In today’s online landscape, it’s incredibly easy to turn your hobbies and interest into a side hustle (it’s also incredibly easy to turn it into a full-time career if you haven’t yet.) Taking advantage of the skills you have by turning them into paychecks from the internet has become common practice. Especially in the last decade with the popularity of online gig marketplaces popping up to allow an easy-to-use way to find specific services.
Since the skills that developers have are so closely aligned with the internet and technology as a whole, finding additional sources of income is no hard task. In this blog post, we wanted to go over five ways developers can make money online through a list of specific side hustles that will allow them to shine in with their coding abilities.
5 Ways Developers Can Have a Side Hustle on the Internet
1. Freelance Your Work
One of the largest, and easiest, ways to make extra money online as a developer is becoming a freelancer. There’s plenty of people who have ambitious end goals, but are missing some key points in the process. Stepping in to do freelance work is a way to directly help individuals and businesses while using your skills to turn that opportunity into money. It’s a win-win.
If it’s as simple as a business that needs an online presence or a large-scale company needing extra assistance on meeting product deadlines, there’s always plenty of options to pick from if you have the coding ability to get the job done.
Online marketplaces designed for freelance gig work is the best way to get started. Some of the leading ones with a developer presence are:
2. Offer Website Building Services
Similar to freelance work on a gig marketplace, offering your skills to build websites is usually a lucrative side hustle that is in constant demand. Companies or individuals may find themselves searching for the service on one of the above listed sites. But creating your own online presence could attract larger customers and allow a more relaxed process (such as no 3rd party listing fees, custom deadlines, etc.) that more closely follows your work ethic or desires.
Of course, creating anything from scratch may take more time and money in the starting days in order to grow out your presence and reputation. But once you reach a point in having a nice sized customer list and portfolio, things should begin picking up and the side hustle may become a more serious conversation when comparing it with your full-time work.
3. Become an Online Influencer
Becoming a successful influencer and content creator in any field takes time and effort. But much like anything…if you put in the work, you will likely see the results.
Developers can make perfect influencers that people would want to follow. Sharing tricks of the trade, providing lessons, sharing stories and insights, or simply talking about tech and coding in general will have others with similar interest or skills patiently waiting for your newest piece of content to drop.
The best ways a developer can become an online influencer are:
- Create a social media presence
- Start a blog
- Create YouTube and/or TikTok videos
- Host a coding podcast
4. Build an App
There are two ways to go about doing this that have the ability to give you extra money:
- Freelance your work and build an app
- Build an app and list it on an app store
Freelance work has been brought up multiple times in this blog post because it’s hard to stray away from when searching for gig work and side money. It’s a great way overall to have a sustainable side hustle. Building an app for a client in need is a way to lean into your skills and usually obtain a nice return in pay based on workload.
Another way to make additional money using a similar method, is building an app and listing it on an app store. You have the ability to put a price on the download and even allow in-app ads that will payout per view. If it’s a gaming app, offering in-app micro transactions for customization, in-game perks, or ad free plans is another way to double up on your creation.
You should take a look at some apps on your phone right now for inspiration. Who knows…you may accidentally create the next Facebook sized phenomenon.
5. Sell Your Templates
We’ve spoken on freelance marketplaces. Now let’s discuss template marketplaces.
Not everyone needs to hire a developer to create an entire website for them. Some may just need a starting point. Templates are a go-to way for rookie website builders to get started on their sites. Creating a downloadable template and listing it online is a way to work once and get paid often. Once the template is created and listed, you can officially file it under the “passive income” part of your day. But as any developer knows, the unexpected can happen. Especially with more people using the template and finding ways to break the code. So, it’s safe to prepare for the unexpected work every once in a while. But what else is for sure, is that people are always needing templates to help take their site to their next level in appearance and usability. If you are able to create that for them through template options, then expect to see the momentary perks come with along with it.
Websites you can sell your templates at:
Now of course this may go without saying, but in order to make coding your side hustle online – you need to know how to code. Even if you already have the knowledge behind coding, sharpening your skills in order to create things on an expert level that is worth buying is a completely different level. Also, the step above that in becoming a full-time developer requires a large jump in skill, as well.
If you are wanting to learn how to code for a side hustle or a full-time job, devCodeCamp is able to give you the hirable (and in this case – sellable) skillsets you need in as short as 12-weeks through our online coding bootcamp. Reach out now to start that journey towards success in code!