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Ask HN: I have 4 months and i need to earn $2000?

by zack12 on 12/21/11, 7:10 PM with 9 comments

I know this is not the right way to figure out stuff but i guess HN can give a little advice over here. I know basic html/css, i can covert a pdf into html if given 7-8 hours..apart from that i have no skill. I am learning javascript right now. I have a big day coming in the start of May 2012, and i need to have around $2000 before that...what's the most appropriate path i should follow to achieve this target?

  • by superasn on 12/21/11, 8:26 PM

    There are many sites on which you can find freelance work. Here are a few I've used myself to find freelance workers for odd jobs from time to time.

    Sites: 1) freelancer.com, elance.com, odesk.com, rentacoder.com, scriptlance.com, etc 2) fiverr.com (i think they pay you $4 for every job) 3) digitalpoint.com forums (see buy/sell forum)

    Type of jobs you can do:

    1) Convert a PSD into HTML/CSS - can pay up to $100 per job 2) Do voice-overs if you have a good voice - can pay up to $30 per minute 3) Write articles on something - it pays like $5 per 500 words 4) Create e-books (as pdfs) - you can earn up to $50 per ebook.

    Of course for most of the above you need to have good command over english. Also once you get good feedback it will be easier for you to find more work. Good luck!

  • by iKnowKungFoo on 12/21/11, 7:26 PM

    FYI, there are free online services that can convert PDFs to HTML. I agree with the Craigslist approach, but you might spend some time on http://www.codecademy.com learning how to write JavaScript. Also, use http://stackoverflow.com/ when you get stuck on how to do something.

  • by SHOwnsYou on 12/21/11, 7:23 PM

    Try to find freelance clients. If you're either not confident enough or feel like you're not ready, you could get a regular job. It doesn't matter if it's as a junior dev somewhere or flipping burgers. You can make over $2k in 4 months.

  • by paulhauggis on 12/21/11, 7:13 PM

    I would say go on craiglist and find a freelance client. I did this few years ago and usually made a couple thousand/month.

  • by S4M on 12/21/11, 8:26 PM

    Try a freelance website. For example www.odesk.com

    Good luck!

  • by richf on 12/21/11, 9:26 PM

    You could always try Amazon Mechanical Turk.