I love tinkering with computers. Building, fixing, upgrading… software, hardware, networking, it’s all fun. I enjoy the troubleshooting process and the satisfaction that comes from solving a problem. I spent 20 years as an IT guy in the US Air Force and I enjoyed every minute of fixing computers while serving.
Now I’m recently retired and I could easily make 2-3x as much money working IT in the civilian sector, but… I just really enjoy doing it for fun. I don’t want to go back into a corporate environment and be told how and when and what to fix or upgrade.
My wife and I are planning to build our “forever home” (the last home we ever plan to live in) and we’re in the design phase right now. I can’t wait to wire the place for modern computer systems. I’d like to build my own server suite in a cold basement room and then network the whole house so I can automate tasks anywhere in the house. Open all my curtains from an app on my phone, answer the door, play music in any room (or all rooms) through an intercom system, stream movies/TV shows/video games to any TV in the house, etc. I’m definitely building a giant theater room in my basement, at least big enough to hold a dozen people, maybe more.
I’m excited for the possibilities that wiring my own house present. I also want to make it upgradeable over time, in case better standards for technology come out. Maybe run all cables through PVC pipes in the walls, so I can easily push new cables through without having to tear apart the walls.
Yeah, I’m really enjoying retirement as a former IT guy. I could make more money going back to work, but then I’ll have less time and freedom to engage in my hobbies. What’s the point in having more money if you don’t have the time to enjoy it? So I’m living off my govt pension now, which is more than adequate for me to live comfortably, and I’m just enjoying retired life.
I like IT as well but on that front I want to start a small hobby shop because there is nothing where I live besides dollar stores and phone shops, which sell cheap low quality material.
Let’s get that 2PB of storage, 10 Gbit connectivity and lots and lots of VMs going! The selfhosted community will absolutely love you when you post your setup
I’d like to build my own server suite in a cold basement the network the whole house
Wow, it sounds like you’re living the dream, which also happens to be my dream. I await the day when I’m retired and can wire up and get some servers in the basement which I can use to play around and self host, do whatever I want whenever I want with no boss or deadlines pushing me to do things in a different way.
I fix stuff. I like fixing stuff. Cars, computers, cell phones, appliances, tvs, small motors, etc. It’s all like a little challenge/puzzle to me. I like doing it. It’s never been in my field of work, but I get asked all the time why I don’t do any of it for $$$.
Nope. I am like the ultimate almost been. I have many things I do a bit better than avaerage but not really good enough to be like wow, or at least relative to my peers, and most of what I do is just a combination of finding out how to do something and doing it combined with willingness to do it. Im sorta a suck doer.
Faux-IT guy for friends and family. I’d say I’m an “advanced hobbyist” but charging for it/making it a job? No way. Especially not with ADHD. I pick up and drop projects too readily. I couldn’t work in an environment where I have an obligation to fix things I don’t feel like dealing with as opposed to tinkering and creatively helping folks when I feel the energy to.
Also standup/general comedy. I’ve been told I’m very quick witted but memorizing for a stage makes me so anxious. I like to just “perform” when the timing is right and the spark hits.
Shooter/editor. Primarily video, some audio (podcast clients), rarely photography. I like what I do overall, but it really takes the wind out of any appeal of treating it as a hobby. I rarely do photography or shooting for myself anymore.
I don't mean I'm better at them than everyone else, it's just that two of them are things people do sometimes nag me to do professionally, as per OP's question.
I find saying "so what, I'm good at sex too, doesn't mean I have to be a sex worker" gets my point across and stops the nagging, because that's something many people only enjoy as a hobby.
Argentine tango. I like doing it with my partner, but I have zero desire to compete or travel to Argentina or even seek out the best teachers available. I can lead strangers and have enough variety in vocabulary that I don’t get bored. That’s enough.
I like to draw portraits. I’m decent. I draw what I want when I want. Some people have told me to sell some of my drawings or even ask me to draw them. I don’t want to do that cause: 1. I know I wouldn’t enjoy it, and 2. There are MANY, MANY more people better than me out there who DO this for money. Go ask them
Art. I’m not judgy against people doing it, but I always see all these people with advanced modification tools and using them to make their art “better”, like photoshop contrast tools and color stuff, when to me, if my art is good it’s good. I got eighth place in an art contest once, yet I know (without really complaining about it though) that I would’ve gotten second place if people hadn’t put steroids into their sunsets.
What irks me a little is those same artists who use the metaphorical steroids are in the campaign against AI art, and I’m like dude, there are people from whom it would be more fitting to hear complaints from. Say what you want about AI art, I’m not going to severely invalidate the arguments from either side themselves, but considering the actual critics involved, it’s at least 90% hypocrisy from the “anti” side, and you’ll have seen me having said this since day one.
Haircutting. Bread baking & other types of cooking.
Honestly at this point the only thing I will do for money is accounting or helping implement systems or build logic into a system. I am specialist in work and generalist in life.
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