Finding a job in the current market is no easy task — and it's often hindered by limited education and experience, particularly for recent grads or job seekers in the midst of a career shift.
Four-year universities often train students to focus on one — or at most two— paths, and once you start developing skills in a career, it's easy to start to feel stuck. Suddenly, you find yourself several years down the road and heading down a path with seemingly no return. How can you avoid getting stuck in an industry silo? Enter: the side hustle.
Side hustles come in many shapes and sizes, varying from mere hobbies to very profitable companies. The idea is simple: When you have some free time, take on a new task. Then evolve the idea and iterate.
Maybe this means taking a class, or perhaps it’s as simple as reading a book on the subject. Where you end up may be surprising.
Jonny Goldstein, a freelance visual communications specialist, knows that taking a class in a subject that interests you can pay off in the long run.
"Back in the late '90s, I took a video editing class. From that, I made a few animations and showed them to a video art collective, and before I knew it I was tagging along with them, projecting my visuals live in front of tens of thousands of fans at concerts and music festivals — and getting paid to do so. That never would have happened if I hadn't taken that one class," says Goldstein.
Side hustles often lead to accidental discoveries of new interests, which stem from exploring a novel experience without a planned outcome. Rather than focusing only on the skills that support your current career, the side hustle’s premise recognizes that the thing you do for money and the thing that drives you don’t always coalesce — and that’s okay. Starting a new side hustle is like engaging in an extracurricular activity in school — just because it’s on the side doesn’t mean that it can’t be fruitful (or make money).

Image: Flickr, tzu kwan valino
Jennifer Shaw is the organizer of New York Tech Women — a meet-up that began as a side hustle and a welcome break from her job as a corporate data analyst. Recently, Shaw left her job to found her own company, Bella Minds, a business that helps rural women get involved with tech. Shaw crowdfunded $28,000 to get the business off the ground.
"Diversity is king. While it's critical to become an expert in your field, having a side hustle often affords us the luxury to test our personal boundaries, always pushing our expert levels," says Shaw. "Additional benefits include a forced focus and a better understanding of your priorities. I believe this inward view is [the longest lasting form] of learning."
You don’t have to be a freelancer or an entrepreneur to take advantage of side hustling. Mike Caprio is a software engineer who’s worked at several large tech companies in New York City, and he attributes much of his success to hackathons.
"As a software engineer, I always need to improve my skills and learn new tech in order to maintain my marketability for future jobs. Working on a project with strangers in a pressure cooker is a great way to network and really get to know people," says Caprio. "Hackathons are a chance for me to find future co-workers or collaborators, and to rapidly learn from peers."
In 2011, Mike set aside his career for a chance to compete in the StartupBus competition, a three-day bus trip where riders are encouraged to build tech products on a bus on the way to SXSW. Through his connections on the bus, he’s been able to land several mid-level engineering positions within large tech companies in New York City.
Whether you plan on founding your own company, going the freelance route or simply moving up within your industry, starting a side hustle is a great way to diversify your skill set, meet others and discover hidden talents. Below are a few resources that may help get you started.
There are a number of online and classroom destinations that can help burgeoning techies learn how to code — a skill that can come in handy for a number of enterprises, hobbies or business endeavors, such as starting a blog.
Shared working spaces are growing in popularity in many cities, and can be great options for anyone in a work-from-home employment situation looking to socialize or network. WeWork and Grind are a couple of popular examples.
MeetUps offer networking and social opportunities for professionals or neighbors seeking like-minded members of their communities.
Many local universities or colleges offer non-students opportunities to enroll in classes for a fee — or you might want to consider the numerous online institutions available. It's never too late to learn a new skill or expand your horizons.
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The Mashable Job Board connects job seekers across the U.S. with unique career opportunities in the digital space. While we publish a wide range of job listings, we have selected a few job opportunities from the past several weeks to help get you started. Happy hunting!
Senior Java Engineer at American Express in Phoenix, AZ
Digital Project Manager at Weber Shandwick in New York, N.Y.
Mobile App Producer at Telepictures Prod., a division of Warner Bros. in Burbank, Calif.
Nate Cooper is founder of Simple Labs, a entrepreneurial and technology training company. He is the author of a comic book about how to build websites.