DEV Community

Cover image for How to Make Extra Money as a Programmer

How to Make Extra Money as a Programmer

Simon Holdorf on August 31, 2020

Being a programmer is a great thing. Not only is work fun most of the time, but there are plenty of job openings around and most of them pay very w...
Collapse
 
leob profile image
leob • Edited

In my opinion freelance projects are the most scaleable and viable of these strategies, because you build stuff which people - that is, not just other devs/programmers, but "normal" ;-) people - are willing to pay money for.

Regarding "rates are pretty low" - not necessarily, just don't jump on the first project you see on Upwork - have some patience, be picky, and articulate very clearly what your "added value" and your expertise are - and then you should be able to command a reasonable rate (well 'reasonable' is subjective).

The drawback of all the other strategies is that the only audience your "selling" to is other devs (other programmers) ... which to me seems limiting - like a baker making Youtube videos for other bakers about how to make bread, instead of just ... making bread :-)

Collapse
 
tnypxl profile image
tnypxl

I have to disagree on the selling to devs point. There is plenty of value in that. Why wouldn’t a baker not explore a differing approaches to making bread? The only issue I see is maybe slow audience growth.

Collapse
 
leob profile image
leob

I don't say that it's useless, but it's by definition a limited market ... and 4 out of the 5 topics were about selling to devs, only one about non-devs - then I wonder is that all we got to offer to the world ...

Thread Thread
 
tnypxl profile image
tnypxl

You can make an app for non-devs that serves some need and monetize with subscriptions. But that starts to fall outside the realm of side-hustle.

Collapse
 
simonholdorf profile image
Simon Holdorf

good points, thanks!

Collapse
 
leob profile image
leob • Edited

Well just my subjective opinion :-) and I know everybody's situation and views are different so YMMV

Collapse
 
robole profile image
Rob OLeary • Edited

Selling your own apps/software is a biggie you missed! You can make an app and sell it in an app store or through your own website. You can offer premium/pro versions of open-source software, Dracula Theme Pro is an interesting recent example of selling a more dev-oriented product.

Collapse
 
javinpaul profile image
javinpaul

I think the best option is to create a course, it scales really well and you also learn a lot in the journey. I also wrote about this earlier dev.to/javinpaul/why-sofware-devel...

Collapse
 
shiraazm profile image
Shiraaz Moollatjie

Another one is web monetization which is supported by dev.to. It takes a while to get things going, but it is a valid option

Collapse
 
nikhilroy2 profile image
Nikhil Chandra Roy

your final thoughts touch my heart. Consistency is a must.