Comments on: Side Hustle Series: I’m an IT Freelancer

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:47:56 +0000

Thanks again for guest posting, Ron – it really helped out while I was away! Glad the rest of you enjoyed it too :)

By: Jenna, Adaptu Community Manager

Jenna, Adaptu Community Manager — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:59:05 +0000

Sounds like a great side gig. Thanks for sharing.

By: Nurse Frugal

Nurse Frugal — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:31:24 +0000

Good for you for having a profitable side business!!!! If only i could find mine ;)

By: Mr. Everyday Dollar

Mr. Everyday Dollar — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:39:00 +0000

I have been in IT for over 10 years. While I make great money in my position, it came to a point a few years ago that I did not want to do anything IT-related outside of the 9-5 work hours.

For me, it could be a potential side hustle after I retire early, but it would be on my terms and only consulting or project work.

By: LB

LB — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:19:34 +0000

Thanks for the awesome information! My husband does IT and has wanted to do it on the side for a long time for extra money. This should give him more ideas, so I will definitely pass it along to him. :)

As for me, IT isn’t for everyone and I hated it. I love fixing computers for friends or myself, but always seemed to get stuck on the phone or underpaid. (Last company I was supposed to be an assistant, but they kept wanting me to fix everyone’s email, phones, computers and even their server mess. I declined and eventually quit for the low pay, few hours and demands on me.)

By: Lance@MoneyLife&More

Lance@MoneyLife&More — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:07:28 +0000

Congrats on getting into this profitable area. It is great that you have to turn clients away so hopefully you are getting top market rate!

By: Joe @ Retire By 40

Joe @ Retire By 40 — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:09:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing your story. The IT department is so underappreciated. People drops by when their computer is messed up and they are always in a hurry to get it fixed. I try to say thank you and be nice to the IT guys. :)

By: m1nts

m1nts — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:53:01 +0000

I didn’t know IT freelance was an interesting hustle, no offense intended. I’m a software engineer consultant and work on a big ERP/CRM software company (if any is interested on buying one, give me a heads up, we could split the employee incentive ;) ) and pretty much everyone here either sell computers on ebay or fixes computers as a side job.
I started while I was in college, we had this yearly community service for all the non IT students, we would format all computers and reinstall them whatever they wanted as long as the university had licenses for it, we would charge them about 10 USD per computer which was nothing but helped us to buy pizzas and sodas and dvds to do backups if our “customer” wanted to keep their precious mp3s and documents.
On a week I’d format about 500 computers/laptops so when I graduate I kept doing it but outside school. Since time is limited for me I get to format/fix about 5 computers a week, it’s not a big income but it has become my “waste money”.
And yes, THANK YOU FACEBOOK! it provides the most viruses lately for my customers too.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:35:40 +0000

“The whole office was on a mission to install everything the internet had to offer and this created a lot of problems.”

I laughed so hard at this. I’m an IT manager at a Credit Union. I came in fresh out of college and realized early that I didn’t know anything. If anybody is interested in getting into IT just remember that Google is your BEST friend.

I’ve recently been thinking about doing this. I get asked all the time to fix personal computers from everybody, and I have never charged. It’s usually some stupid virus they got from Facebook that I can fix with my eyes closed.

Thanks for the inspiration!