How can I earn extra money with my knowledge of computers?

[ahar]

Software Testing - as in formal testing in a team as part of a project (not sat at home as part of a side hussle, a la mechanical turk type stuff). Start by doing project admin or PMO Admin on large software projects through agencies. Wage will be a little below or maybe the same as now. However, gives you the opportunity to move within the project to the Test team. Good software testers and then test leads (i.e. someone who can define, set up and run testing in a software project) are like gold dust. Its not seen as sexy work in IT, but is vital, will never go away and if you build up a good CVand reputation you'll never be out of work.

Best skills required are being methodical and having attention to detail.

 

[bignev72]

Get an IT job in the defence sector (or Home office I guess), get DV clearance and a few years of training/experience. Along with about a 10k pay rise on what you have and usually a much more relaxed environment.

Companies pay loads of money just for people with high level security clearance, even if they aren't all that experienced. It allows them to bid for the big bucks government contracts and stay onboard the gravy train.

Interesting point. I've worked in IT most of my career and have some security clearances. I don't often see jobs which require or pay more for people with the clearances already. Is there a specific place where you look at those jobs over and above the standard recruitment sites (Reed, CWjobs etc)?

 

[Nasher]

Interesting point. I've worked in IT most of my career and have some security clearances. I don't often see jobs which require or pay more for people with the clearances already. Is there a specific place where you look at those jobs over and above the standard recruitment sites (Reed, CWjobs etc)?

There are specialist sites, but a lot of the time its much easier if you know the right people from working in the industry. DV jobs can be 40-50k+.

 

[kai]

Interesting point. I've worked in IT most of my career and have some security clearances. I don't often see jobs which require or pay more for people with the clearances already. Is there a specific place where you look at those jobs over and above the standard recruitment sites (Reed, CWjobs etc)?

Yes, but it will heavily be dependent on your clearance level. eSC and DV clearance will open (maybe) a few more doors but if you have that level of clearance you are already likely exposed to contacts or being sponsored.

It's also not something that is done quickly. DV can take up to 18 months. With the current climate, i would say more 24 months.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

That Man of Honour tag to the left is because I wore the t-shirt for many years and spent a lot of time in OCUK from the day they opened buying parts for other peoples PCs.
Somebody touched on it above but I'll expand:
If you bought a PC from a shop you wouldn't go back after 8 years and start complaining when the motherboard burnt out but being an individual making money on the side, people will come back 8 years later demanding I fix it for free.
The 8 years one was the longest but there had been others so in 2007 I finally decided to stop but even then I had one knocking on my door about 3 years later moaning about his PC that had crashed and it was all my fault.
For the same amount of time I don't offer help either to family or friends, once you touch their computer you become involved for life.

 

[Richdog]

Hello, long post here so TL;DR I want to make extra money with my knowledge of building and fixing computers on top of my current job, but haven’t a clue where to start or what to do, any ideas?

Okay so, I am 28 and work full time as a supervisor in Tesco and I’ve been here just over 7 years. Me and my SO have been together for 4 years and we have been saving for a mortgage for about a year now, I’ve become quite good with saving money and have managed to work myself out of any debt I was in over the years and it’s why I’m usually able to afford the latest computer tech.

Due to covid and some other things it was announced in November that the store I work in will be closing sometime this year, probably within the next 5 months and so I will be getting made redundant. I could have transferred to another store and just kept working but it would be reduced hours and pay, and my redundancy will be quite significant toward my savings for a mortgage provided I find a new job quick enough and don’t have to eat in to my redundancy to survive, plus I’ve been in this company long enough and I’m quite sick of it so in all honesty although they’ve been good to me, I need to leave and find work elsewhere. I am confident I will be able to get full time work quick enough, though.

Computers is, like all of us here a huge hobby/passion of mine. It started with gaming back when I was 10 and through the years I became quite knowledgeable and have built my own computers and fixed numerous, then I decided to study them after I left school and eventually ended up doing a computer science course in uni, which I dropped out of after 6 months. This course made me realise that even though I love computer technology, building computers and fixing them etc I absolutely hated coding/computer mathematics and was ultimately terrible at that side of the hobby. I was never the greatest academic tbh and was always better at fixing things/physical jobs.

Anyway, I make roughly 16-17k a year in my current job after tax, and will most likely make less in my next job because I probably won’t get a full time supervisor or higher position given the current climate and my lack of education (on paper). I have some ICT diploma’s, math and English GCSE and that’s it really.

I honestly don’t mind working average jobs as I’ve done it since I was 15, but I’m getting to a stage of my life now where I NEED to start making extra money, I probably should have been in this frame of mind years ago but.. better late than never eh?

Computers and technology is the thing I’m probably best at in my life, and if I could find some way to turn that in to some extra cash that would be amazing. I’ve thought about trying to start building PC’s for people but I hear it can be hard to get started and established because people on Facebook market place or gumtree don’t want to spend even close to £1000 on a decent computer, and also it wouldn’t be a career so I won’t have the time to be tech support for people when something inevitably goes wrong with the computer.

I’ve also thought about flipping computer hardware, but am unsure if there is a worthwhile profit to be made from that in the UK.

I just need something I can do in my spare time that I could make an extra 3-5k a year, obviously I’m not expecting huge profit from the get go but something I can work on and build my way up.

If you actually read all this, thank you

16-17k a year is borderline poverty pay for a 28 year old. If you are serious about working with computers and have enough background knowledge then get out of Tescos and find a job in generic tech support (even if its at the bottom rung) for a medium to large sized company. I can tell you from experience that tech support is a good starting base for many other jobs in IT-related fields.

Of course it's also a competitive area so you may have to spend a while looking and going to interviews, but the payoff will be worth it long-term as you gain knowledge and experience.

 

[daz]

The trouble with basic PC support and PC building is it's just not valued by the general populace. If you think about how much people are happy to pay for others' skills and time - e.g. electrician £50/hour, car mechanic £50/hour... you then spend 2 hours fixing someone's fubarred Windows install which is full of malware - Here's £20 beer money for you. Every time their computer goes wrong after that it is also invariably your fault.

As someone that has hired for entry level tech support jobs, the key primarily is being friendly and personable, having a willingness to learn and the ability to problem solve. It actually fits in quite well with what you say your skills are now. Have a look to see what's available on Reed etc and see if there's anything out there that might be suitable; you might actually find you know enough to apply for the basic jobs now. The good employers will give first line everything they need to do the job in terms of knowledge and skills (for the most part, you'll have a strict remit of what you can and can't do, and anything outside of that you will escalate to someone higher than you). Obviously it's a tough economy at the moment but getting out of retail has to be a key for you.

 

[elrasho]

Learn FOREX, will take years to get consistently good at it but its worth it

 

[dowie]

Learn FOREX, will take years to get consistently good at it but its worth it

^^^ probably best to not do this, the vast majority of people who try will lose money and those who do make money tend to be a bit sporadic with their returns.

 

[dlockers]

from Tesco team lead to Forex trader. Only OCUK

 

[dowie]

from Tesco team lead to Forex trader. Only OCUK

Thing is lots of people do genuinely believe that is plausible.. and even pay serious money to apparent gurus to teach them how:



I reckon these people would be prime targets for a Florida timeshare too...

 

[dlockers]

Thing is lots of people do genuinely believe that is plausible.. and even pay serious money to apparent gurus to teach them how:



I reckon these people would be prime targets for a Florida timeshare too...

Graphs, whiteboard, jeans and t-shirt. What isn't to believe?

 

[adam cool dude]

I would be using the money and retraining yourself. You might wait a little longer to get a house but you will have a much better paid job on 30k+ a year. You still have 40 years work in front of you. Get yourself on a apprenticeship somewhere. Network rail or something like that as you obviously like working with your hands. My wife is 35 and got made redundant with a 5 figure payout. She is currently retraining in something else as I got a big promotion instead of taking my redundancy. I kind of wish I done the same but I am a lot further up the ladder now.

 

[sideways14a]

Getting into a proper IT job, ie 1st line support is not easy - for every one of you there are a dozen others and many have qualifications (which are less than useful most of the time) or more importantly experience.
Go to your local technical college or whatever they call themselves these days, look at the courses offered - go for stuff mentioned above like HGV (which are most certainly needed) or a tradesman, electrician or something.
But your going to have to put a lot of time, money and effort in as leaving it till your 30 to get serious with your career is difficult.

 

[elrasho]

^^^ probably best to not do this, the vast majority of people who try will lose money and those who do make money tend to be a bit sporadic with their returns.

96% of people that start fail as they don't get proper training/education on the subject. There's a reason why the 4% succeed. Admittedly its not for everyone, but you can do along side a full time job by swing trading.

 

[thenewoc]

Anyone paid to put themselves through security clearance approval, just wondered how much it was? I thought you could only do this through being sponsored?

 

[MrWhippy]

Go to university.
Get a degree.
Apply for jobs you are now qualified for.

Or don't.

But please, please, please understand, it is an option. If you want to, you can. Will take some amount of effort and will involve some temporary increase in debt, but it is totally doable.

 

[dlockers]

Anyone paid to put themselves through security clearance approval, just wondered how much it was? I thought you could only do this through being sponsored?

Whomever said you can get SC cleared and land a 50k job is an idiot who has never hired a person.

The person who then went onto claim government will hire you, insinuating tax payers pay people who are not qualified but are SC cleared, is also an idiot.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Thing is lots of people do genuinely believe that is plausible.. and even pay serious money to apparent gurus to teach them how:



I reckon these people would be prime targets for a Florida timeshare too...

No social distancing? No MS Teams or Zoom? The covid is strong in there

 

[Richdog]

Go to university.
Get a degree.
Apply for jobs you are now qualified for.

Or don't.

But please, please, please understand, it is an option. If you want to, you can. Will take some amount of effort and will involve some temporary increase in debt, but it is totally doable.

You don't need to have a degree to get into IT support.

The UK's focus on churning out overpriced mickey mouse degrees has certainly created a fake sense of competition with people sometimes asking for degrees for even low grade jobs that never previously required a degree. However, despite that, if you go somewhere and do a good interview and demonstrate a good character, willingness to work and relevant knowledge then you are in with a shot.