How to Make Money as a Programmer: Ways to Make Money Writing Code

In addition to the usual work for hire, there are at least six ways a programmer can make money. Below we talk in detail about each approach, analyze their pros and cons.

Work in the most

First of all, the base. This is one of the most stable and common ways to earn money for IT professionals. You can become a developer in an agency or large companies, from banks to telecom. As a rule, the difference in salary and social package is small. However, the approach to work is significantly different. So, the main principle of the agency's work is a frequent change of clients and projects: every few months, a customer will appear with a new request.

In large companies, you usually always work on one project. However, you can move from team to team and change direction if you feel that you are ready to grow further, or have been retrained and want to try something new.

Benefits of hiring:

• Stable salary, bonuses, annual indexation and social package.
• Networking and teamwork. Building relationships with colleagues is very important, it helps not only to maintain a stable emotional state, but also to develop soft skills, make useful acquaintances that will help in employment in the future.
• In the future, both horizontal and vertical growth is possible, depending on your career goals.

Disadvantages of hiring:

• There is no freedom in the choice of tasks.
• A work schedule that will need to be followed.
• It is not always possible to work remotely from another country.

Freelance

This way of making money is universal and will help you be as mobile as possible. It is suitable for both novice programmers and more experienced ones. You can use the services of various exchanges where customers place tasks. However, you need to understand that it is quite difficult to start making big money here. As a rule, there is quite a lot of competition on exchanges, so it is important to develop a personal brand and improve your skills.

In the beginning, you can complete several orders for a small fee, thereby increasing your rating on the exchange and getting the first reviews. Having established yourself as a responsible and knowledgeable specialist, you can increase the check for services and take more complex orders. Tasks can be very different: to test the site, find bugs and eliminate them, to maintain the site.

Therefore, even if you are full-time, consider the exchange as an additional source of finding customers. For example, one of the most well-known exchanges is UpWork.

Advantages of freelancing:

• Fully remote work.
• You can create a schedule yourself.
• Ability to choose customers and projects.
• Low entry threshold.

Disadvantages of freelancing:

• Most of the orders are quite small, so in order to get good money, you will have to take on a lot of tasks. Especially at the beginning of the journey.
• Work without teamwork and communication. You need to understand that there will be no more experienced programmers nearby who could suggest a solution or guide you.
• You need to be a fairly disciplined person and be able to plan your time.

Growing Your Blog

In the field of programming, there will always be topics that haven't been covered yet. You can do it. The best option is if you have unique and interesting cases that can engage the audience in your content.

Creating your blog is a great option for developing a strong personal brand and networking. At the beginning of the journey, you can hardly talk about monetization, but when the blog grows, you can sell your services in it: personal consultations, your own developments and plugins, training courses, and so on.

To run an IT blog, you don't have to shoot reels and make content for stories every day. You can consider the sites that are popular among developers:

1. Medium

Users of this site pay for a subscription, so you will receive a percentage for the number and quality of readings of your materials.

2. There will be

One of the most common platforms among programmers. The target audience is people interested in IT, technology, and science. By creating a blog on this platform, you will not only be able to share your knowledge, but also get into a large professional community.

3. Own website

Perhaps this is one of the most difficult ways, because in addition to developing the platform, you need to promote it. However, you will have full control over both the content and the ads.

In addition to text blogs, you can make a podcast or YouTube channel. For example, in the video format, there is a great opportunity to broadcast the writing of code and share life hacks.

Benefits of blogging:

• An opportunity to make a name for yourself as a professional. In the long run, this can help you find new clients, interesting projects, and jobs. Many recruiters monitor social media and study the candidate's profile.
• Community. You will communicate with people who are passionate about what they do, you will always be on the agenda and will not miss trends in programming.
• An additional source of income.

Disadvantages of blogging:

• It requires a lot of time and high involvement in the process. You need to decide on the topic, think over the content plan, create content, and communicate with subscribers.
• At the start, it will be difficult to monetize the blog, so you should consider it only as an additional employment.

Teaching

If you have a solid theoretical and practical background, you can consider a career as a mentor or tutor. Even juniors will be in demand in the teaching market: schoolchildren or students will willingly go to a young specialist for knowledge and advice on writing code. However, if you want to teach an educational course, you must have strong cases in your portfolio.

There are several possible ways to interact with students:

1. One-to-one lessons

Even if you think you don't have very strong programming skills, you can teach beginners or people without a technical background. This way you will get the first positive feedback and will be able to develop your personal brand.

2. Consultation

For example, you can prepare programmers for a technical interview or help solve a specific case. Consultations can be held via Zoom or Skype without being tied to a specific city or country.

3. In-house course

If you feel that you have accumulated enough knowledge, both practical and theoretical, then creating your educational program is a great option. The main thing is to systematize and competently package all your experience and knowledge. Here you may need the help of a methodologist, but you can also cope on your own. There are various platforms and sites where you can sell your courses, such as Stepik. However, if you're blogging on social media and have a strong personal brand, there's no need to resort to third-party resources.

Benefits of mentoring:

• Developing a personal brand and increasing awareness.
• Networking and new professional acquaintances.
• An additional source of income.

Disadvantages of mentoring:

• Now you will be responsible not only for the code you write, but also for the results and knowledge of your students.
• The entry threshold is quite high because many prefer to contact professional programmers and go to well-known online schools.

Creating a startup or developing a game

It is quite a difficult and long, but promising path. If you have ideas on how to simplify people's lives and what kind of service they need, you can try to bring the idea to life. You'll need a team and start-up capital. To receive funding, you can apply for various grants, participate in hackathons, or contact investors directly.

It's a similar path you have to go through to create your own game. Today, one of the most popular areas is mobile games. Despite the fact that most of them are free, inside the game you can provide various scenarios with the purchase of items, hints, characters, depending on the genre and plot.

Advantages of creating a startup or a game:

• An opportunity to make a lot of money and earn passive income.
• A strong community and new acquaintances.

Disadvantages of starting a startup or playing a game:

• It will take a lot of time and money at the start.
• You need strong hard skills: both in IT and in business.
• There may be difficulties with monetization.

Participation in hackathons and competitions

Participation in hackathons cannot be called a permanent source of income. This option is more suitable for those who want to try their hand at solving complex problems and improve their skills.

Such events, as a rule, are organized by large companies or universities, so the winners and runners-up receive valuable prizes and one-time payments, for example, for the development of their project. Sometimes it happens that the most distinguished participants are offered an internship or even a job. And, of course, hackathons and other programming competitions are a chance to meet colleagues and make new professional acquaintances.

Benefits of hackathons:

• Networking and community of programmers and developers.
• An opportunity to get a job or internship in a large company.
• Ability to work in a team and complete complex tasks in a short time.
• A chance to win a cash prize or project funding.

Disadvantages of hackathons:

• Most of the competitions are aimed at students and novice programmers.
• There are no guarantees of success.
• It is important not only to offer a solution to the case, but also to present it in a cool way, so it is important to develop public speaking skills.

We have analyzed the main and popular ways to make money for programmers. You can choose one or combine several at once. The main thing to remember is that there should be a balance in everything, and quantity does not equal quality.