This is a little more serious post than usual. On the podcast, I joked about being extremely bribeable, and that had some truth in it. I’ve been thinking for a while about this, and here are my thoughts about the subject. I will start a little far from the actual issue.

I’m a firm believer in the “no free lunch” philosophy. There is no way to get something for nothing, no life hack, no “Investors hate him!”. If something is too good to be true, it is, or it’s illegal.

This goes both ways, and generally people should not be expected to work for free. It’s either for money, for reputation, or for passion. And if you were not asked to do something, you shouldn’t reasonably expect pay for it – in fact, quite the opposite. If I go up to you, and sing the song of my people, then beg for money, that’s generally frowned upon.

That takes us to this blog, and my various projects I do. Yes, no one asked me to do it. Yes, I don’t expect any reward for it – I do it for myself, for my own reasons, I would do it if no one would read my articles. I believe I’m doing somewhat clever things, and it is akin to doing actual development work.

It is almost a cliché at this point that you have to provide value for people to get them to pay you. I hope I’m doing just that. I have received a lot of positive feedback about my content – it feels I’m on the right track here.

With that being said, I would of course love to this instead of my actual work, because this is something I find joy, and freedom in. But existence isn’t free, and neither is my time. For the last few years, funding content creators have taken a more positive route, and people are generally less aversive to support them in a bunch of ways. I investigated some of those, and I’ll give you a quick rundown below.

Yes, I have my shop with merch, but that’s just a small drop in the bucket, and more of a fun thing on the side. I’d like to have my own, software-related product in the future, but I’m not there at the moment.

I thought about Patreon, and I’m on the fence about it at the moment. I’m not sure that is the best way for supporting my blog, and my podcast at this time. I’m really unsure about it, feel free to try to convince me either way.

Affiliate marketing is something I’m comfortable with, but with a caveat. I believe good products deserve to be marketed, but only good products. I decided to go down this route, and investigate some things that I use, and like – and maybe some things that are worth checking out. A lot of stuff didn’t make the cut.

Currently, one did – let me speak of it .It is Hired.com. I will share my affiliate link here, and I’d appreciate if you’d check it out. It is free, and if you’re searching for a (better) job, it is the place for you. You make a profile with your skills, experience, etc, and submit it. Employers will come to you with clear salary offers, not the other way around. It is really a streamlined, and convenient thing. Also, you get a cash bonus from them, if you do get hired. After the endless LinkedIn spam with barely literate recruiters, it was a welcome change of pace.

Here is the link – check it out!

So far they seemed professional, and quick, and also, generally competent. If I encounter any issues with them, I’ll tell you, and stop

I will also mention this in my future articles, and in my podcast – It will be a 10-second sound bite. I’m sure you can endure.

Thanks for reading, and please share your thoughts, I’m really, actually curious. (And please be civil)