What skills to learn in 2 years max?Experience with online job?

[Chloe]

What skills to learn that will pay in 2 years max AND can be done as freelance business, because I am a full time psychology student and I can not work more than 15 hours per week.

What are my strong points;

very strong ;

mathematics and everything related to it. I used to learn a bit of programming in HS and was good, but I had no interest.
against;
1)I am not very interested/passionate about such stuff, except for the period when it is fun and new.
2) I am kind of patient-less when it comes to dealing with computers. nothing ever works. you need to install something always...and then again and again... it's frustrating.

possible things to try learning: web design, programming. dunno.



translation I am already translating from English to Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian/Slovenian, but the payment is too low, if you're not certified, and I cant get certificate without MS in English, i think, so.. doubt it could last.


article writing - I have huge knowledge of medicine so I was writing some articles about it. The pay is also too low, except if you write them in English, which I doubt I will be able to do professionally even if I spend 2 years learning English.


coaching - this seems like the easiest way to get money. Investing 3000 USD to get certificate and then you can do it even legally. (though there is a black market here so you can just be self-proclaimed shrink and there is no law against that. )
against;
Of course I dont feel really competent for this, and I doubt 90% of them are. They are usually charlatans and if I am not 100% convinced that I know what I am doing I would hesitate to do it. So, this is off.


- I'd be more than happy if I could have it like this;
at least $10/hr
up to 15 hours per week
online/on computer


I used to work in Call Centers but the payment is ridiculous ($2-3/hr) and I cant imagine doing it for the next 5 years while studying (Ms), so I need to set some long term - 2yr- plan.



If it isn't clear from the post: point is; in my country, croatia, i cant find job above $3/hr, so i want to find something online.
I heard not so well, and not so bad, things about Elance, I got some jobs there, but I see that only for translations and medical writing, i can't get the $10/hr

 

[Halla74]

Hi Chloe,

It's nice to see you around!
I know how you feel.
I've been working for 17 years now professionally.
I got an entry level job in the software development industry when I was 20 (and had dropped out of a Bachelors of Science in Biology program) and stuck with it, doing various jobs as time passed and project needs changed, for 10 years.
Like you, I never really had any "passion" for software in and of itself, or really "working" on computers in general.
Where I did find my passion was as an instructor.
I was asked to write all the user manulas and administrator manuals for a large, custom system my company built for a government agency.

I found out the following:
(1) I liked writing professional, technical documents.
(2) I liked teaching classes of 10 - 50 people at a time how to use the system and answer their questions.

THEN...

I got entrepeneurial.
I wrote my own user manuals for MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and MS Access.
I went to a local computer shop that had a classroom and told them that I'd teach classes on the 4 core MS Office products at their classroom, in a 8 housr format (3 hrs. class in the AM w/ a 30 min break, 1 hour lunch, then 3 hrs. class in the AM w/ a 30 min break).
We charged $100 per person, and would not run a class unless we had 4 people or more.
The classroom held up to 10 people.
I kept half the money, they kept half the money.
So, in a day, I could make between $200 and $500.
It was a great little business.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
I've also worked as a personal trainer.
If you're fit, you don't have to be certified, just patien and helpful to your clients and in the U.S. you can get $35-$75 per hour depending on what gym you work at.
If you train people at their homes you can charge $50 per hour because you are not splitting anything with a gym.
Only consider this if you like fitness and know what you are doing though, you don't want to hurt anyone.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
As far as freelance web based work that you can learn and do for 2 years.
Seems to me like (1) Web site design, and (2) Simple database functionality (to add functionality to the websites, maybe for basic sales/data collection purposes) are your two best things to focus on.
It takes up to 5 years to be a good C# or ASP.NET programmer. Like you mentioned, it changes everyday, so you have to keep on top of it.
If you want to read a great book on creating simple web applications that will sell and make money, and also create it with a free, open source tool kit (Ruby On Rails) then go to:

www.37signals.com

...and then read about their book "Getting Real" here:

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

...and then read it for FREE here:

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php

Here's info about "Ruby On Rails":

http://rubyonrails.org/

I hope this info is helpful for you.

Good luck!



-Alex

 

[entropie]

The sister of my gf worked for a sex hotline during her studies. Paid off quite good

 

[Chloe]

Hi Chloe,

It's nice to see you around!

hi

good old Halla, you're always the most helpful.

I've been working for 17 years now professionally.
I got an entry level job in the software development industry when I was 20 (and had dropped out of a Bachelors of Science in Biology program) and stuck with it, doing various jobs as time passed and project needs changed, for 10 years.
Like you, I never really had any "passion" for software in and of itself, or really "working" on computers in general.
Where I did find my passion was as an instructor.
I was asked to write all the user manulas and administrator manuals for a large, custom system my company built for a government agency.

I found out the following:
(1) I liked writing professional, technical documents.
(2) I liked teaching classes of 10 - 50 people at a time how to use the system and answer their questions.

THEN...

I got entrepeneurial.
I wrote my own user manuals for MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and MS Access.
I went to a local computer shop that had a classroom and told them that I'd teach classes on the 4 core MS Office products at their classroom, in a 8 housr format (3 hrs. class in the AM w/ a 30 min break, 1 hour lunch, then 3 hrs. class in the AM w/ a 30 min break).
We charged $100 per person, and would not run a class unless we had 4 people or more.
The classroom held up to 10 people.
I kept half the money, they kept half the money.
So, in a day, I could make between $200 and $500.
It was a great little business.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
I've also worked as a personal trainer.
If you're fit, you don't have to be certified, just patien and helpful to your clients and in the U.S. you can get $35-$75 per hour depending on what gym you work at.
If you train people at their homes you can charge $50 per hour because you are not splitting anything with a gym.
Only consider this if you like fitness and know what you are doing though, you don't want to hurt anyone.

Even if I was - and I am not sportish at all - I couldnt charge much in Croatia.

This is the reason why I am searching for online freelance thing because hourly rate in USA/UK is bigger than here, so that way I can get acceptable for my needs charge of $10/hr.

I am already teaching math - usually charging 8$/hr but there is not enough job to do that or to rely on that.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
As far as freelance web based work that you can learn and do for 2 years.
Seems to me like (1) Web site design, and (2) Simple database functionality (to add functionality to the websites, maybe for basic sales/data collection purposes) are your two best things to focus on.
It takes up to 5 years to be a good C# or ASP.NET programmer. Like you mentioned, it changes everyday, so you have to keep on top of it.
If you want to read a great book on creating simple web applications that will sell and make money, and also create it with a free, open source tool kit (Ruby On Rails) then go to:

www.37signals.com

...and then read about their book "Getting Real" here:

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

...and then read it for FREE here:

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php

Here's info about "Ruby On Rails":

http://rubyonrails.org/

I hope this info is helpful for you.

Good luck!



-Alex

Thanks ! I will check that out!

The sister of my gf worked for a sex hotline during her studies. Paid off quite good

yeah, that is the easiest way.. but imagine doing that for a few years? i think that's traumatizing.