[tempi35]

Sometime if you're not a hacker or you're one but want to focus on your startup, then taking a less "serious" job can do the trick also. I've met we've guys that even worked night shifts in security and coded all day long. Others did even customer support from home. Got the bills paid while they build their project. Getting a $4K a month client is something that's can take considerable amount of time to achieve.

[stevenklein]

Yeah -- to be honest we were very lucky to have the kind of client we had. One word of caution I would give is splitting your time like that can has its drawbacks. Having three weeks to focus 100% on product was an enormous help in allowing us to ship a working product as fast as we did.

I understand sometimes this just isn't possible though.

[magnet_ball]

To me that seems a very good idea. Doing security at a place where you don't have to be on guard at all times (something like a receptionist job) means you can work on your product and get paid to do it with some distractions.

[tempi35]

That's exactly what he has done. The thing is that he was a team leader in a large tech company, and could earn something like 6x in compared to the money he earned in security, if he got a full time job. But he told me that with a full time job he can't possibly develop anything for himself.

But that's not always an easy thing to do when you are 35 as he was.

[pjungwir]

The smartest person I know taught himself German and ancient Greek while working the night shift at a gas station. If you're young, that's another job with lots of down time to work on your own thing.

[dctoedt]

In some cities, working the night shift at a gas station non-trivially increases your risk of dying on the job (by getting shot by a robber).