22 Best Side Hustles For Engineers Who Wants to Make a Difference
Hey there engineers! Glad that you are here looking for the best side hustles to supplement your current income. I hope this article is worthy enough for you to share it with your peers.
This list contains not only the obvious gigs that utilize your expertise and profession but also includes fresh and simple ideas on how to generate extra income with your passion, creativity, knowledge, and other skills.
On that note, we chose not to include side hustles like paid surveys because, in our opinion, they are just a waste of time.
You might want to pick a side hustle below that is a little different from your full-time job so that:
- You won’t get burnt out doing the same things in and out of work
- To avoid violating any conflict of interest and policies your company may have (moonlighting)
Now without further ado, here’s our list of 25 best side hustles for engineers. Number 10, 13, and 16 are among our favourites.
1. Part-time Repairman
Side Hustle Rate: $35-$80 per hour
I have an uncle who is an electronics engineer and when he visits us, he usually fixes our malfunctioning appliances like the TV set, electric fans, and cd players.
Of course, my uncle did those things for us for free but you can do the same and make extra money!
How to start? If you’re a mechanical engineer, you can offer to restore old machines or cars. As a software engineer, you can offer to repair/reformat computers.
You can offer different engineering services and make extra money depending on your field of expertise as an engineer.
You can also check out sites like Craigslist and TaskRabbit for clients, or join a network like HomeAdvisor.
2. Create Online Courses
Side Hustle Income: Six-Figure Income Potential
If you have a passion for teaching, then you can impart your engineering knowledge and skills to other people by creating online courses.
How to start? Get a clear idea of the topic you want to teach. It could be about electronics, programming, robotics, CAD designing, etc, or it could be something basic like Math.
It could also be a passion of yours like playing guitar or fishing. There are tons of people out there that are looking for valuable information.
Then you have to invest in a decent lavalier microphone and a video camera. You can also use a webcam or your smartphone as a recording device.
When your course is done, you can upload your materials to educational platforms like Lynda, Udemy, Brightstorm, and Skillshare.
And for people who aren’t comfortable talking in front of a camera, you can use info-graphics, PowerPoint, or use some screen recording software to record your screen as you teach. What’s important is to clearly convey the information to your audience.
For a screen recorder, we recommend using OBS Studio. It is free and it works better than most paid options out there.
3. Teach Online
Side Hustle Rate: $10-$50 per hour
You can teach kids, high schoolers and college students stuffs like:
- Math
- Algebra
- Physics; or
- Engineering majors
As long as you know the topic, you can make money with your knowledge.
How to start? Join sites like Teacheron, Tutorme or Tutors.com, and list yourself as a tutor. Or you can just search on Google “How to be a private tutor in (Country/region)”.
4. Part-time Adjunct Engineering Professor
Side Hustle Income: $25,000-$27,000 a year
If you have some time to spare after your job, you can teach at a local university.
How to start? You can start by checking out if there are colleges or universities within your area that needs a part-time engineering professor. As long as the class schedules do not conflict with your office hours, it’s a good to go.
Alternatively, just search “apply adjunct engineering professor (country/region)” on Google.
5. Part-time CAD Specialist
Side Hustle Rate: $20-32 per hour
Since you already have the CAD skills, you can offer it to someone else who needs it.
Depending on what kind of engineer are you, you can offer to help design someone’s garage or kitchen, design and install a power-efficient heating/cooling system, develop an app for school projects, and the list goes on.
How to start? Post an ad on Craigslist and be prepared to create some name cards. When you do a good job for your clients, give them your name card and ask for referrals.
Or, you can find side jobs in job portals like:
6. Do Minor Engineering Jobs Online
Side Hustle Average Rate: $28 per hour
Another great side hustle for engineers is to help other people who need your skills and expertise.
For example, the client below is willing to pay $250 for a water-based heating system design for their home. I am not an engineer, but I would say this is a good side hustle for civil or mechanical engineers.
You can find part-time engineering jobs from popular online job portals. You will either be paid per hour or per project. The amount you’ll earn varies from one client to another.
7. Be a Freelancer
I’m sure you have a couple more other skills outside your engineering profession. How would you like to make money with them as well?
There is a high demand for freelancers who provide these services:
- Search Engine Optimization Consulting ($80-$200 per hour);
- Article writing (avg. $30 per hour);
- Video/graphic editing ($25-$100 per hour);
- Web designing (avg. $75 per hour);
- Programming ($30-$50 per hour);
- Social media marketing ($15-$50 per hour);
- Transcribing ($1.35 per recorded minute);
- Logo design ($300-$800 per logo);
- “copy and paste” data entry ($10-$25 per hour); and
- A whole shebang of various online jobs
Pick an online job that fits your skills, abilities, and knowledge. Most freelancers get paid per month but some clients will also pay you per hour or per project.
How to start? List yourself as a freelancer on one of these Online Job Portals.
8. Sell Your Engineering Notes
Earning Potential: Limited
Pretty sure you had a tough time with your exams before you became an engineer.
At that time, you were probably hoping that someone will give you some magical notes to pass the exam.
Well, now you can be the fairy god mother. You can prepare notes for engineering exams, and sell them online. You can sell it through Craigslist or websites that engineering student visits. I am pretty sure you know where.
9. Freelance Engineering Consultant
Side Hustle Rate: $25-$60 per hour (Full-time potential)
You have a unique skill that is highly sought after. There are tons of job opportunities as an Engineering consultant.
You can either choose to take on big projects, which could be time consuming, but you make a lot more.
Or, take on smaller projects, where you will earn lesser.
You are in full-control of your job prospect.
How to start? Start by posting your resumes on either of these sites:
Or, you can list yourself as a freelancer on popular online job portals.
10. SEO Consultant for Engineering Companies
Side Hustle Rate: $40-$60 per hour
Marry your engineering skills with Search Engine Optimization skill, and you will have a unique side hustle.
Plus, you will never have to worry about not having a job because you are highly valuable.
How to start? If you don’t have SEO knowledge, or you need credentials, then start by attending a free masterclass taught by SEO industry experts.
If you have SEO knowledge, then you can search for jobs on Engineering job portal sites as recommended on point 9, or list yourself as a freelancer on one of these sites.
11. Sell Your Craft
Side Hustle Income: Full-time Income Potential
Are you into metalworks, woodworks, or maybe mobile apps?
Different engineers have different specialties so whatever your craft is, you can sell them to make extra cash.
Furthermore, if you also paint, knit, sew, or cook, then you can sell those as well.
How to start? If your craft is a physical product, then you can list yourself as a seller on e-commerce platforms like Etsy or eBay.
Or, if you have a good handle on mobile app development, you can list your mobile app for sale on sites like Flippa, fliptopia, or Sell My App.
12. Rent Your Stuff
If you own any of these, you can rent it out and make some extra cash:
- Home: $924 per month on average
- Boat: $75-600 per hour
- Bike: $20-50 per day
- Sporting Gears: $30-100 per day
- Cameras: $50-100 per day
- Jewellery: $25-175 per month
13. Make Money With Your Car
If you don’t mind a stranger getting on your car, then here are three ways you can make money with it:
Ride Sharing
Side Income Rate: $8-$12 per hour
When commuting to and fro from work, you could probably pick up a passenger or two, as long as it is on the way.
But, that’s really up to you. You could go out of the way to earn more money.
There are already many ride sharing apps on the market, and I’m pretty sure you have heard of Uber and Lyft.
So, go list yourself as a driver and start making some money.
Driving Instructor
Side Income Rate: $10-$40 per hour
Though lucrative, being a driving instructor is not as easy as it seemed.
There are several skills and qualities needed, like patience, mindfulness, good reflexes, etc., to be a good driving instructor.
Without these qualities, you would probably dread this side hustle. So, go check out if you qualify.
Moving Advertisement
Side Income Rate: Approx. $174-$452 per month
If you view your private car as a possession, like most of us do, then this side hustle may not be for you.
But instead, you view your car as just a mean of transport, then why not make your car into a moving advertisement.
Sites like Wrapify, Carvertise, and adverttu have ready advertisements to be stuck on your car, and they will pay you to drive around.
You could be commuting to work, or driving around to shop, with no extra effort, you could make a good side income.
Parking your car at a certain spot, during peak hours, can make you even more money.
So, why not try it.
14. Solve a Problem
Side Hustle Income: Unlimited Potential
Again, I would like to say this…
You have an unique skill that is so valuable to the society.
Whatever field you are in, there are problems that you can solve.
If you take a look at the new tech start-ups nowadays, you will realise, they don’t own, manufacture, or produce products.
Instead, they created an environment for people to find what they need much easier.
Some examples are:
- AirBnB – helps people find good and cheap lodging for travellers. It is a place for people to rent their homes and make money as well.
- Uber – replaces the good old taxi drivers. Now everyone with a car has the opportunity to make money while driving strangers around town.
- Wrapify – a platform to allow businesses to advertise on someone else’s vehicle.
In almost every aspect of our lives, if you can think of a problem and connect it to the solution using a platform, you can make it big.
But, it all boils down to your ability to market your platform or brand.
You could have the best solution, but if you can’t communicate your brand effectively, it will be a bummer.
That’s why, before you start working on an idea, I recommend that you get yourself some digital marketing skills.
15. Self-Publish Books
If you have a particular field of expertise in engineering, a Master’s degree, or you simply like keeping a tidy record and jot down the things that you’re knowledgeable about…
Then, why not self-publish a book or an eBook?
I know this may sound like a long shot but this can work out well for you.
Yes, publishing a book is hard because there is plenty of work to be done and it could take months or years to complete.
But, the end-product could be very rewarding, in the sense of accomplishment, and monetary wise.
Who knows, your book could be the next best seller!
How to start? Before you consider this side hustle, make sure that you have a particular field of expertise that many people would pay to learn.
You can get ideas from engineering books that are already published on Amazon.
Look through the comments, and find out what’s missing from those books.
Sites like Kindle Direct Publishing, Lulu, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble will let you self-publish your books and eBooks.
16. Flipping Items
Side Hustle Income: Six-figure Income Potential
Buy an object that has the potential to be refurbished, and flip it for a huge profit.
Not asking you to toss things around, Lol!
With your engineering background, I’m pretty sure you can make scraps into gold.
We are not talking about flipping real-estates here, as it poses some risk, we are talking about smaller items, such as sofas, furniture, antiques, etc.
How to start? You can do some research on Google, but we recommend that you check out this course on flipping.
It will teach you how to identify potential items to flip for profit on their recommended platforms.
17. Be a Handyman
If you have no issues doing some errands for other people, then look no further than your own community to make extra money!
Here are some popular tasks you can do:
- Furniture Assembly: $85-$150 per job
- Furniture Mover: $70-$125 per hour
- Electrical Help: $160-$600 per job
- General Cleaning: $25-$50 per hour
- Gardener: $50-$100 per hour
- Baby Proofing: $300-$1,500 per job
You can see more handyman services on sites like:
18. Start a Blog
Side Hustle Income: Six-Figure Income Potential
This is by far one of my favourite side hustles for engineers because it is flexible and highly scalable.
Starting your blog cannot be easier these days and it doesn’t have to cost you much or anything. Thousands of bloggers have already made a life-changing income and many of them started as beginners.
Yours could be the next viral engineering blog like Industrial Marketing Today, Sci Tech Daily and Machine Learning Mastery.
Other than topics about engineering, you can totally make your blog about something else, for example, kayaking, singing, camping, etc.
Or, you can even create a blog to help engineering students.
Having a blog gives you the potential to earn from multiple income sources such as ad revenue, affiliate income, sponsorships, etc.
How to start? If you are an absolute beginner, I would recommend attending this free training. It will provide you with lots of information that will be helpful for you to get started.
Otherwise, you can rely on the blogging resource here.
19. Start an Amazon FBA Business
Side Hustle Income: Six-Figure Income Potential
We all know what Amazon is, and we’ve probably bought a product or two from Amazon.
But, have you thought of being on the other side of Amazon where you are the one selling the products?
Well, Amazon has created a platform for anyone to list and sell their products, and the best part is, Amazon will handle the entire process for you.
From getting interested buyers to your store…
- Accepting an order
- Packaging
- Shipping
- Fulfilment; and
- Refunds
Everything is handled by Amazon through a platform called Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon).
All you need to do, is to find products that are a market value, buy it in bulk, and send it to an Amazon’s warehouse.
And of course, this side hustle comes with a little risk. You will incur cost from buying products in bulk as well as some fees from Amazon FBA for handling everything for you.
So, whether or not your products sell, you will incur some inevitable cost.
That’s why it is so important for you to know what to sell, and what makes a profitable product.
Hardly anyone will tell you what sells, and that’s why I recommend you to take up some courses before going into this side hustle.
20. Dropshipping
Side Hustle Income: Six-Figure Income Potential
If you don’t have the budget to start an Amazon FBA business, then you may want to try dropshipping.
With drop-shipping, you don’t need to buy inventory.
Essentially, you are selling products for manufacturers while appearing that you are the product owner.
You can set up a store on eBay, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, etc, and list product images to attract buyers.
When there is a sale, you will make contact with the supplier or manufacturer, and they will handle the shipment of products.
You will have to handle any refund though because you are the frontman behind the operation.
How to start? Here’s a guide for you. And, here are some dropship success stories that might give you the inspiration.
21. Create a YouTube Channel
Side Hustle Income: Unlimited Potential
Now, how would you like to make money by creating YouTube videos at your free time? (This is my second favourite side hustle for engineers)
Nothing is better than showing you some real life potential of this side hustle.
Zachary, an Electrical Engineer, started a YouTube channel called MajorPrep in 2016, which later renamed to Zach Star.
It is one of the most successful YouTube Channel that talks about stuff relating to engineering, and it has 728 thousand subscribers as of date.
If you go to his channel, his videos are embedded with advertisements, he is selling affiliate products, as well as some merchandise.
I’m pretty sure he is making some good money as his YouTube is listed as his main career right now.
22. Affiliate Marketing
Side Hustle Income: Six-Figure Income Potential
Now, if all the above does not fit your style, and you are running out of ideas, then allow me to unveil my third and final favourite side hustle.
Affiliate marketing is truly one of the easiest and most lucrative side hustle to start because, you don’t need to…
- Develop a Product;
- Own a product;
- License a product;
- Buy Inventory;
- Invest a sum of capital;
- Incur a ton of risk;
All you need is to voice your opinion on products or services that you own or have used before, on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.
You can also create an Affiliate Marketing website to reach your audience.
You make money by referring or recommending products to people, and companies will pay you a commission when a sale is made.
How to start? To learn more about affiliate marketing, here’s a guide for you.
Summing it up
Whether you’re merely searching for side hustle ideas to earn a couple of bucks or something that you can sink your teeth in…
Remember to choose the side hustle that matches your goals, abilities, skills, and time availability.
Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read this article.
I hope out of these 22 side hustles for engineers, at least one will set your wheels in motion.
If you think this article is useful, kindly share it with your peers. I highly appreciate it!
All the best out there.
