Our “start up specialist” has put together an epic list of work at home jobs that don’t suck. Work from home tech jobs are by far the fastest growing opportunity for stay at home mums. You don’t need to be a kickass coder to secure a job in tech (although that is a good option!) Work at home tech jobs aren’t just about high tech work. There are plenty of technology based jobs that need skills transferable from your former career.
We’ve put together all the best jobs for Australian stay at home mums and rated them by awesomeness and suckiness so you can choose a stay at home career that suits your baby, your budget and your sanity. You might be surprised how “in demand” your transferable skills are!
See also:
Working in a “real job” from home – READ THIS FIRST!
Work from home admin jobs
Work from home professional consulting
Work from home personal service jobs
Take your baby to work jobs
Stay at home with a blog or shop
How we’ve assessed these work at home opportunities
Side view of cheerful mum with son
We’ve asked Dana from Talk About Creative to give us her tips on working from home opportunities. She’s worked with hundreds of Australian stay at home mums over the years, helping them start and grow a little biz. We’ve given every stay at home job opportunity some rankings to help you decide if it’s really for you and if it’s going to meet your family’s needs. Here’s how we’ve rated it:
- Set up costs
- Set up time
- Earning potential
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service)
- Competition (based on the number of Australian mums already doing it)
- Other issues
Where to find your first tech clients:
Very poorly paid work is available pretty much immediately on sites like Upwork, Freelancer and Ozlance depending on which profession you’re going to be working. These can be terrible jobs that offer $15 an hour (or even less!) or you can find Australian clients who are willing to spend more on you, once you do a “trial job” first.
Look for gigs that ask specifically for a native speaker who is Australian based and mention words like “quality”. LinkedIn is a good place to source tech gigs but they’re really competitive. You can apply via jobs on there or start “working the groups” and watch the clients come to you. LinkedIn is a whole eco-system unto its self and you may need training to make sure you do it right from the start.
Try your former employer, former clients (if you don’t have very strict clauses in your former contract) and other industry contacts are the best places to start.
Work from home as a Coder/Database Administrator – 8/10
Whether it’s a whiz bang database or a website with all the bells and whistles, coders are always in high demand. There’s a whole spectrum of IT based virtual jobs available so if you’ve got transferrable skills, you’re going to be in demand. You’ll need a website (which you can probably do yourself) because this industry wants proof of your mad skills. This can increase set up time but you will have lower costs if you can handle a lot of work yourself. There’s a lot of competition from overseas workers doing your job cheap but there’s also a lot of resistance from Australian business when it comes to trusting foreign workers with their most important work.
- Set up costs – Low to medium
- Set up time – High
- Earning potential – High
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Very High
- Competition (based on the number of Australian mums already doing it) – High
- Other issues – It’s a crowded industry – there are tons of freelance coders working out there but because coders are in high demand and each job takes time, there’s plenty of room to grab a piece of the pie. Remember that project based work is a nightmare for cash flow so it can help to have a few contractors you can call on to handle the more time consuming stuff while you chase the next gig.
Work from home as a Web Designer – 7/10
Unlike a coder, a web designer usually uses a set template to create a beautiful website that performs OK. This means that the websites you sell won’t make as much money as a coder’s site but they’re easier and quicker to turn around. You’ll need skills though. Selling a website that doesn’t perform will get you in legal trouble and ruin your reputation fast. You’ll need to know WordPress backwards at a very minimum. You’ll also need a solid understanding of SEO, CRO, graphic design and basic web coding. It’s not something you can “just do” it’s a profession that is highly skilled.
- Set up costs – Medium
- Set up time – High – you will need to create your own kickass site first
- Earning potential – Good
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Very High, 15000+ searches per month
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Very High
- Other issues – Like web development there is a lot of competition in this industry and the Google competition is off the charts. There is however high demand too. You will not be able to rely on Google for leads at first so you will need to hunt down new customers. This is time consuming and you don’t get paid for that time. Being project based too, you’ll have to allow for busy times and broke times!
Work from home as a graphic designer – 5/10
Graphic design and illustration is one of the most popular and easy to set up jobs from home. Which also makes it very, very competitive. It’s an underpaid industry and sites like Fiverr mean that there’s tons of competition for cheap graphic design gigs. If you’re not REALLY GOOD, don’t even bother with this one.
- Set up costs – Low (software and a good computer are your big costs)
- Set up time – High (finding clients that will pay well will be hard work)
- Earning potential – Medium
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Medium, 5000+ searches per month
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – High
- Other issues – Graphic design isn’t just making beautiful images. The highest paid graphic designers have key insights into marketing and a long history of being a part of successful marketing campaigns. This is very much a sink or swim industry – it’s not ideal for new mums to “learn while doing”.
Work from home in SEO Support – 6/10
Don’t know what an SEO is? Scroll on. Search Engine Optimisation isn’t just a thing you start doing, it’s a constant evolving process that requires a lot of research and spending a lot of time to achieve results. Doing it badly creates massive problems for your clients… so big they may opt to sue you.
SEO support on the other hand is doing some or all of the “support activities” required to fulfil the overall SEO strategy. These are often filling in online forms, writing content, contacting other websites to organise collaborations… simple tasks that are time consuming. SEO agencies struggle to find good, local link builders and content producers – so there’s definitely room for a few freelancers!
- Set up costs – Low
- Set up time – Moderate (finding clients can be tricky as you’ll essentially be a B2B business)
- Earning potential – Moderate
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – SEO Support is not really “a job” in the freelance marketplace so you’ll need to enter it via Virtual Assistant work or through applying for simple SEO jobs to start.
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Medium – this is mostly something handled by large, specialist organisations. You will be looking for medium businesses looking for a dedicated virtual team member.
- Other issues – This is a job you’ll need to constantly evolve as Google updates its algorithms (daily!) and industry best practices change. That means a lot of unbillable research hours.
Work from home as an Adwords Manager – 6/10
Adwords is a very complicated program that requires real skills (Google provides free training). Because clients are paying for their “clicks” you’ll find it difficult to put a service fee on top that is both competitive and viable at an hourly rate for you. It is however a high demand industry so there’s definitely room for freelance Adwords managers especially for smaller businesses.
- Set up costs – Low (Google offers the course free but to become a partner is a long process where you need to prove you’re working with a lot of clients)
- Set up time – Moderate (finding clients can be tricky and you will be required to get Google certification)
- Earning potential – Moderate
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Moderate
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Very high
- Other issues – Most Adwords are managed by large agencies with certifications that give them special access to Google tools, events, training and rewards. You’ll need to start with small businesses to carve out a niche for yourself as competing for big campaigns will be impossible to start.
Work from home as a social media manager – 5/10
Can you create a viral post that drives everyone insane for a product? Then Social Media Management might be a good work at home option for you. Doing social for business is literally nothing like doing it for yourself, you’ll need a good understanding of marketing priniciples and plenty of time to research latest trends and best practices. To start you may wish to call yourself a virtual assistant while you learn the ropes as social media consultants are expected to provide long term strategies with KPIs that can be extremely difficult to reach in the ever changing social landscape.
- Set up costs – Low
- Set up time – Moderate (mostly finding clients)
- Earning potential – Moderate
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Medium to high (7500+ searches per month)
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Very high
- Other issues – Social media managers are, well, a dime a dozen these days so you’ll need to create a proven track record to show that you do it better. Expect low wages at the beginning because you’ll need to be able to prove that you can achieve ROI – on a medium where users are reluctant to provide returns on the content they consume.
Work from home as a CRO/Analytics manager – 8/10
Google Analytics, tag manager and Search Console are powerful tools used by just about all businesses but understood by very few. Google offers free training in this software and the ability to use it properly makes a massive difference to how well a business performs. CRO – conversion rate optimisation is an extension of these tools – it means making changes to a website that increase the money coming into the business. This is an area that all business should be watching closely but few are. There’s massive potential for growth here if you’re a person who loves stats!
- Set up costs – Moderate- you’ll need to do some study
- Set up time – Moderate (you’ll need to do several courses to get your certification, some understanding of coding will be necessary)
- Earning potential – Moderate to high
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – The demand is hard to gage as many business owners don’t realise they need this…yet. As they become more educated, demand will continue to increase.
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Medium – this is mostly something handled by large, specialist organisations. You will be looking for medium businesses looking for a dedicated virtual team member.
- Other issues – A lot of your sales process will be about education. You will need sales skills to gather new clients.
Work from home as a product photographer – 7/10
Product photography has become a big thing in the last few years as platforms like Instagram make it absolutely necessary to have “wow” images. From a light box isolated shot to cool lifestyle images taken in dark alleyways, photography has become an in demand gig in the digital age.
- Set up costs – High – you need some awesome gear
- Set up time – Moderate (finding clients can be hard)
- Earning potential – Moderate. Product photographers can make very good money but it’s a time consuming job so the hourly rate tends to be lower than you’d expect.
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Moderate 5000 searches per month
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Moderate. There are a LOT of photographers out there but product photography is time consuming and not as “creative” as other forms so it’s the ugly duckling of the industry.
- Other issues – Finding clients will be hard without a website and some good solid SEO. You’ll need to budget that into your set up or first year costs.
Work from home as a copywriter – 7/10
Writing for a living is a very real thing. In fact, content writing is a massive industry and there’s always high demand for native speakers with a little writing flair, a head for business and some basic SEO knowledge. This is the go to work at home job for former teachers, journalists, publicists and anyone with a good general knowledge and sense of curiousity.
- Set up costs – Low
- Set up time – Moderate – there’s a lot of competition so you’ll likely need to do some cheap and cheerful gigs to get your portfolio up to scratch.
- Earning potential – Moderate – you’re going to be writing a lot about… pest control and product descriptions. This isn’t a glam job, it’s a solid work at home job.
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Medium 5000+ searches per month
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – High.
- Other issues – If you want to make more money you should look at technical writing and specialist copywriting. Come from a science background? Can interpret data into words that laymen can understand? That’s where the real money is at. Find a vertical that you can OWN and you’ll be able to demand higher writing rates.
Work from home as a content manager – 8/10
Content management is the grunt work of web designers. It’s uploading content to websites and putting all the little bits and pieces in place for Google to find it and to keep visitors on the website. Content uploading is time consuming and boring but it’s in high demand. Unfortunately if you want to be a work from home content manager, you’ll need to find web design clients – which requires some sales skills.
- Set up costs – Low
- Set up time – Moderate (you’ll need to make sure you’ll all over Google best practice which means unbillable research hours)
- Earning potential – Moderate, this is the “admin job of the web design world” and is often handled by a virtual assistant
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – It’s a B2B service that is in need but not necessarily advertised. It may work better to approach this as a virtual assistant.
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Low. There are very few people doing this as a stand alone business.
- Other issues – Finding the right clients is going to be your biggest challenge.
Work from home as a translator – 8/10
Perfect Bi-Lingual? The digital world has a lot of bilingual sites and they’re after translators with writing flair (you’ll need basic sales copywriting skills) and some SEO skills to help your content rank in different languages. The hard part is the perfect bilingual bit…. The rest can be learned! Translators earn between $50 and $150 per hour depending on skills so it’s a great gig if you can master it!
- Set up costs – Moderate (you may need some certification to prove you’re not faking it!)
- Set up time – Moderate (finding clients will be the first big step, learning and maintaining the peripheral skills will be necessary too)
- Earning potential – Moderate to high
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Very high
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Medium – depending on the languages you speak.
- Other issues – You’ll be competing with native speakers in other countries, countries where wages are cheaper than Australia so you’ll be competing with those guys. The good news is, once you get a few clients, you’ll be sorted!
Work from home as a video editor/content producer – 4/10
While getting out and filming documentaries with a baby on your back might not be possible, editing short social videos, creating gifs, memes, infographics and other visual social media content can be a good way to make a little money from home. Video software has come a long way and is very user friendly which means you’ll be competing with a lot of businesses.
- Set up costs – Moderate – you’ll need software
- Set up time – Moderate (finding clients can be trickier)
- Earning potential – low to medium
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Low – most searches are for DIY software, not for freelancers
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Medium
- Other issues – Facebook and Insta are both demanding more video content and there’s room for more content producers. You’d need to find the right clients – too busy to do it themselves but with just enough budget to hire a freelancer – not a whole production company.
Work from home in your niche – 8/10
Ebay shop whiz… Active Campaign master… Basecamp whiz….Facebook Ads… If you know a particular digital marketing tool inside and out, you can make good money working that. If you can create tracking pixels and work a lookalike audience, set up a kickass autoresponder campaign, manage a website project in Trello or simply make all those things come together… there’s work for you. It’s not…a traditional gig, it’s a jack of all digital marketing trades that may fall under virtual assistant work or it may fall under digital strategy work. It all comes down to how you want to build your business. Earning potential will depend on your level of skill and how in demand those skills are!
- Set up costs – Moderate
- Set up time – Moderate (finding clients can be trickier because you’re not a straight up traditional freelancer)
- Earning potential – Moderate
- Demand (based on number of customers searching for this service) – Depends on software
- Competition (based on the number of Australians already doing it) – Medium – this is mostly work covered by digital agencies.
- Other issues – You may find that digital agencies are the ideal client for you – they love to outsource the annoying jobs!
Work at home tech jobs in Australia
While working from home is becoming a bigger thing here in Australia tech jobs are still an industry dominated by low cost freelancers in India and the Philippines. You will need to focus your work at home business on “Australian Quality” and knowing the Australian market if you want to set yourself apart. Happy hunting!
