Developer Side-Hustles: 5 Practical Ways to Monetize Your Coding Skills

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

Creator Quests is a way for developers to monetize 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. 🤑

💃 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 specialize 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 drawbacks that 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 three known websites for you to check out are:

• Trymata

• UserTesting

• UserLytics

  
  

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 monetize 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:

• HackerOne

• BugCrowd

  
  

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 specificic domain, you can charge a service for teaching that knowledge.

There are three 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:

• Codementor
• Superprof
• Tutor

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 favorite 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 monetize your dev skills (especially if you are more experienced), please check their article and give it some love.

See you next week,

Your Hackernoon buddy 💚

Bap

Also published here.