s-stude

10% make more than 10,000 a month. Nice! And that is only 16 makers who reported this, and only for 2024–2025. I was too lazy to scan past years, but I will do.

I analyzed 326 side projects featured on HN between 2024 and 2025 that claimed to earn $500+ monthly; I found that half of them make less than $1,000 a month. (Don't get me wrong, that’s still impressive—especially since I’m not even making $500 yet!)

Common Successful Models:

- Niche Job Boards: Often gross around $1,000/month by referring traffic or charging for featured posts.

- Micro-SaaS/Utilities: Services like online faxing or uptime monitors frequently sit in the $500–$1,000 range.

- Content/Education: Books and interactive courses often provide a steady $500/month floor after an initial launch.

I search for jobs myself and maybe somebody will post as well

I am working on a https://humanityjobs.com.

It is a job board that helps find jobs across humanitarian areas—helping people, helping address poverty, traveling in the world, and traveling in developing countries.

I would like to create a comprehensive list of jobs with organizations that are internationally verified. So if you are working on anything like that, please feel welcome.

You can create Pinterest-like images on the fly now with AI. IMO, the end is inevitable for similar companies.

Do you think they will be implementing AI again anytime soon? haha.

Was there any chance for your company to implement AI and to make more sales/ keep your job?

Fired or let go. I understand that many positions have duplicate people in backup roles, so some will be redundant.

Yes, I've heard about that. Any personal stories are very much appreciated.

I work on https://FluentDomains.com

I source these expiring domains from auctions and rank them as if I were looking for a perfect domain.

Examples:

- london wine tours .com

- timber roof .com

- liquor dealer .com

- ai data science jobs .com

and many more...

I created a simple app that lets your kid call Santa AI via video call. Parents can use this webpage to schedule a 5-minute or 10-minute call with Santa, who will speak to their child.

Very, very realistic and could support a dialogue, ask questions, and even tell if there is a gift for a kid.

I use the HeyGen AI avatar, and I DO NOT record any video. Would you show this to your kid? Could you give me some feedback?

https://CallSantaTonight.com

Thanks to everyone for all comments here.

I made https://interactivesql.com to help all those people who just start to learn databases, SQL, queries, and more.

I am compiling 120+ lessons now to cover everything from the basics (select, join, group by, to CTEs, Analytic Functions, performance, reporting, and more)

Hope this helps. Feel free to let me know what do you think about it.

Understood. Let's imagine you found such real-world tasks and trying to solve them. You write SQL queries, play around to get dome results but now you need to confirm your solution is right. And given you are playing around on some website that gives you sandbox and interactive SQL tasks — I am not sure there is a way to confirm whether a solution you provided is right or wrong without involving a person (a mentor) to take a look.

This is interesting. Could you elaborate on the real world requirements please? What do you mean?

Is there any certain way for you to do the practice in SQL?

Is there anything (any context, environment, or mindset) that could stop you from practicing writing SQL and learning the language?

The youtube channel looks very advanced. Definitely need to go over it in detail.

When you say solving tasks without an end goal what do you mean? Like what would be the most blocker for you from practicing writing SQL queries?

So you are talking about the db structure itself. How would you approach the SELECT part? All those nested sub-queries, CTEs, and complex EXISTS cases?

It is karma indeed =)

Yep...a plain spreadsheet or tables do the trick. It helps get away from the frustration of not knowing SQL and helps think just in table terms.

I think I had some similar book at my desk back then... When you were just starting and found this book what was the most negative experience you've had during the learning?

Understood. When you were doing research for those tasks in the past what was your main goal except to solve the task itself?

Thanks for sharing this. You are saying that there is a ton of stuff to learn....how do you solve this problem now?

Totally agree...these are some nice ways to learn and practice. So to make sure I follow your initial need back then what was your main goal when you were solving such tasks as writing a script to automate data entry? Like what was the main and most important goal back then?

Thanks for sharing these resources. Can I ask you what was your initial context or environment that made you learn SQL first? I mean what did encourage you to go and look for a solution?