Coming up with idea that can make 10k-25k per month?

How are you testing your ideas? As a backend engineer, you have a pretty unique insight into really meaty technical problems that can be solved. you're also part of an audience that is (usually) very open to new ideas/products/ways of doing things. As you look back at your experiences, try to recollect every problem or challenge you ran into at work that has really annoyed/frustrated you, your manager or your team. Write all of these down. Once you have these problems written down, you'll want to choose one and think through who else may have this problem. think about those personas and write them down. clearly define who they are (example: Engineering Team lead, product manager, backend engineer, etc). Once you have your personas clearly defined, go through your personal network and see how many of these personas you have a 1st degree connection with. Reach out to them and ask them if they've experienced the same problems as you. Take them through a customer discovery process where you learn more about how they deal w/ that problem and what they've tried to do to solve for it. don't pitch anything to them at this point. Should be a 20 minute conversation at most. Repeat this with other folks that fit that persona until you start to hear the same feedback over and over. Take all of the feedback you've collected and identify any patterns that pop up in the data. Look at how all of the folks you've spoken to have tried to solve their problem and come up with what you think is a better solution. Come up with what you believe is the minimum viable product that gets to the heart of solving this problem. You dont have to code it out. Instead you can mock it up in something like Figma or XD and take it back to share w/ the folks you've spoken with. Show them your idea and tell them how their lives would improve from it. Ask them if they'd pay to use it. If they say yes, either have them sign a contract, collect a credit card and bill at an agreed upon date, get a letter of intent signed (usually more enterprise focused) or have them pay you with a check and then get to work building your product! In my experience, nobody bats an eye at $200/year. A front line manager can easily expense that on their credit card without having to check in with anyone. Think simple calendar tools, productivity apps, and other microsaas products. If a problem is painful enough, people will be willing to pay almost anything! Let me know if this is helpful. Happy to share what's worked (and hasn't) for me.