HOST INTRO: Passive incomes and the tech industry as a whole have taken the economy by storm in recent years. New York City data scientist, Marco Santos, is utilizing his knowledge on machine learning and his ability as a writer to create a pseudo-passive stream of income for himself. Baruch journalist, Mira Ciganek, spoke with him today to get the full story.

AMBI: Nat sounds of the street and cars passing by (FADE AS TRACK BEGINS)

TRACK: I’m sitting here with Marco Santos in his Williamsburg apartment, as he takes a break from editing his most recent article. He is the back end developer of a startup, but he has also taken up a lucrative side gig: technical writing for Medium.

ACT: MARCO: Medium started as a side project for my current, or at my previous school. One of the required assignments was to publish to Medium and use that as a way to display or showcase our skillset in programming. 

TRACK: Since then he has gained a lot of traction from his articles. He now has over a thousand followers on Medium and makes roughly $200 a month from his writing alone.

ACT: MARCO: Basically I used that and gained a lot of success from that, compared at least to an average writer. From then, I just decided to keep at it even during my normal employment, I still write.

TRACK: Santos has written pieces on everything from step-by-step guides on building matchmaking programs to his journey getting a job after going to a coding bootcamp.

ACT: MARCO: Hopefully it turns into something bigger, and a really great source of side income or basically a main job eventually down the line. That would be the ideal so eventually I could just lean back and have my writing generate money for me.

TRACK: Santos is open to leaving his job as a data scientist and utilizing technical writing as his main source of income. I hesitate to say a full time job, as that doesn’t seem to be the goal. This trend of embracing passive income has grown more popular in recent years and is closely tied to the tech industry. For Baruch College, this is Mira Ciganek.

ABMI: FADES BACK IN AT THE END

LINK

https://soundcloud.com/mira-ciganek/audio-practice-assignment?si=4f52e42389644277b1980ff5a0ded62f