Good evening, hope you are all doing great.
Firstly, I would like to introduce myself. I am 19 years old, coming from a small town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year in October I'm starting my first year at University (Faculty of Electrical Engineering Sarajevo, department Computing and Informatics (RI)).
I gotta pay for my studies somehow, and I would like to earn my own money and pay for everything that comes along. Here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it's not so expensive to live let's say monthly expenses would be around 200€. Any suggestion on how can I earn this amount of money online. I'd like to hear others' opinions. Have anyone tried the same thing?
Looking forward to your suggestions,
Kind regards, Tarik.
This may sound harsh, and I apologize for that. It is meant in a 100 percent constructive manner.
Since you are going into your first year of university, it seems unlikely that you are already equipped with the skills and qualifications necessary to seperate you from anyone else on the internet-- after all, being able to obtain marketable skills is why you are attending a university in the first place. When you combine this with the fact that we are at a point in time where the market for services that can be provided via internet is oversaturated (due to Coronavirus), the odds of you breaking through are slim, and the odds of it being a worthwhile job are slimmer. I'm not sure how many jobs went online in Bosnia, but here in the US, it was a significant portion.
However, if you are willing to earn money in a non-internet profession, then you may actually be more fortunate than most with regards to timing. The coronavirus has people afraid of going outside if avoidable, and thus common low-income jobs (things like yardwork) which do not require advanced knowledge should be more readily available. If you're monthly expenses are only 200 euros, then you may be able to fund these payments by mowing lawns, etc. It's not exciting, and it doesn't pop out on a resume, but it's easy, should leave you with some spare time, and you choose your own hours.
Hope this helps.
Whereas I kind of agree with
@clousems about the skills, I assume that wages in Bosnia are low, accordingly to the cost of living, so making a monthly income locally would be as hard as a worthy income in the USA ?
Also, if you don't try, you can't know how you can stand out, so I would advise to try :)
To stay on the chess side, there's a lot of streamers/youtubers playing blitz and bullet, but not much slower games, so that might be a way to look, as slower games are often more interesting if properly explained and analyzed. Maybe teaching chess for beginners in a chess club, this kind of stuff can be fun, worth some time, on both financial and human points of view...
Get a job
find a sugar daddy/mommy and charge them an entertainment fee
The question I would be asking isn't "how can I make money?", but rather "how can I save money?". My best suggestion for that would be to buy food and supplies in bulk (especially if something you would buy frequently is on a limited time offer). Have what you need ready to cook and eat, and what you don't need at the moment you can freeze (stuff like bread, meat, fish etc can be frozen if you seal it properly and freeze it the day you buy it).
Also, let's say your monthly expenses are around €200. If you manage to cut it down by even a few euros, put whatever money you save into a seperate bank account. That way you won't be as tempted to spend it, but you'll have access to it if you need it for whatever reason.
@Lysamere Just googled the GDP/capita for Bosnia-- good call on the relative wage difference, I definitely didn't take that into account. I did think that 200 euros a month was a little low for an apartment, much less cost of living, but my frame of reference for that is skewed (I live in DC).
My updated advice is still to find a low- to mid-wage job, but a more conventional one. Yardwork, etc. may still be a good way to earn money while searching for a job, though. Tutoring as well (which can also be done online). Restaurants and retail stores often are able to work around your schedule to some degree.
Do you have the possibility of receiving a student loan in your country? I know that's how most people finance their educations in the US, but the cost of attending a university is significantly higher here (around 10000 USD/year, which is roughly 8800 Euros/year).
Thank you everyone for your replies and suggestions. Unfortunately, there is no student loan in my country. I will be searching for a job as most of you suggested. Here, many people lost their jobs and everyone is struggling right now due to coronavirus crisis. But I hope I will find a way to tutor someone online. There are no yardwork jobs around here because everyone is keeping their own yards as a hobby.
aha
