of other exclusions.

yeah, and the inability to just decided to earn 100K+/yr "on the side" should not discourage people from going to college. just make sure you actually learn something.

I disagree pretty strongly here. I think that huge college loans make for a terrible start to your career. I'll concede that loans might be a better option than $8/hr, but I freelanced for $50-60 per hour during college and I believe that is absolutely a better option than taking loans. Clearly the OP has some business interest and skill, and while I don't know what freelance writing and content-focused websites would bring in, I'd guess that it's well above minimum wage.

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