Privacy Policy
How SoftwareSideHustles.com collects, uses and protects personal data, and how to exercise your rights.
Last updated 16 Oct 2026
Draft for owner and legal review. Items marked [OWNER INPUT REQUIRED] must be completed, and the whole policy reviewed by a qualified adviser, before publication.
Last updated: 12 October 2026
1. Who we are
SoftwareSideHustles.com ("we", "us") is operated by [OWNER INPUT REQUIRED: legal name of business or sole trader], [OWNER INPUT REQUIRED: registered address]. We are the controller of the personal data described in this policy.
Privacy contact: [OWNER INPUT REQUIRED: privacy email address], or use the contact form and choose "Privacy".
2. Summary
- You can use the questionnaire and the free practice lab without an account.
- We do not sell personal data and we do not use your questionnaire answers for advertising.
- Analytics are off unless you opt in. Essential cookies are only used to provide features you ask for.
- We never store your full IP address in our database.
- You can download or delete your data yourself from your account or the privacy controls described in section 8.
3. What we collect and why
| Data | When | Purpose | Lawful basis (UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|---|
A random visitor identifier stored in the ssh_vid cookie | When you start the questionnaire, submit a practice answer, record a cookie choice or follow a platform link | To keep your questionnaire answers, practice progress and link history together without an account | Legitimate interests in providing the features you request (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Questionnaire answers (experience, languages, comfort with code review, algorithms and testing, qualification, country, written English, available hours, goal, optional code-review answer and explanation) | When you complete the questionnaire | To personalise the opportunities, practice and resources we show you (see section 4) | Legitimate interests in providing personalised recommendations you ask for (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Practice answers and results | When you submit an exercise | To show feedback and track your progress | Legitimate interests; contract for premium users (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Google account details: Google account ID, email address, whether it is verified, name and profile picture URL | When you sign in with Google | To create and secure your account | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Purchase records: product, price, currency, status, dates and Stripe references | When you buy something | To deliver access, handle refunds and keep accounting records | Contract; legal obligation for accounting (Art. 6(1)(b), (c)) |
| Tutoring requests: name, email, experience, languages, topics, timezone, availability, notes | When you request tutoring | To arrange and deliver tutoring | Steps at your request before a contract; contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Contact messages: name, email, topic, message | When you use the contact form | To reply to you | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Marketing source (UTM parameters and the referring website's domain) | When you arrive from a tagged link and start the questionnaire, or (with consent) on first and later visits | To understand which channels bring visitors, in aggregate | Legitimate interests for questionnaire attribution; consent for ongoing analytics (Art. 6(1)(f), (a)) |
| Analytics events (for example page views, button clicks, questionnaire steps) | Only if you accept analytics cookies | To improve the site and run A/B tests | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Cookie and analytics choices | When you choose | To respect and evidence your choice | Legal obligation / legitimate interests |
We do not collect: card numbers (Stripe handles payments on its own pages), precise location or GPS data, or any special category data. Please do not include sensitive information in free-text answers.
4. Personalised recommendations and profiling
When you complete the questionnaire, our server scores your technical-skill answers using published, editable rules and places you in an internal category. We use it to decide:
- which practice materials, resources and coaching options to suggest;
- the order and emphasis of the platform cards we show; and
- whether a platform link uses a referral code or the ordinary application address (see our Affiliate Disclosure).
Country is used only to check location rules that a platform has published, never as a measure of skill. We do not use nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, age or other protected characteristics.
This is not a decision about you with legal or similarly significant effects: our suggestions are not predictions of any platform's decision, and every platform's ordinary application link remains available to everyone. You can review and correct your answers by retaking the questionnaire, ask us to explain how your recommendations were produced, or object to this processing using the contact details above.
5. Who we share data with
We use the following service providers ("processors"), who act on our instructions:
- Hosting and database: [OWNER INPUT REQUIRED: hosting provider and region]
- Payments: Stripe (Stripe processes your payment details under its own privacy policy)
- Sign-in: Google (Google Identity Services)
- Email delivery: [OWNER INPUT REQUIRED: transactional email provider]
- Analytics (only with consent, only if enabled): [OWNER INPUT REQUIRED: e.g. Google Analytics 4, or "none"]
When you follow a link to an AI training platform, you leave our site; that platform's own privacy policy applies. We do not send your questionnaire answers to any platform.
6. International transfers
[OWNER INPUT REQUIRED: describe any transfers outside the UK/EEA by the processors above and the safeguards relied on, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or adequacy regulations.]
7. How long we keep data
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Anonymous questionnaire answers (not linked to an account) | Deleted automatically after 365 days |
| Anonymous visitor record and its practice attempts | Deleted after 400 days of inactivity |
| Analytics events | Deleted after 25 months |
| Account data, linked questionnaires and progress | Until you delete your account |
| Purchase records | 6 years after the end of the financial year, for tax and accounting law; the link to your account is removed if you delete it |
| Email delivery records | 90 days |
| Signed-in sessions | Removed 7 days after they expire or are signed out |
8. Your rights and your controls
You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time.
- Without an account: use the "Download my data" and "Delete my data" controls on the recommendations page or contact us.
- With an account: download everything from Account → "Export my data", or permanently delete your account there.
- Correct your answers: retake the questionnaire; your previous answers are replaced.
- Cookies: change your choice at any time with the "Cookie settings" link in the footer.
We respond to requests within one month. You can complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), although we would appreciate the chance to help first.
9. Security
Session and visitor identifiers are random values stored in HttpOnly cookies; only one-way hashes are kept on our servers. Connections use HTTPS. Administrative access is restricted and changes to referral settings, prices and permissions are audit-logged.
10. Children
The site is intended for adults looking for professional opportunities and is not directed at children under 18.
11. Changes
We will update the date at the top when this policy changes and, for significant changes, show a notice on the site.