In the internet era, you won’t find people who aren’t looking for side hustles to make more money, and who knows the internet better than software developers?
In this article, I want to list 6 of the top ways software developers can make money by spending less energy than others. Most developers spend a lot of time learning and creating software and not willing to do something out of their specialty to make extra money. I prefer to use my existing knowledge to provide value to my audience and create a side hustle, and I considered that when I was creating the list.
No, you can’t make money overnight, and every single one of the mentioned ways needs months or even years of hard work to become really profitable. As we know, nothing good comes easy, and I really believe in that.
Blogging
Since software developers read many technical articles, blogging seems the very natural and first option for a side hustle. You might ask if blogging is still a thing? It’s not dead? Well, I think it’s not dead, especially for technical content. It’s much easier to read and track an article than other media types when it comes to technical content, at least for a big group of people.
Writing technical articles is very valuable because you need to have the knowledge and experience about the topic, and you can’t just paraphrase existing articles. The competition is much less than other contents, plus you are really helping someone else who needs your knowledge.
I think writing articles is the stepping stone for most of the other side hustles. If you become a good blogger, you can use the same skill to write an e-book or scripts for your Youtube video or course. Even you can get paid to write technical articles for other blogs, which is very rewarding.
E-book
Some people write e-books and selling them very well and making good profits, but some do that and make a small profit. When it comes to a product that you ask people to pay for, you should already have your audience and credibility built up; Otherwise, it is a waste of time and energy.
I suggest to start with blogging or creating Youtube videos because it’s easier to sell free content, which will help you build your email list and audience.
Youtube
Creating Youtube content is very interesting and can also be done in parallel with your blogging, most of the time. You can create a video for your blog posts and linked them back to each other.
You can create a free course on Youtube and collect your followers, so then you can up-sale more advanced course or e-book to the same audience.
Youtube can open many doors for making money, so if you can create video content, consider doing it for sure.
Course
Creating a course requires you have your audience already, like an e-book; otherwise, you will need a lot of marketing to convince people to trust you. Yes, it might be a $10 course that you sell, but don’t forget there are tens if not hundreds of other courses out there competing with yours, so think about the audience before creating a paid course.
On the other hand, if you can create a well-organized and informative course about the topic you are an expert in, I can assure you that result will be worth the effort.
Freelancing
Freelancing is not my favorite way of making money because it’s more active than your day job. You are taking on many responsibilities, and sometimes you have to work with people who don’t know what they want.
On the other hand, you can make good money if you get known by companies. You just need a few good customers to make better money than your day job, but as I said, you have to actively take care of your customers and make sure you are providing high-quality work.
Software Startup
You can create your own software and make money with it. But, I warn you, starting a startup needs a lot of work. If you want to go this path, I suggest you dedicate all your energy to the company. I would also suggest keeping your day job till you can replace the money you are making in your day job.
This path is not easy, but I have seen many small apps making a good amount of money, but most are not the founders’ first try. So, if you choose this path, be prepared to work very hard. But, if you can make your startup work, this will be the best of all and the most rewarding.
Conclusion
You should choose one side hustle and stick to it until you can make enough money to make up your main income. That might take a lot of time or never happen, but any extra money you can make doing what you like is great and will satisfy you, so enjoy the journey.
This is the list I created for myself and might add or remove from it in the future. I would suggest you create your own list because there are many other streams you can use to make money. I will be happy if you can share your findings with me.
