Hey there 👋
In your journey as a developer, the common way to make money is by securing a full-time job.
However, you may not be in a position yet to secure a job (aka you are still studying), or you began working, but you are looking at ways to make some extra cash.
Now, you can try to make a side income in many ways.
Some are more realistic than others.
In this article, we will learn about the achievable side-income gigs that you can get started with today.
Take a deep breath, and let us wash our souls with this new knowledge. 🧎
Disclaimer: I did not try every option in the list. If you think something should be added to the list or you want to share a personal experience, please comment below (I'd love to hear from you!). 🙇♂️
⚔️ Creator Quests
At Quine, we are currently providing a way for developers to monetise their skills.
Creator Quests are open-source challenges happening every two weeks.
It is like a 24/7 Hackathon that rewards developers for building cool apps and for playing around with the developer tools of the future. 🚀
The community decides the winner by giving kudos to projects they love. The projects with the most kudos will earn the most. 🤑
The next challenge starts on Tuesday, the 19th of December. To participate, sign up to Quine and head to Quests.
PS: During beta, 100% of valid entries have earned a reward 💸
The current prize pool is $1024, and it will increase as more participants join! Click on the below and give it a try! ⬇️
💃 MaaS - Me as a Service
Freelancing is hard to start with.
However, it is very much achievable and accessible to everyone.
I had some experience in freelancing with data analytics. If I had to redo it again, here is how I would approach it:
1️⃣ Pick a platform: Understand the differences between Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer. Pick a platform you prefer and focus on that. I found Malt to be an interesting platform, but if you think you are very good, you can always look into TopTal.
2️⃣ Don't be Mr/Mrs know-it-all: Build a profile around a very specific service e.g I specialise in coding Python scrapers and building a database using MongoDB, which ultimately displays dashboards through Plotly (not exactly that but you get the idea 🙃).
3️⃣ Charge NOTHING for your first Client: Getting your first clients is extremely hard, so contact job postings and explain that you are happy to do it for free. If they are happy with the job, ask them to provide a good rating.
4️⃣ Get your First Pay: Start charging for your work - still at a lower rate - and build your reputation.
5️⃣ Increase your pricing: Once you have a stronger position on the platform, you can decide to up your pricing.
My final comment is that although I believe everyone can start making money by freelancing, I don't think everyone should be doing it. There are many drawback which could not fit with how you like to work (difficult clients, deadlines, platform dependency, etc).
💁 Special Tip: In London, I found a little trick to get some clients. You can approach some relevant consulting/recruiting agencies, and they can help you find clients for you. Look into agencies like this if you are struggling to get started.
🧪 Test it. Get Paid for it.
As a developer, you understand the technicalities behind a webpage or an app.
This means you have the skills to perform great QA.
Depending on the platforms you focus on, you can spend between 10-60+ minutes trying out an app or a website.
There are various platforms out there, but the 3 known websites for you to check out are:
PS: There is also the option for complete surveys which, in my opinion, pay very little. If you are still curious about it, you can check Wynter or SwagBucks.
🐛 Bug Hunter
You can monetise this skill if you have a great eye for detail and enjoy web security.
You can make money there if you are curious and have good programming skills. 🥂
You will likely get paid $20 at the start, but the rewards can increase to astronomical amounts like £100k+.
I would stress that this is not how you become a millionaire. There is some decent competition, and you likely won't earn very high figures.
You should still try it and see if it works for you.
The most known platforms for this are:
If you somehow become good at this, you can look into big companies, as this tends to be where the big bucks are.
You can find the vulnerability programs here from Microsoft, Apple and Google.
Last tip: If you find vulnerabilities in a website you enjoy using, there is no harm in asking them for compensation. 🙃
🧑🏫 You learned something? Teach it back
Tutoring is my personal favourite "side hustle".
It may seem "meh" for some, but it is very much achievable, and it strengthens your knowledge around a specific topic while making good money.
Also, you don't necessarily need to be an expert.
That's right!
As long as you are more knowledgeable in a specific domain, you can charge a service for teaching that knowledge.
There are 3 ways you can approach this:
📜 Old School Way
1️⃣ Identify the right schools: Post physical ads around schools/colleges with your offering and contact details.
2️⃣ Identify Communities: Find and get involved in relevant Discord, Facebook and Linkedin groups. Make the community in question aware of your services in a respectful way.
3️⃣ Don't be too greedy: Start your first sessions with a lower pricing to get the ball rolling. After some experience, consider raising your prices.
👶 New School Way
Look into the platforms below:
Register as a tutor and start below market rate to get your first students.
📦 Digital Content
You can look into building some video courses.
My personal favourite is a new tool called Stan Store.
This is the all-in toolkit for digital creators, and there is much more than just building video content.
I personally made a couple hundred dollars using this platform.
Alternatively, you can look into more conventional platforms like SkillShare or Udemy.
Slightly less achievable paths (but worth a mention) 👇
- 🚧 Hackathons: Some hackathons provide good cash prizes. The downside is that there is usually a decent amount of competition. To scout for the right hackathons, the best website by far is DevPost.
- 🏷️ Selling Boiler Template: You can build a boiler template based on your knowledge. What is "slightly less" achievable in this case is how much money you can make (at least initially). This is because it requires a big following (or significant marketing). If you want to give it a shot, you can check out Gum Road and AppSumo.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it helped you understand how to leverage your dev skills for a side hustle.
The above gigs are not trying to paint a picture that you will be wealthy overnight. However, they are side hustles with a high chance of getting paid. With some consistency, you can expect to earn much more over time. 🚀
This post was inspired by a great piece written by @lissy93.
If you are interested in learning about alternative ways to monetise your dev skills (especially if you are more experienced), please check their article and give it some love.
See you next week,
Your Dev.to buddy 💚
Bap
If you want to join the self-proclaimed "coolest" server in open source 😝, you should join our discord server. We are here to help you on your journey in open source. 🫶
Top comments (45)
@bap, this just made me laugh 😹
If you want to be a Gazolliannaire. Get a FAANG Job, survive 20+ years there, and watch your stonks go up (Then drop to 0)!! ~
hahaha lol pretty much 🤣
XD
I'm curious, have you ever tried any of these side hustles yourself?
Not yet, planning to implement the one that I shared with you
Yes I remember. Cool 👌
Nothing new. If you google “side hustles for developers”, you will get pretty much the same list. The question is who tried it and how did it go? What works and what doesn’t work so well? What’s the earnings potential of each?
That's a really good point. On my end, I wanted to first write about something that was "achievable" and "realistic". Your comment is spot on though. I could try to explain in more details my own experience. Though I did not experience every single one of these in the list I can try and find out how it went from people within my network. Massive thanks for the comment Samir 🙏
I teach as a side hustle. Depending upon how you are teaching, it can be very involved or only a bit. I teach basics for the A+ certification/Microsoft Office Specialist at a local college. For the most part, it is only the time of classes that I have to put in as I am able to handle my grades and such during the classes. However, in the first part of the semesters, it is a few extra hours besides class because I am much more involved with the students and getting them set at that time.
All in all, it's ok. It's a couple extra bucks.
Wow! Thanks a lot for this - I really appreciate you sharing your experience with us 🌟
You are most welcome. I actually taught basically the same thing for companies previously to get agents up to speed in supporting various software and networks. Now, I just do it at a college instead. I am in Georgia.
Personally, I've always had a side gig. I have no trust of any company and always feel more comfortable with something else to fall back on if anything happens.
Makes a lot of sense - thanks for sharing this with us/me. And have a great new year ahead! 🌟
Out of curiosity, where about do you teach - no need to get specific of course, just curious about country/state 🙃
I teach the basics for A+ Certification and Microsoft Office Specialist.
It's important to be aware that Malt is still quite limited based on where you are located as a freelancer. Pretty much, available only in a handful of countries, mostly in the EU, which is less than 15 in total. Unfortunately, if you're located in Asia, North America, South America, or Oceania, Malt is not an option.
Really good point. Malt has only started recently in the UK so you're right a lot of places don't have access to it yet. Merci Pierre-Henry!
This a good list, but who has the time for a side hustle in the current state of the market?
I get you Deb 😪
It does seem like it is a real trend now to look for side hustles. I don't have exact numbers in hand but I remember reading that a really high % of people now participated in side projects etc. Do you do that yourself?
Awesome ideas, I used to have a side gig of translating technical documentation into other languages or from other languages to english
Oh that sounds really cool Bolivar! How did it go in the end?
BTW, for instruction other than at a college or something, I would suggest looking at Udemy or some of the other sites. These will be well known sites and if you are teaching without the admin support from a college, company, etc., you need something that is going to be able to showcase you.
awesome
Thanks for the kind comment. Happy you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the comment Nabin. Do you have some experience in some of these?
I'll definitely check these out over Christmas break. Thanks for sharing!
Pleasure Scott, let me know how it goes 🙏
I would like to hear your thoughts on the above! If you have some stories about your experience, I'd love to hear them. 🐼
I really liked this point 👀
Thanks for that! Have you tried it yourself? 🙃
on Quine itself 😉
LOL 😂
Touché
This article is worth saving. Maybe in the future i will try some of the above mentioned side hustles. Btw i'm hearing about Devpost for the first time. Thank you Bap.
Hi, thanks for the usefull informations.
My pleasure Ndiaga :)
awesome
Thanks a lot Priya!
Nice list of ideas for some decent side gigs.
🙏🙏
Sure will try some of these
Let me know how it goes! 😄