7 Ways to Earn Money From Coding and Programming
Are you planning to develop skills in programming? Perhaps you've already delved into it but not sure about the available opportunities? Or have you been coding for some time now but looking forward to tapping more opportunities?
Here is the thing; programming is one of the most lucrative skills out there today, offering unlimited opportunities for creative ideas that can get you some extra cash. Consequently, you can become the boss of yourself if you put your mind to some of these ideas. Here are some money-making ideas you should consider as a programmer.
- Freelancing Online
Freelancing can be frustrating sometimes. But with the appropriate online freelancing platforms, the right mindset, and marketing skills, you can get consistent gigs that pay the bills.
While sourcing for gigs in your locality is also a great idea, virtual gigs online have many advantages as you can reach out to more clients. Additionally, most online gigs also run remotely without you needing to see the client physically. For freelancing online, here are some ideas you can try out below.
Use Dedicated Freelancing Platforms
Thankfully, there are now a couple of great freelancing platforms for specific jobs, including the ones where people hire programmers online.
Companies and individuals now resort to these platforms to get works done faster. Computer science students and researchers also target freelance programmers to solve coding problems. More importantly, they're willing to pay for the value you offer.
Get Gigs via Social Media Platforms
However, there are no rules that restrict you online. In addition to registering and building your profile on dedicated freelancing platforms, you can also connect with clients via social media platforms and get busy with your IDEs.
For example, LinkedIn is a social media platform where you can build an online resume, market your skills, and connect with potential and active clients. Many employers also source for remote programmers via the platform, and you can always apply to this pool of coding jobs and gigs.
In addition to LinkedIn, you can get gigs from other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, among others as well. However, what's most important is how you market yourself and connect with clients.
- Online Programming Tutorials
Many people want to learn to code and won't hesitate to pay a competent tutor. As a result, posting long and short tutorial videos online is another smart way to make money from coding.
Learning platforms like Udemy are places where tutors create free teaching accounts, organize courses, and sell them to their audience. New and even some senior programmers also resort to platforms like YouTube to solve coding problems.
Most of these teaching platforms also serve a large organic audience. If you put in great efforts and you're consistent, you'll get your audience and start getting paid.
While some online tutoring platforms require a good microphone that may cost a bit, it costs nothing to set up a YouTube channel and start posting videos. You also don't need a camera to start putting out your videos online. All you need for a start is an efficient screen recorder and perhaps a clean microphone for better voice quality. However, you can gather more sophisticated streaming tools as you proceed along the line.
In addition to making money, organizing online tutorials exposes you to new challenges and lets you learn more about what you teach. It also offers you the opportunity to put yourself out there and build a brand. Some of your audience can even contact you for a side gig along the way.
- Develop Valuable Enterprise Apps and APIs
Although building enterprise apps and APIs might seem like a long term goal, putting your time into making innovative ones is worth it. It's a promising way to make passive income.
However, to be successful and have more users consume them, APIs and enterprise apps must address a particular problem. Otherwise, it's not worth it. Although most APIs out there are open-source, some still require users to pay some amount of money for things like security tokens.
When you launch your tool, have it in mind that it's not yet popular. So, charging users for it straight away might discourage people from using it. However, you can let them start on a free trial, and if they find it valuable, some users won't mind paying for it.
Because you're the developer and you don't have to pay anyone for doing the job for you, the development phase of APIs and enterprise apps won't cost you a dime. However, you only need some seed money to push it up for deployment and advertisement. Besides, you're more convinced than not that you'll make passive income later, so it's worth the risk.
One way to push your enterprise app is to advertise for traffic on various platforms. To make money from it once people start using your tool, you should consider placing basic and premium values on it.
- Blog About Coding
If you love to communicate through writing, you can put that to use by writing blog posts on topics that discuss how to solve coding problems. It's another way to break away from routine as a programmer.
Although monetizing your blog can be a long-term thing, it's worth trying out, especially if you have a writing passion. Apart from generating direct income, writing about coding can also open opportunities for collaboration with other programmers online.
However, you don't have to own a blog to write coding articles online. Some existing publishers are willing to pay you for contributing to their blog. Once you brush up on your technical writing skill and your ability to simplify complex topics through writing, you can reach out to a couple of them online.
- Develop Open Source Coding Tools
Open-source software can be a tool that improves people's productivity. You can create data science and machine learning tools and modules with languages like Python and C++. Then you can put them up as open-source plugins for a particular software like Excel, Tableau, or Microsoft PowerBI.
You can even build language-specific free coding tools to make software development and deployment seamless for other programmers.
Indeed, open-source tools don't aim to make money for their creators. But if yours is unique and has the potentials to attract high demand, there are a couple of ideas you can try out to monetize it.
For example, you can place features like technical support and plugin support under a license purchase category. That doesn't stop users from using the tool freely if they want. Examples of such existing tools are Sublime Text and Software as a Service (SaaS) tools like WordPress.
However, another idea is to allow support funding for your open-source tool. Doing this can generate income from individuals who don't want you to discontinue your service. It lets you offer all features for free while making money at the same time.
- Go for Coding Challenges and Contests
Whether you're new to coding or not, it's a great idea to get into coding challenges online. In addition to making instant cash, competitions test your skills and expose you to more opportunities. - Sell Language-Specific Ebooks
If you're a pro in a particular programming language and you know how to put words together to make a teachable curriculum, then it's probably time you put an ebook up for sale.
Many newcomer programmers and even pros opt for such books as they find them helpful and more reachable when they need them. When you write such books, you should consider marketing them for sale to your target audience via social media.
You can then sell them through websites like Amazon, eBay, or Bookfinder. However, unlike their solid counterparts, ebooks have the potential to reach more people.
Take Advantage of Your Coding Skills
It's great to go for technical interviews and write coding exams to get a formal job in a company, but it doesn't work out for everyone. Even if you're a full-time employee already, it doesn't stop you from trying out some of these ideas to earn extra income from coding.
As we pointed out earlier, programming is a valuable skill. If you're determined, boundless opportunities are lurking around for you. So, nothing stops you from trying them out.