Are you an engineering college student looking for ways to increase your income? Look no further – side hustles may be the answer! In today’s competitive job market, having a side hustle can give you a significant edge, especially when you explore the right side hustle for engineering college students.
Not only can it boost your income, but it can also provide valuable experience and help you develop new skills. In this article, we will explore the power of side hustles and how engineering college students can tap into this potential. With the rising cost of education and expenses, many students are turning to side hustles to generate extra income. Whether it’s freelancing as a web developer, tutoring fellow students in math and science, or starting a small online business, there are endless possibilities to explore.
However, it’s important to strike a balance between your side hustle and your studies to ensure that your grades don’t suffer. In this guide, we will share some practical tips on how to find the right side hustle, manage your time effectively, and make the most of your engineering skills to maximize your earning potential. Get ready to unlock the power of side hustles and pave the way to financial success during your college years!
Popular side hustle ideas for engineering college students –>
- Web Development / Design
- YouTube Channel for Engineers
- Consulting
- Freelance CAD Design
- Tutoring
- Social Media Management
- Technical Writing
- Content Writing
Table of Contents
Popular side hustle ideas for engineering college students
1. Web Development / Design
If you are a computer science undergrad, or from any engineering stream, Web Development is one of the most popular side hustle options for Engineers.
Use your programming skills to create websites or design web pages for businesses, individuals, or organizations. This can be a lucrative side hustle as the demand for web development continues to grow.
By learning and working on Web development as a side hustle, you will not only make real money but will drastically improve you skills which will further result in higher chances of getting a good job and landing in a good company, as you have already worked on your projects and you will have a portfolio to offer.
Basic Roadmap for Web Development–>
1. Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript:
- HTML (HyperText Markup Language) for creating the structure of web pages.
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for styling and layout.
- JavaScript for adding interactivity to web pages.
2. Explore Front-End Development:
- Responsive Web Design: Learn how to create websites that look good on various devices and screen sizes.
- CSS Pre-processors: Familiarize yourself with tools like Sass or Less to streamline CSS development.
- JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries: Start with one of the popular front-end frameworks like React.
3. Build a Strong Foundation in Back-End Development:
- Programming Languages: Choose a back-end language such as Python (with frameworks like Django or Flask), Ruby (with Ruby on Rails), Node.js (with Express.js), or PHP.
- Databases: Learn about relational databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL, and NoSQL databases like MongoDB.
Complete Guide To Become a Web Developer
2. YouTube Channel for Engineers
As an engineer, one of the best options for side hustle will be to start a YouTube Channel, starting a YouTube Channel can help you to share knowledge with your viewers, build a community around and make good money.
If you are from any stream, you can teach mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. You can start giving coding lessons to your fellow viewers, coding as a side hustle for engineering college students is an option ripe with potential. All this will not only help you earn some money but will create a Personal Brand of yours, which will be very helpful and can provide you with a ton of opportunities.
3. Teaching Online Courses:
As an engineer, we learn a lot of things that can be taught online. Teaching courses online will be a great side hustle for engineering college students. Start by selecting a niche that you want to teach, plan your course, and create a syllabus of the topics you are going to teach.
Some of the popular platforms to host your courses include Udemy, edX, SkillShare, or your own platform like a website.
Start creating the course, your course can be in Video Format or both video and text resources like PDF files. Customize your course and make it user-friendly.
After course creation, work on your Monetization strategies like course fees, premium content, or affiliate marketing.
4. Consulting:
Based on your specialization in engineering, you can start offering consulting services in your specified domain. Consulting can be provided in various engineering streams like civil engineering, mechanical engineering, or software.
There are various consulting services like Technical Analysis, Problem Solving, Risk assessment, and Project Management. Engineers are trained in all these situations.
5. Freelance CAD Design :
Civil engineers are skilled in computer-aided design (CAD), if you are one of them you can start to offer your services to create 3D models and designs for projects, prototypes, etc.
You can help to design someone’s kitchen, office or any other thing. You will find a ton of people looking for CAD Designers.
6. Tutoring:
Engineering is one of the subjects that takes a lot of work, especially math work. So if you are an engineering college student, most probably you would be good in math and physics.
You can start giving online or offline tutorial services to fellow students or high school students in subjects like math, physics, or computer science. Your expertise in these areas can be valuable to others. It also offers a flexible schedule, you can choose the days that work best for you and your students, making it an easier gig as a college student.
With the availability of video conferencing tools and online teaching platforms, you can also offer these services online to a larger audience, which will eventually boost your earnings.
7. Social Media Management:
Many startups, and businesses need some tech savvy to help them in managing their social media handles and help them to remain in touch with the latest tech and meme world, This can be a good side hustle for college students those having a good grasp of marketing, helping them in increasing their online presence.
This not only helps you as a student to earn some extra money but will also give you real-world knowledge and hands-on practice in media marketing which is a great skill in itself. It will help you to stand out from other students during recruitment.
Where To Find SMM Gigs–>
8. Technical Writing and Content Writing :
Anyone having specific knowledge of a particular field like coding can easily become a technical writer, and start to freelance in this domain. Technical writing is a great freelance side hustle. As a technical writer, your job is to how-to guides, product manuals, and other and other stuff that explains the technical stuff in an easy manner to the general public.
The average annual salary for technical writers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), was $81,470 in 2021. The median income for the bottom 10% was $48,890, and the median income for the top 10% was $125,010. –>Source: Fiverr.com
Read More About Technical Writing Here: Technical Writing 101
Content writing on the other hand is basically writing different types of content for brands, media channels, or blog-posts, and articles. You can be writing content for some media website or someone’s captions or landing page headings. Content writing consists of a vast market, as a college student you can put your hands into this
Content writing involves creating written material for websites, blogs, social media, or any other online platform with the goal of informing or engaging readers.
Determine your niche, the one that interests you the most as a specified niche helps to gain customers easily. Also start learning the basic SEO needed while writing content and how to optimize your content for search engines and different social media platforms, as most of them have different algorithms.
Read More About Content Writing Here: CopyBlogger Content Writing
How to balance a side hustle with college studies?
Managing College with your Side Hustle can be tough, but we know “The fruits of one’s labor” never come easy, if you work hard and put in some extra effort, you will definitely see the positive outcomes. Some of the steps that can help you to balance.
- Time Management: We all have the same 24 hours daily, if you want those fruits, you will need to run some extra miles. Use software like Google Calendar and to-do list apps to manage your daily schedule. Make specific time slots for studying, college work, and side hustle.
- Minimize Distractions: Whenever you sit down to either on college studying, stuff or your side hustle, give a dedicated shift because it’s long work and focus that makes the dream work come true. Whenever you are working turn off notifications or any other distractions.
- Set Clear Goals: Making clear and to-the-point goals will save you energy from becoming overwhelmed. Decide what you want to achieve and in what time frame. Then start grinding!!!
Tips for finding and landing side hustle opportunities
- Online Jobs Platforms: There are tons of Job platforms out there like Upwork, Well-found, Indeed, and Fiverr. Create an attractive Profile on these Job platforms and showcase your portfolio on what you have to offer.
- Social Media: Make use of Social media networks like LinkedIn, X, or Facebook and start posting about your side hustle. This will increase your credibility. Join like-minded communities and learn about opportunities from them.
- Cold Outreach: I know a lot of people who got their first client using cold outreach, they reached out to like 100-150 persons and 3-4 of them responded and 1 of them became their first client, which eventually told their friends about the work and the person got 5-6 more clients.
So don’t hesitate while doing a cold outreach, the worst that can happen is rejection but the best is that guy can become your first client and end up changing your whole business. Make dedicated emails for everyone and showcase your skills and most importantly how these skills can help them in their business.
Success stories of college students with side hustles
- Ali Abdaal: We all know Ali Abdaal, a popular YouTuber and a doctor. Starting his YouTube channel as a side hustle during college, he embarked on a path that eventually led him to leave his medical career and become a full-time content creator. His story teaches us that unexpected opportunities can arise when you follow your interests and put in the effort.
- Pro Smart Repreneur: Started his Blog during his college days as a side hustle and started publishing posts. During his college days, he embarked on a journey to share his knowledge and passion for personal finance and business through his blog. It all began with a simple idea and a few posts.
Fast forward to August 2023, and the Pro Smart Repreneur’s dedication has paid off handsomely. His blog has not only become a valuable resource for readers seeking financial wisdom but has also turned into a substantial income generator. In just one month, he raked in an impressive $18,000.
There are many examples that you will find on the internet, go take a look.
Conclusion: The value of side hustles for engineering college students
After all the research, I did for this article I came to the conclusion that starting a side hustle for engineering college students can be the best thing to do during your College. Not, only for engineering students but for anyone at any point in their life, It is never too late to try something new.
Side hustles can offer significant value to engineering college students in several ways:
- Personal Growth: Side hustles contribute to our personal growth. It helps to build confidence and self-esteem as students see their ideas generating results.
- Financial Support: Side hustles contribute to students’ financial burden, helps them with their day-to-day expenses, and reduce the burden of student loan.
- Skill Development: “Real education is learned outside the classroom”, you must have heard this. Engaging and experimenting with side hustles outside your comfort zone helps in gaining practical knowledge and how the real world works.
- Exploring Different Things: The conventional path, while familiar, may not always lead to your fullest potential. To truly discover your strengths and passions, venture beyond the ordinary and dare to try something new, like embarking on a new side hustle.
Also Read: Best Internet Side Hustles 2023 with Complete Procedure
Simple Online Jobs without Investment From Home 2023
Thumbnail: FreePik
Great Post