HACKER Q&A
📣 jossclimb

Moonlighting


Does anyone in HN have any experience in moonlighting? As an example, perhaps around an OSS project or technical stack you have some expertise in to provide services or consulting. Maybe as a side gig side until you eventually bootstrap a company around it?

I can see a lot of opportunities, but I would not be in a position where I can leave my permanent employment yet (living wage needs) but I know I could perform my job just as well.

How did you make the crossover?

  👤 hacky_engineer Accepted Answer ✓
At some point you'll realize that you just don't have the energy to continue with your employment and do a side project. And hopefully your side project will be making enough money that the decision on which to marry isn't too difficult.

I'm in the middle of making this transition right now. Juggling full time employment and a booming side project is exhausting.

👤 mooreds
Moonlighting is exhausting. I find it better to save up money, cut costs, and make a full time move. It's riskier, but if you plan out your runway, you can have time to go back to a full time job if the experiment doesn't work out.

You can also contract (staff aug) to help make ends meet before your consulting takes off.

So, first get your financial house in order, then moonlight a bit to see if you like the OSS project or technical stack, then pull the ripcord.

Source: built a startup after quitting full time contracting; also taught certification courses while building the startup to extend runway.