Ask HN: Disabled and out of work for years, but need some side income

[Madmallard]

I've been disabled since 2018, and my skills in software as such have largely become outdated. I have high problem solving competence in general, but most modern technology stacks people are regularly using seem to be past my time. I'm willing to put some work into correcting the difference, however due to the circumstances I'm in, it would really have to quickly and effectively pay off. It can't be a "maybe useful" kind of scenario.

I've come into a situation, largely due to how awful the rent situation is in the United States, where I pretty desperately need to maximize the amount I can earn under disability (which is around $1200 a month) without losing it.

I have 8-10 years of overall experience, and regularly program as a hobby, but I have not been employed for years.

The last job I worked I primarily wrote python scripts for automating things like data entry into a CMS and other basic front-end web development features using older technology.

What can I do to actually be able to get some side income in the software space here in 2023? I've talked with a couple companies in my situation and the answers usually are along the lines of "well we can just hire a new graduate with up-to-date experience and they can work 40 hours a week for us no problem."

I'm in my early-to-mid 30s for reference. I'm not really able to get off disability as the condition is severe.

---

edit: I've already reduced expenses pretty much as much as I reasonably can do of course.

I've explored other options already as well. For things like Fiverr or being hired contract-wise on websites they seem to be races to the bottom so if I'm trying to earn $1200 a month I'm really having to work quite a lot harder and more hours than I'm really currently able to do.

I have some applications I've written that generated some interest, however if I want to make any decent money off them I would have to put an extraordinarily large amount of effort into marketing and post-release diligence which may well be past what I'm currently capable of doing.

I do tutor students as well intermittenly but it doesn't get me very much.

I've written some scripts and other little projects for people I know here and there for small amounts, but it is extremely inconsistent availability even though they trust what I deliver.

It seems like finding other leads in that regard is really my only option.

[nfriedly]

For what it's worth, I used to do work on freelancing sites ~10 years ago and just tended to ignore the race to the bottom. I initially charged $50/hr, and regularly raised my rates so that I was up over $150/hr by the time I stopped doing it.

Of course I got passed over for a lot of jobs in favor of cheaper folks. But the jobs I did get were from clients who actually respected me. Also, more than once, a client who initially passed over me for someone cheaper came back a few months later and asked me to do the job after all.

So, perhaps something like that could work for you.

--

Regarding the $1,200 per month limit, I'm not sure what the rules are, but perhaps you could set up a corporation that takes on the freelancing jobs and then pays you a salary of $1,200 a month? That way you wouldn't have to turn down a job for paying too much.

Maybe have the corp owned by a trust rather than you personally?

I wouldn't want you to get in trouble and lose the disability, though, so talk to somebody who actually knows what they're talking about before doing any of this stuff.

[thathndude]

Lawyer here, but not legal advice:

Look into a Special Needs Trust. You may be able to sock the money into the Trust without it becoming income to you, and thus jeopardizing your benefits. It’s usually used to keep assets low enough for benefits, but maybe there’s an income reducing benefit as well. Your state likely has multiple providers —- fees, if any, are typically quite reasonable

[ceejayoz]

> I'm not sure what the rules are, but perhaps you could set up a corporation that takes on the freelancing jobs and then pays you a salary of $1,200 a month?

No, that'll lose you the benefits.

https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-1575.htm

"We will evaluate your work activity based on the value of your services to the business regardless of whether you receive an immediate income for your services."

SSI is deliberately set up to fuck people over. (Not in this particular loophole-closer, but in general. You get $900/month to cover food, housing, etc.; a pittance. A savings account balance (or any other countable assets) over $2,000 will lose your benefits.)

[vbezhenar]

I tried for months to find a job in freelance site. I ended up doing someone's home work for symbolic price ($50 or something like that), got 5 stars and that's about it. Any work with reasonable pay (few thousands of dollars for few weeks) was overflooded with offers (like 200+ offers). I wrote my offer, tried to customize it, few times I even made some small demo to show off my interest but to no success. In the end I gave up.

So my opinion: if you desperately need some money, freelancing websites are not a good option. It's more about luck and determination. I guess if I would kept applying, with time I'd find more projects, more reputation and so on, but that's not quick money.

Might be my country (KZ). I would expect people from US or EU having better implicit reputation. Also it was around 10 years ago, may be things changed.

[Forge36]

Steps I'm seeing:

1. Find a lawyer 2. Consider a corporation 3. Find an external entity (friend, family, form a trust) to run business

Run all plans through lawyer and revive their agreement in writing

[jmduke]

Have you considered technical writing? I've talked to a number of folks who are in a similar position, and writing (as opposed to generalist development) has a number of advantages:

- It rewards experience though, except for niche-specific writing, does not require understanding of specific frameworks or programming languages - It is often 'important-but-not-urgent' work, so intermittent availability is less of a deal-breaker - Clear writing is very much an orthogonal skill from programming aptitude writ large, and you don't need to compete with new grads

[snide]

This is solid advice. In large, technical companies you'd be surprised at the number of technical writers that aren't actually technical. Having someone that acts as a source writer, rather than as an editor for developers that are quickly rushing past the documentation requirements is a game-changer. The best technical writers I've worked with were always folks who understood programming and could write the docs from experience.

I also find most technical documentation teams to be a lot more chill and flexible. Most of them have excellent team-minded work styles.

How to get started in this field? You can't throw a stone without hitting an OSS project that wouldn't want help with its docs. It's a great way to build up a network and some Github activity.

[pabs3]

On that note, LWN are always looking for article authors:

https://lwn.net/op/AuthorGuide.lwn

[jonnycomputer]

Interesting. Do you have a feel for the market for this as a contract-job or side-gig?

[mcv]

> I've been disabled since 2018, and my skills in software as such have largely become outdated.

I always find this such a weird claim. Sure, lots has happened in the past 5 years, but there's still tons of software out there that's older than 5 years, most major programming languages are decades old, and anything new can be learned.

If you want to be able to make money quickly, it's far more interesting to look at what you can do, than worry about what you might not yet know. Python is still around and still as relevant as ever.

> I'm in my early-to-mid 30s for reference. I'm not really able to get off disability as the condition is severe.

My personal opinion is that if your condition is that severe, you shouldn't have to work at all, but of course that's of no help to you right now.

[phphphphp]

I wouldn’t describe it as weird because people who struggle with a disability can lose their confidence over time in things unrelated to their disability, but I certainly agree with your point: if somebody could write code 5 years ago, they can do it today. Modern technology is just old technology with some different bells and whistles, the principles are all the same, and as has always been the case, most code that professionals are writing is very simple.

Technology is 90% confidence, and very little skill. The biggest challenge for the OP is convincing himself that he isn’t damaged goods who needs charity, he’s a competent developer with some restrictions on his availability so he’s available for part-time work.

[ThinkBeat]

[ActivistNote] As the inflation continues to raise prices, is it vital to put political pressure on ensuring that the state increases SS payments accordingly. [/ActivistNote]

You have the right to your opinion but it pretty close to the mythical "Let them eat cake"

In his situation he has nearly no control over how much he will get paid. You take what the government gets and that is it.

A nice thing when you are working is that you can sort of hope for a bonus, a raise, promotion etc. You have some control, yet that influence good in some jobs and next to none in other jobs.

On SS you cant really hope for a bonus. and asking for a raise aint happening either.

[ThinkBeat]

> I always find this such a weird claim. Sure, lots has happened in the past 5 years, but there's still tons

It depends a lot on what you are working on.

If you work on a big legacy system, you can probably walk in after 5 years and pick it up. Same C on an established embedded platform. And certainly, Cobol on a mainframe. Perl you are good as well

It seems like if you writing front - end code shit is changing on a monthly basis , framework come, disappear, new hotness, cargo culting. Or at least I think that is what a lot of the cursing I have heard from people who do it.

Myself i have never down that road but it seems chaotic.

I have worked a lot with C#. It has changed so much over 5 or 7 years that if you are all up on the latest changes you can write code that is not easy to read for someone a while back. (Here I am talking language changes) Of course the .Net framework has changed a lot, .core now it.

You can pick it up but it would take work.

Really it depends on what, where and how.

[alexpotato]

There are certain industries (looking at your finance), that often DON'T adopt the newest technologies on purpose. In fact, some of them have essentially "5 year plans" where they only update their stack every X years. (I put X as even in the same org the values for X may range from 1 to 10).

People familiar with older techs AND have the ability to pick up new things are very valuable.

If you are curious how to find things like this:

- look for talks by hedge funds on the tech they use

- if you see one in which your are knowledgeable, look up some of the recruiters for that firm on LinkedIn and reach out to them pointing out your expertise (bonus points for looking for a connection in common)

- go from there

[_nalply]

It seems that you write well. Perhaps you could do technology writing?

Another idea: try to find a grant for an Open Source project to document it. For a large project like Rust find something not well documented.

In my experience and of that of my friends -- we are Deaf by the way -- about nine of ten projects won't give sustenance. It's like startups, you need to try again and again. Either you will strike gold or you will have several horses to bet on.

Finally consider leaving the country. The US is good for people who are well off and not so good for the rest. With some luck you could work as a digital nomad.

[tarotuser]

From all the comments thus far posted here, I think you'd be best off finding work "under the table", cash only. Yes, this would be defrauding the SSDI system, in the technical sense. But given the significant rise in damned near everything, SSDI is grossly unacceptable in its benefits and requirements.

(I mean, this isn't a case of a Scrooge McDuck collecting piles of money into the money bin. You've got both feet square in the poverty class, with SSDI serving as the very poverty trap.)

SSDI will remove you from their roles if you make "too much".

You'll be forced to a different disability agency that will do everything in its power to not cover you.

If a workplace does significantly accommodate, that will forever be used to prove that you're not disabled; just lazy.

This country's (USA) politicians do not care about you.

[chrischen]

I’ve employed people in a similar position to yours at Instapainting.com. Willing to train and pay you while you train, and also dole part time work as you see fit for software engineering services.

Please email me [email protected]

[MagicMoonlight]

Your business doesn’t seem very sustainable, photorealistic paintings for less than minimum wage won’t lead to long term workers.

[jacknews]

It's hard to take Fiver seriously.

For example a quick search for 'Ruby Rails' and one of the top service providers lists a premium service of 'full stack development app' delivered in 3 days, and including a 15 minute consultation, a project plan, and audit, for ... $20.

[blowski]

In my experience, it's a loss leader designed to bleed you dry with never-ending "bug fixes" you have to pay for.

1. Put the cheapest junior they have to install and configure their default platform for you and present it.

2. You see progress, and decide spending another $20 will get you over the finish line.

And people remain stuck on #2 forever. The more they spend, the more the sunk costs convince them to keep paying.

[dubcanada]

Ya fiverr tends to be more of $20 for the initial meeting, followed by a custom quote for $500 for the project.

Usually that $20 is just to get you in the door (which is why it's hilariously low), very very rarely have I experienced that being the actual cost.

[yreg]

The $20 quote is ofc absurd, but Fiverr can never work for professionals in rich countries.

[jvanderbot]

If they have a stack set up, and just need to copy/paste 90% of it, I can see cranking out even 1 per day. And $20/day is above median wage for India, and might support a student really nicely.

I would absolutely trust someone to copy/paste a stack for me, a total idiot when it comes to the client-facing 50% of the stack, as long as they plug into my APIs.

[sgt]

Wait until Elon finds out...

[Glench]

Hey, sorry to hear about your situation. I'm in a similar boat — very low and variable ability to work for a couple years.

I haven't seen this suggestion elsewhere in the thread and it's worked ok for me so I'll mention it. I started a small SaaS.

It was initially a decent chunk of work (as you indicated in the section about monetizing applications you've written), but now provides consistent income that's not tied to my time or, critically, my energy levels. And even the initial push wasn't that bad since I spread out a lot of the work over time to match my abilities. My physical difficulties were actually kind of a blessing in a way because it forced me to do things that were absolutely critical and cut out everything else.

Needless to say, making a SaaS is an art and a risky one. It requires a good eye for applications that will make money, practice validating ideas and solutions, ways of acquiring new users, ongoing customer support and feature development, etc. One way you might de-risk a SaaS is by doing contract work for companies that give you insights into problems they're having and help you build solutions while still getting paid until you can spin out an app.

I actually think browser extensions are also an underappreciated way to get started indie hacking but I'm biased: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/why-browser-extensions-are...

Anyway, stay positive, friend! It's hard to be in our position without an ongoing practice of self-compassion and positivity.

[nicoburns]

You don't say what your disability is (or how it impacts your ability to work), so it's hard to be specific. But my general advice would be just to talk to more companies. Not every company will be open to this, but some will and you just need to find those companies. Get in contact with companies that are hiring for roles that require the kind of skills you have even if the working arrangements they're advertising aren't what you'd want.

[gwbas1c]

One thing to add: You (OP) might make enough money with full-time (or part-time) work that it's "worth it" to lose your disability benefits.

(Granted, it's worth finding out how easy/hard it is to reactive them.)

[zieben]

This. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people with disabilities who fall through the cracks because they’re able to work, just not to the artificial availability (and suffering) standard required by the modern labor market. There’s a difference between being able to do useful work and being able to survive the nightmare of a modern-day corporate job where the work demands themselves are low but the emotional labor is enough to take down even people without disabilities, given enough time.

And SSDI is really badly set up, as other posters have noted.

[globalise83]

I would recommend using your Python skills to write scripts that perform analytics tasks using JIRA Cloud REST API data. Every tech company I have worked in needed some kind of custom reports regarding development performance, time reporting, financial reporting, etc.... and there often weren't suitable plugins for just that task, and the reports themselves are highly valuable either for management purposes or compliance reasons, so they will pay you well. I have written several programs myself to do these tasks (during work hours), and it is quite satisfying to figure out how to get around the API constraints. Could be a nice little line of consulting and development work for you.

[ernestipark]

$1200/m as a decent software engineer should be really doable, whether writing software directly or not. It just might take some work to get creative and figure out where the right niches are.

I think you really want to explore more non-traditional routes, since $1200 is not much for a full time job, and probably too low end for traditional consulting as well.

For instance:

* I would get on all the expert networks (GLG, Guidepoint, Alphasights, Deepbench, etc) and get really good there. These can be a bit of overhead, but it only takes a few gigs per month to get close to $1200/month. Charge $100-$300/call. reddit.com/r/expertneworks will give you more detail

* Do you know friends/ppl in your network who work at startups or are indie hackers/solo software shops? If you're still a solid engineer, but you have a cost cap, you could be really useful to some startups who need flexible help thats not 40 hrs/week. You can also offer to be a generalist doing software, documentation, other stuff as well since you're not trying to optimize salary. A jack of all trades who can pitch in on software could be very useful for the right startup.

* Some others have suggested it too, but I'd explore the Fiverrs/Upworks and see if you can find an optimal niche where you're working, say, 10-15 hours/month and hitting that $1200. I think it's doable if you figure out what works well on those networks.

I've written a bit more about ways to get part-time work here (https://blog.parttimetech.io/p/work-part-time-as-a-software-...), hopefully some of the tips there and resources can be helpful. I've had friends with disabilities leverage part-time to be able to stay in the workforce, hope you can as well.

[lukewrites]

Little typo in your first bullet: should be reddit.com/r/expertnetworks/

[linuxftw]

Man small and medium sized local businesses need website help and marketing help. Try posting ads on craigslist and facebook. I used to do this 10-15 years ago and had some small success, though it wasn't something I tried to do full time.

You can work as much or as little as you want. People pay way too much for websites, so there's a long tail of customers that you can actually save money and do a decent job for, you just have to seek them out. Many small businesses prefer to work for someone local as well.

Many small businesses are happy to pay $X/month to their web master to keep the site alive as well, since they know nothing about computers. Many web agencies charge over $100/month to do essentially nothing, and charge for change fees.

If you have a very trusted friend or family member to structure a corporation for you, then you can earn a modest 'wage' and they uh, aren't very good at not leaving envelopes full of cash at your place. That part's obviously up to you, probably not legal, but everyone breaks the speed limit now and then.

[guhsnamih]

In early 40's with outdated skills, I am in the same boat except a physical disability. While development only roles have gone out of reach now, I have been able to find QA, documentation, support, generalist roles at a non-profit, academia, and an early stage startup in that order. Reached advanced interview stages with employers looking for outdated skills (Perl scripting) or in-office positions, so you might want to explore similar. LinkedIn, Fiverr never worked for me. My resume generated a lot more interest via HN's monthly threads. Good luck!

[luckylion]

> outdated skills

Wordpress powers like 40% of the web, unless you really, really, really hate PHP, your skills aren't outdated. It's probably tough to connect to the right people but there are endless companies and individuals out there that need help with their sites that run on WP.

Just as a reminder that there's the Modern-Software-Development Paradise where you need to keep learning new technology and everything is futuristic and shiny, and then there's the Wordpress-Running-On-Php5.6 Real World which is gigantic but few people blog about because it's not fancy and it smells bad sometimes.

[chrischen]

Please contact me [email protected] (I also offered OP) if still looking for a job.

[codingdave]

You might want to expand your focus - if you can't promise to commit to a long-term project due to your health concerns, try talking to local temp services. It won't be tech work, but it will be work and a paycheck. With low expectations of continued work. Low pay, too, but it sounds like you only want some money, not an amount so large to kick you out of your programs.

I've also gotten tech gigs from temp gigs - "Hey, I know I'm just a temp, but I also do tech work and noticed some things I could automate for you, if you'd like some help."

[passwordoops]

Depending on the disability there may be organizations that can help. For example, if you're blind or low vision the APH, ACB and NFB (in the states) have great training and placement programs that can potentially match you to employers.

There's also options to reposition yourself. For example, instead of development, look for QA analyst roles. This particular shift won't pay as high, but it might be a good fit for what you need and possibly be easier to land in a shorter time frame

[wing-_-nuts]

I'm a software developer with cerebral palsy. I hope you don't take this question the wrong way, but what sort of condition disables you from working as a software developer? I only ask because I worked very hard to get into this career imagining that it would be almost impossible to be disabled enough that I could not write code without some sort of cognitive impairment. Your post suggests I'm missing a risk factor I haven't accounted for?

[sterlind]

Possible factors: Too many doctor's appointments. Severe fatigue. Progressive illness with increasing disability. Issues typing.

Personally, I have hEDS, nTOS and thoracic myelopathy. I was barely able to type for months. There's dictation software, but the learning curve is substantial, everything becomes slow and error-prone, and you have to spend much of your concentration on dictation itself. That and fatigue kept me from working for six months while I rehabbed and adapted.

[xtrohnx]

I've found myself doing a bit of side work for small non-profits, and they tend to use older CMSs for their sites. They also tend to not have anyone on staff who fully manages the website - it usually falls under whoever is in charge of marketing or development (in the non-profit sense). One non-profit in particular reached out to have me on a monthly retainer to just pop in to their WordPress site to make sure things are updated and there are no security issues. They also ask me to do some content updates if they're overwhelmed and not sure of the best way to do it. Time wise, I'll spend maybe 15-20 minutes a month going through their checklist of ToDos, and they send a small but consistent check each month.

Maybe you could use your experience in CMS automation and reach out to a few smaller non-profits/businesses to see if you might be able to get a similar situation going? It could be a win-win; you can pull a consistent amount every month, and it's a huge relief to the marketing coordinator to not have to deal with administration they're not comfortable with.

[xen2xen1]

Have you put out your resume on indeed.com, LinkedIn, etc, listing yourself as part time? Getting noticed by recruiters can be a way to get things done. Have you considered going back to school online? Being in school can help with Section 8 housing in the US, as can a disability. It also helps with lots of other public help. Also, you might scour for jobs that require a security clearance that are part time, as the government views disability far, far different than the private sector. Long term, government jobs, even part time, might be your answer. Even companies that have government contracts hire many more disabled folks than others. Actually, I know people who's job it is/has been to help disabled folks get jobs, even part time. Google Vocational Rehab for your area. There's probably a program near you. Sorry to not answer your questions the way you were probably looking, but I'm sharing what I do know of all this. I can probably help if you care to send more specifics.

[WaitWhatHuh]

I feel for you, I'm a bit younger then you and in a similar situation.

Been offered several jobs at tech startups for marketing positions that I had to turn down besides being offered the world and back. Can't risk losing the medicaid/medicare combo.

Have you looked into an efficiency apartment or talking to some old people who are landlords? They'll sometimes have places they'd rather stick a "low maintenance/guaranteed payment" tenant.

I regularly notice my landlord just "Forgetting" to update the cost per month on my rent portal but my lease stating a different amount.

One thing you can do is work for people in the crypto world, building Rust/Solidity games for others can be profitable AND most importantly its paid out in crypto.

Just don't try withdrawing said crypto in your name cough. -- Beyond working in the crypto world/getting paid in crypto I can't see a way out of this hellish hole for either of us.

[blowski]

It's horrible feeling like the world has passed you by, perhaps even more so when it's forced on you by external factors rather than choices you've made.

That being said, I wonder if you should challenge your assumption that it's out of date. I'm definitely clueless on whatever the latest JavaScript library is and whatever's going in machine learning. But my knowledge of foundational data structures, algorithms, and software development practices often makes me more valuable than somebody who is more "up to date". It feels horrible when someone uses an acronym I don't know, but it doesn't actually have much impact.

Then again, perhaps you're right and it really is causing you problems - it's hard to give specific advice on social media because the async nature prevents good Q&A. Could you find someone that will coach you on it?

[7hr0waw4y]

I don't have experience with external factors, but I can assure you that the feeling of failure etc when it's down to your own choices, seems much more acute than if you had a valid excuse.