Upskilling is the Best Side Hustle.
Specifically for early-career individuals in technology.
I spend a lot of time in my homelab, maybe too much time. I spend a lot of time learning new skills, trying new things, and failing forward. With the amount of time I spend on learning new things, I often think to myself:
“How can I monetize this? I spend so much time doing it I might as well get paid for it.”
“I wonder how I could turn into a side hustle.”
I still think this, but I have also come to peace with not being paid for the amount of effort I spend on technology outside of work. Why? Well in my opinion, if you’re early in your career like me, learning and practicing new skills outside of work will pay you just as much if not more than a side hustle.
What is “Upskilling”?
Upskilling is the process of continuous learning and acquiring new skills, particularly in areas relevant to your career or professional development. This can be done by staying up to date with the latest technologies, tools, and practices through self-directed learning, formal education, or training programs.
ChatGPT wrote this…
Let’s do some math…
The numbers on how much the average Gen-Z individual makes from a side hustle are hard to come by. Every article, survey, and report has different numbers. Aggregating all the disparity into one number, let’s say the average side hustle for someone in Gen-Z is $800 per month. To make that extra $800 per month you have to work an average of 16 hours. So on the year, you’ve earned an extra $9,600 from your side hustle. Add that to the average income of a person ages 20-24 ($38,300) and you’ve made $47,900.
Now let’s take the average income of a person aged 20-24 ($38,300), and instead of spending 16 hours a month on a side hustle, you learn a set of in-demand skills (4 hours a weekend is nothing). Spending that time for 6-12 months and applying for jobs in that range of your new skill set, you can boost your income anywhere from 50-200%.
Let’s take the low end, raising your income by 50%. You would have essentially made $19,150 more as a result of investing that time in yourself instead of a side hustle that may or may not be related to your primary job function.
From Entry-Level to Individual Contributor
This same strategy applies to those who are now in entry-level/associate-level roles and are on their way to becoming an individual contributor. You can expect a raise of anywhere from 10-50% with a promotion. Your side hustle may scale, but you are a lot more likely to get a promotion than to scale your side hustle. As a result of this, you might as well get your promotion faster by upskilling outside of work.
Confession
All that being said, I still would start or contribute to a startup, I still think about ways to monetize the free time that I spend on tech, and I don’t recommend finding other streams of income. Though the time I spend learning and messing around in my homelab is a hobby of mine, it gives me more comfort knowing that the time spent learning is not all for nothing. So until there is a side hustle that is so invigorating and will pay more than the bonus of being the CEO, CFO, SysAdmin, Network, Security, Infrastructure, and Software Engineer, of my homelab, I am going to continue doing what I am doing.