7 Best Side Hustles for Engineers (Students and Professionals)

I have direct family who operate in the petroleum and tech engineering careers. They perform multiple side hustles to pass their time simply because, why not? And also well, extra income is always a welcoming site. 

Here are a few hustles that I caught engineers doing, saying that they earned almost double their monthly salary keeping up with these fun, thought provoking onsite and online side gigs. 

Freelance 3D Printing

Many engineers love making 3D printing a hobby, helping others by using their critical thinking and technical skills to create in demand products. Whether you create toy cars, a computer stand, or even keyboard caps, its a fun and easy, fun way for an engineer to relax while earning extra cash. 

Usually you will already need a design in order to print the product, which you could make yourself or request for a model design via websites or if a client has a specific request. 

You can get easily paid up to $80 an hour, with multiple designs made at once. However you may sit more comfortably making around $40 an hour, doing one project at a time. 

CAD Design Services

CAD designs follow up behind 3D printing, however you would be more into the design aspect. This is still overall a really fun an interesting job. It requires a more technical approach through online platform knowledge like SketchUp. 

Getting a hang of this can take a while, maybe a few months. With a bit of a learning curve by learning new platforms and how to create nice 3D designs. However the reward is nice, and you can find steady income up to $60 an hour finding projects on freelance websites like Upwork or asking around. 

Freelance Technical Writing

Technical writing is extremely easy to get into as an engineer. All you need to do is write about knowledge that you already know about for different companies. They usually post your writings in blogs or for internal teams to help them referr to for problem solving. 

I wrote for about a year as a technical writer, and I earned easily around $50 an hour. Long term projects are also easy to find, and it only takes up maybe 10 extra hours a week. Flexibility is relatively high, and you only take on projects you want or have time for. 

The writing can be about anything from programming languages, cloud servers, DNS, and many other topics. 

Freelance Tech Project Consulting

As a tech project consultant, you will be in charge of helping project leaders navigate through their technical projects. Giving them valuable insights about what matters when using said tech and how to optimize the project further. 

This is a rather easy job, however entry can be subjectively hard. The pay is also not extremely amazing or anything, as most of the time these are short term projects and you give maybe 20 hours maximum a month towards this. 

You can find jobs like this on more higher end freelance platforms like Freelancer or Toptal or Guru. 

Handyman or Repair Work

It doesnt pay the same, but if you want to do something physically to get your mind off of the stress of your 9-5, taking on handyman labor is a great option. Its rather mindless to do, as it can be from typical lawn care to hanging up light fixtures. 

You can find jobs like this on platforms like Thumbtack, Next Door or Task Rabbit. Usually you will find work within the same day or after a couple of days of applying. Just make sure you carve out enough time for each project, which each usually can take from 4 hours to a full day (e.g. on the weekend).

Online Course Creation

I recommend this to every type of career, because it genuinely works. I have seen hundreds of engineers and other types of specialists create online courses to help others who are learning the same vocation as you are. 

You can easily earn well over $1,000 a month making online courses, and you can start by making one through Udemy. Pricing each course around $120 or more can get you to that $1,000 milestone easily. 

Test Products on Rewarded Platforms

If you are looking for a platform that is available to you 24/7 with an app, and doesnt require an application, Freecash offers a variety of products to test and surveys that need your opinion, in return for cash rewards.

I am constantly running into accountant based questions on surveys with Freecash, which makes it a great opportunity with practically unlimited rewards. 

To get started, here are the steps you can take:

If you are wanting a source of passive income, this is one of the best options. As you can earn bonuses from their affiliate program, along with daily bonuses for simply logging in.