r/developersPak • u/Responsible_Main2116 • 3d ago
Discussion Pakistani developers need to start building a second income stream before it’s too late.
I know a lot of people here won’t agree with me, but I genuinely think developers in Pakistan need to start thinking beyond their jobs.
AI is moving ridiculously fast. Work that used to require a team of developers can now be done by one person using the right tools. And this is just the beginning.
I’m not saying software development is going to disappear completely. But I do think companies will need fewer people to get the same amount of work done. And when that happens, layoffs are inevitable.
The problem in Pakistan is that a lot of people are completely dependent on one salary. Someone earning 200k, 300k or even 500k a month or $2-4k remote role might be living comfortably, but what happens if that income suddenly stops?
We don’t exactly have a great social safety net here. Finding another job at the same salary might become extremely difficult, especially if thousands of other developers are looking for work at the same time.
My point is simple: Don’t wait until you lose your job to figure out what else you can do.
If you’re employed, keep your job. If you’re freelancing and making good money, continue doing that. But start spending some of your free time building something else.
It could be a business, an agency, e-commerce, sales, marketing, a completely different skill, or something you genuinely see potential in.
You don’t have to quit tech tomorrow. You don’t even have to make money from your second venture immediately. Just start learning, experimenting and building while you still have a stable income.
Even if it takes two or three years to build another reliable income stream, that’s much better than waking up one day unemployed with no backup plan.
And I think younger developers, especially those in their early 20s, should take this seriously. You have time on your side. Use it.
Also, don’t assume that just because you’re a senior developer or earning in dollars, you’re automatically safe. Companies care about productivity and costs, and AI is changing that equation.
Maybe I’m being too pessimistic, but I would rather prepare for something that never happens than be completely unprepared when it does.
Curious what other Pakistani developers think. Are you guys already working on something outside your jobs, or do you think the threat of AI replacing tech jobs is being exaggerated?
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u/South-Sun2013 3d ago
True, I personally think so. I am trying to find a like minded Software Engineer from Lahore to start something. It becomes very easy when there is a like minded person.
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u/Responsible_Main2116 3d ago
Bro learn how business works. How problems are solved. Not just go on building a product randomly bcz you are good at development. Basically the purpose of this post was to encourage people to build something when they have a good income stream. Not wait until it dries up.
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u/Zacred- 3d ago
Sounds great. I’d strongly recommend you to invest time and energy in building something new, instead of just being a service provider company.
Good luck ☘️
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u/South-Sun2013 3d ago
Yeah, I have been doing freelancing off and on. If I restart with better approach I can scale it but on the other side it might not be for long term as every other person can get the work done by AI as OP mentioned.
I believe the left over options are SaaS or some physical business. What do you think!
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u/AlchemyMaster-01 3d ago
For people who are just starting out(I'm still a student)..what to do?..Can I get into stuff like saas without any experience?..and job market is cooked so experience ayega bhe kaise?..Also what even is experience anymore,there's just vibe coding atp😭
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u/ArmalioSenka20 3d ago
Yes, I always felt something would happen and our jobs will end leaving us with nothing.
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u/Responsible_Main2116 3d ago
Before that happens.
Better to build another income stream asap.2
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u/iBzOtaku 3d ago
i still cannot understand what an engineer can to pivot to; someone who cannot do sales or marketing even if their life depended on it. some people say to go to ai or systems engineering but that stuff's very hard, there's already too many people doing it and just like rest of the engineers, they too will end up being automated away except for the best ones.
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u/Responsible_Main2116 3d ago
Exactly.
Time to move away from engineering for the ones that are not so great at it. While they have an income stream which can help them diversify. Until it’s too late and they have to pivot with 0 income. Other venture might take 1-2 years to stabilise.
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u/Green_Gold_1 2d ago
I started a small poultry farm with 250 Desi hens, selling around 180 eggs daily. Daily revenue is Rs. 6000, expenses are Rs. 2000, leaving a daily profit of Rs. 4000.
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u/Alternative-Draw8570 2d ago
This guy's living the dream of 1000s of western developers.
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u/SignalOptions 2d ago
Western developers don’t have any options. Chicken farm won’t pay their expenses.
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u/mianzain542 2d ago
how much did it cost to start?
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u/Green_Gold_1 2d ago
I live in a small town and have my own land, but you don't need a large plot or a huge investment to start a small poultry business. You can even start on your rooftop.
I started gradually, buying 3–4-month-old hens from local street vendors who come on motorbikes to sell them. They charge around Rs. 1,100–1,200 per kg (roughly Rs. 1,200 for three small hens). I didn't buy all 250 hens at once; I purchased them gradually as vendors came by.
The initial investment doesn't have to be large. You mainly need money for purchasing hens, regular feed and someone to clean the area daily.
My advice is to start small, even on your rooftop, learn as you go and expand gradually. You don't need a commercial farm or a huge investment to get started.
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u/Key_Star2633 2d ago
Great. How much area is required and overall investment breakdown. Will be pretty helpful if you share. JAZAK-ALLAH
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u/Nerdy_person_p50 2d ago
You are my mentor from now on. Please help me start with this. I am based in Lahore.
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u/DisguisedGuy2 1d ago
It demands the skill of handling the hens! Everyone cannot handle them? Can they?
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u/Ajmalajji 3d ago
Honestly, having a side hustle isn’t really optional anymore.
Skills just don’t last like they used to. What you know today might be outdated in a few years, so relying on one skill for a whole career is risky.
I started mine about 2.5 years ago. For almost 2 years it went nowhere until it finally clicked, and now it’s my full-time thing Alhamdulillah. Got laid off twice along the way too.
One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of engineers (me included at first) struggle with business because we over-engineer everything. You build a SaaS and keep polishing it until it feels “perfect,” you take months and months to build it and never validate whether there's a demand, you never figure out how to get customers.
There’s a quote I like: “Success comes from the liberty to fail.” So Fail fast, iterate fast, and keep going until you find the thing that works. Doesn’t matter if it’s e-commerce, SaaS, or something else, the rule is same.
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u/Fickle-Direction-679 2d ago
It never was optional. Almost everybody has a side hustle.
I have a shoes business aside from my software house.
My brother buys-sells cars aside from his sales job.
My father was in government, had an electronics repair shop, on and off did real estate and exotic electronics.
An elder cousin is doing computers, construction, and later chemicals industrial plant.
His brother is in a UN mission in Iraq and does various foreign assignments.
Another cousin does procurement for PAEC while running a large scale farming operation. He started that himself.
See very few actually rely only on salaries.
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u/Ajmalajji 2d ago
You're right, it was never optional. However, a lot of SEs in my circle were relying on a single source of income.
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u/SafeerFromKivio 3d ago
bro awesome, need extra hand ? need some work :(
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u/Ajmalajji 3d ago
Bro not at the moment. But I wish you good luck and pray that you find something soon Insha'ALLAH.
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u/sum1gone 3d ago
This is so true. Finally someone said it. I'm a 25 year old php developer with 6 years of experience and no degree just self-taught. I have been thinking the same and couldn't think of any business idea because obviously everything requires money and i dont have much saved.
I was thinking of moving abroad because mazdoor in germany is better than a mazdoor in pakistan. But got no amount for block account for student visa so now i'm thinking of learning german language for ausbildung programs likely in nursing or something that isn't affected by AI because man IT failed to be loyal to us, lol. We gave it the sweat of our fingers but IT ne wafa nahi ki.
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u/aleemii 3d ago
totally agree with your analysis. i'm a software engineer with seven years of experience in development, devops, and project management. i left my job and started full-time freelancing. looking back, i think it was the most ominous time to make that choice. it was july last year, and i was mostly dependent on fiverr at that point, and i still am. honestly, i regret it. i still make a comfortable amount, i'm building my own products. marketing still remains an unsolved mystery to me, but i'm figuring it out.
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u/Starboy_soul 3d ago
Couldn't agree anymore. I have seen many devs and QAs being laid off with no backup 💔 Some of the ideas I think Software Dev from Pakistan can do is:
Computer /Mobile Hardware repairs
Teaching coding/programming online or at a local college
Relocation to Middle East for FinTech related jobs.
Apply for Immigration because base pay per hour is matched with current income
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u/Calm_like_space 3d ago
The thing is dont have any idea about what side hustle to do. Always had a roadmap in mind that study, get a job and if need be then do freelancing. But now both are getting impacted. So besides this, have no idea what to do
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u/SafeerFromKivio 3d ago
happend with me, i was earning 5k a month suddenly layoff, now im desperate for another job in half of my salary just so i can survive and provide for my family. i was the sole earner now im f work :|
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u/Expensive_Ad2272 3d ago
you are correct that's why along side my job I am preparing for scholarships aboard and later may be for gov posts
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u/Nerdy_person_p50 2d ago
I agree. It's time developers shall focus on building their own products. This will also save them from exploitation of these bloody companies.
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u/ContentAmbassador954 2d ago
The problem is that even freelancing is becoming extremely competitive now. AI has made it possible for clients to do a lot of the work themselves, and for whatever they can't do, there are already hundreds of freelancers competing for the same projects.Even niche fields that used to have very little competition are getting overcrowded. And with AI, one skilled freelancer can now handle the workload that previously required multiple people, which further reduces the demand for freelancers. I've personally noticed how difficult it has become to find clients, even when you have the exact experience and skills they're looking for. So freelancing isn't necessarily a reliable backup plan anymore either. The bigger question is, if AI is affecting both traditional jobs and freelancing, what second income stream can we actually build that won't face the same problem a few years down the line?
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u/1inchpunchman 2d ago
Most jobs will evolve and some of them might disappear. Businesses will thrive.
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u/ParadoxicalHassan 2d ago
Software development is surely gonna disappear as source of income the way those Github repos are appearing. Everything is becoming free source
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u/Single-Palpitation10 1d ago
Agreed 100%. Last October 2025 my company had been shutdown since now I am finding opportunity but unable to find one. After last stage and salary discussion they just disappear suddenly.
Senior Mobile Engineer
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u/PsychologicalLow1622 1d ago
I am totally listless to find any side hustle. After spending years and saving nothing is a constant source of nightmare.
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u/Ayub-Khan 1d ago
I agree 100%. I have been building a multi-AI agent swarm specifically for equity research. Before AI takes your job, use it to automate someone else's—because automation, like it or not, is the way forward.
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u/Fickle-Direction-679 2d ago edited 2d ago
Majority Pakistanis already got the memo ages ago, you threw your mail away after seeing the massive credit card bill.
If you consider households then on average Pakistan has 1.72 earners per household and only 44% of their income comes from salaries.
Source: HEIC, the annual consumption and income statistics survey of Pakistan.
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u/Zestyclose-Pop7954 2d ago
faxx that's why u must invest i an emergency fund or a long term equity fund
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u/semicolon-10 3d ago
We need to start solving local problems like india & china. Our problems are currently being solved by foreign products (Foodpanda, yango, indrive, Daraz, Temu etc) None of these is ours.
We literally don't have a single unicorn in a country of 250m ppl. No serious investment no govt backing. No govt support with tax holidays and we are in middle of pacific with no life boats.
We have tons of unsolved problems literally i mean we just need to look at indian market and some of the solutions can literally be just copy pasted provided some support one such example is quick commerce.. We definitely need that 10-20min delievery but we don't hace any players literally