I'm a computer science major. Last semester I was in Data Structures class thinking "When am I ever gonna use this?"
Turns out, sooner than I thought.
I was broke. My part-time job at the campus bookstore paid $12/hour for 15 hours a week. That's $180 a week before taxes. Rent was $650.
I kept hearing "learn to code, you'll make so much money." Cool, but I was already learning to code. I knew Python, Java, some JavaScript. Where was all this money?
That's when I realized something. I didn't need to be a senior engineer at Google. I just needed to be slightly better than people who needed help.
The Failures
I tried applying to internships. Got rejected from 23 companies. Twenty-three.
"Not enough experience." "Looking for juniors or seniors." "Position filled."
So I need experience to get experience. Makes sense.
Also tried Upwork. Posted my profile. "CS student, knows Python and Java, will work for cheap!"
Zero responses. Turns out there are thousands of developers in India who will work for $5/hour. Couldn't compete.
What Actually Worked
My roommate was struggling with data analysis in Excel for his econ thesis.
"Can you help me?" he asked. "I need to analyze 500 rows of data."
I wrote him a Python script in 20 minutes. Cleaned his data, ran the analysis, exported to CSV. He was amazed.
"Dude, I would've paid you $50 for that."
That got me thinking. I just used skills from Intro to Python to solve a real problem. And someone would've paid me.
Posted in college Facebook groups: "CS student here. If you need help with data analysis, web scraping, or automation, I can help. $30/hour."
Got my first client in 2 days. A grad student who needed to scrape data from a website for research. Took 3 hours. Made $90.
Did that 4 more times that month. Made $450.
The Website Thing
Second thing was way simpler.
I was at a coffee shop. Checked their website. It was slow as hell. Took 8 seconds to load.
Ran it through Google PageSpeed Insights. Score of 23. Terrible.
Walked up to the owner: "Hey, your website is really slow. It's probably costing you customers. I can fix it for $200."
He looked skeptical. I showed him the PageSpeed score on my phone. His face changed.
"Yeah okay, how long?"
"A few hours."
I optimized images, minified CSS and JavaScript, enabled caching. Stuff from my Web Development class. Took 4 hours. Got the score to 87.
He was thrilled. Paid me $200 cash.
Did that 3 more times. Made $600 total.
Small businesses have websites but don't optimize them. They're slow, broken, or outdated. And they don't know how to fix it.
They're not hiring a $5000 agency. But $200 for a college student? Easy decision.
The Automation Scripts
Third thing was selling automation scripts.
I was in a Discord server for students. Someone posted: "I hate manually downloading PDFs from our class portal. Takes forever."
I wrote a Python script that automated it. Posted it for free.
Got 3 DMs asking if I could customize it. Charged $40 each. Made $120 in one day.
That's when I realized: people will pay for automation. Even simple stuff.
Started offering "automation as a service." If you have a repetitive task, I'll write a script.
Made scripts for:
- Organizing files automatically
- Scraping data from websites
- Sending bulk emails
- Generating reports from spreadsheets
- Backing up files to cloud
Charged $50-150 per script. Made about $400/month.
The Tech Tutoring
Fourth thing was tutoring other CS students.
Not Intro to CS. Specific topics I was good at. Data structures, algorithms, debugging.
Posted in CS department Discord: "Struggling with linked lists? I can help. $25/hour."
Got 3 students that week. Helped them understand concepts, debug code, prepare for exams.
Made about $300/month. Not huge, but easy and actually helped me understand material better.
What I'm Doing Now
Right now I make money from tech skills in 4 ways:
Primary (15 hrs/week): Website optimization and fixes. $800/month.
Secondary (10 hrs/week): Automation scripts. $400/month.
Side (5 hrs/week): Data analysis and web scraping. $300/month.
Occasional: Tech tutoring. $300/month.
Total: $1800/month. Way more than my bookstore job, fewer hours.
The Skills That Actually Make Money
You don't need to know everything. Just a few things well.
What actually makes money:
Python: Data analysis, web scraping, automation. This is my bread and butter.
Web stuff: HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Even basic knowledge is enough to fix most small business websites.
Databases: SQL. Lots of small businesses need help organizing data.
Git/GitHub: Surprisingly, students will pay you to help them understand version control.
Excel/Google Sheets: Not really "tech" but if you can write formulas and scripts, people will pay.
You don't need React, Docker, Kubernetes. Basic skills are enough.
What Doesn't Work
Some things that didn't make money:
Building apps: Spent 2 months building a "study buddy" app. Got 12 downloads. Made $0.
Open source contributions: Great for learning, terrible for making money.
Competitive programming: Fun, but doesn't translate to income.
Learning frameworks: Spent weeks learning React. Haven't made a dollar from it.
The stuff that makes money is boring. Fixing websites. Writing scripts. Helping with Excel.
Not sexy, but it pays.
How to Start
Don't wait until you're "good enough." You're already good enough.
If you know Python basics, you can write automation scripts.
If you know HTML/CSS, you can fix websites.
If you know SQL, you can help with databases.
Start by helping people for free. Post in Discord, Facebook groups, Reddit. "I'm learning [skill], happy to help with small projects for free."
You'll get experience. You'll get testimonials. Then start charging.
I spent 3 weeks "preparing." That was stupid. You learn by doing.
Honestly, I spent so much time trying to figure out which tech skills were worth monetizing. Eventually I built a tool to help students how to become a tech freelancer based on what they know. It's not perfect but it beats endless research.
The Real Numbers
Month 1: $450 (just small projects)
Month 2: $750 (added website fixes)
Month 3: $1,100 (more clients, word of mouth)
Month 4: $1,400 (automation scripts taking off)
Month 5-6: $1,600-1,900 (current range)
I'm not rich. But I'm not stressed about rent. Can buy textbooks. Can go out with friends.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Waiting to be "expert level." You don't need to be an expert. Just know more than the person who needs help.
Mistake 2: Undercharging. Started at $20/hour. Now charge $40-60/hour for same work.
Mistake 3: Only looking for "big" projects. Small projects add up. $50 here, $100 there.
Mistake 4: Trying to compete on price. Don't be the cheapest. Be the most convenient, most reliable, easiest to work with.
What About Imposter Syndrome?
Yeah, I had it bad. "Who am I to charge money? I'm just a student."
Here's what helped: I'm not competing with senior engineers. I'm competing with people who know nothing.
A small business owner doesn't know how to optimize their website. I do. That's enough.
A grad student doesn't know how to scrape data. I do. That's enough.
You don't need to be the best. Just better than the alternative (which is usually nothing).
Tools You Need
Free:
- Python
- VS Code
- Git/GitHub
- Chrome DevTools
- Google (seriously, 80% of coding is Googling)
Paid (optional):
- ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) - helps with debugging
- Hosting ($5-10/month) - if building websites
That's it. Don't need expensive courses or certifications.
Should You Try This?
If you're a CS student (or any STEM major) and you're broke, yeah try it.
If you're doing fine financially, maybe focus on classes and internship applications.
For me it was worth it. Not just for money, but because I learned way more doing real projects than in class.
Plus, when I apply for internships now, I can say "I've built automation scripts for 20+ clients" instead of "I completed assignments in CS classes."
Final Thoughts
You don't need to wait until you graduate to make money with tech skills.
Don't need to be a senior engineer.
Don't need to know everything.
Just know a few things and find people who need help with those things.
First month was slow. Made barely any money. Questioned if it was worth it.
But month 2 was better. Month 3 better than that. Now it's working.
If you're a CS student stressed about money, just try it. Pick one thing you're decent at. Offer to help people. See what happens.
You might surprise yourself.
Top comments (0)