
Ask HN: How do you make money as a Computer Science student? - devilmoon
A bit of background on my situation so you might give me more personalised advice: I graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor in CS and already had a job by that time. What seemed like a decent opportunity to kick-start my career quickly turned into what I believe would&#x27;ve been a dead end job which I would&#x27;ve dreaded every day of my life, so I decided to quit last summer and enroll into a Masters in Data Science. Being used to a monthly salary and not having to ask my parents for money I feared this moment as I knew I would have had to deal back on my QoL quite a bit, but on top of that me and my family have had a string of misfortunes and now money is quite thight (nothing like going bankrupt, but still requires careful management of our finances). All this combined, I find myself starting a new study cycle which will last at minimum two years and almost no money; hence I&#x27;m wondering: how does a student in CompSci make money while studying?
Apart from the obvious part time jobs (retail, fast foods etc.) - which I would like to avoid as I fear they would sap my time and strength without letting me grow as a computer scientist - I&#x27;ve looked into freelance gigs, consulting work and remote companies; unluckily for me, most if not all the opportunities I&#x27;ve come across require a full-time commitment, something I don&#x27;t have the luxury of giving unless I decide to take way more than 2 years to graduate, and freelancing in particular seems to focus on webdev&#x2F;mobile, areas which are not my strong suit and I don&#x27;t even like that much.<p>What would you recommend in this situation? Swallow the pill and learn stacks that sell through freelancing? Find something completely unrelated to CompSci that allows me to work part-time? Start emailing every company offering CS jobs in the area and asking if they&#x27;re willing to take on a part-timer?<p>Thanks in advance for your advice!
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Latteland
There's no one answer that works for everyone. Taking a programming job or
internship will pay so much more money than a job at mcdonalds, that you could
save time off. These days an internship pays 50 to 100k per year, prorated for
the times you work (i.e., paid at 50k rate, work 3 months, you get 3/12 * 50k
pay). Compare that to minimum wage at Mackers, 10 or whatever an hour, 50k
annually is 25/hour (50k / (50 weeks + 40 hours)). 50k is also kind of a low
rate for interns these days, too.

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thedevindevops
On the contrary, taking an obvious part time job (retail, fast foods etc.)
will stop you getting intellectually/creatively burnt out.

