This post was originally posted at: https://www.blog.duomly.com/13-easy-ideas-how-to-make-money-with-programming-without-big-effort/

Intro

Would you like to know how to make money with programming?

Programming is not for everybody but can be very profitable for those who decide to go into the coding world.
 
Most of us know programmers have a good salary because a lot of huge companies need our knowledge and skills.
 
Anyway, it's only one point in the ocean of methods how programmers can make money, very often much bigger money than just regular salary.

Read the article below, and you will know 13 very profitable methods of how to make money with coding without big effort.

If you prefer video here is the youtube version:

 

1. Is being freelancer a good way to make money

The first and rather profitable method is being a freelancer.

It's not the easiest way to start making high-level money from scratch. Still, after getting some positive reviews and contacts, you will be getting new jobs very quickly.

Building a beautiful portfolio will help you to start and get the first reviews.
 
Sometimes it is even good to do a few free/very low-paid jobs to build a portfolio and boost your career much, much faster.

As a hint I want to tell you, it's worth to create profiles on every freelance marketplace, it will give you a much bigger reach.
  

2. Full-time job

One of the most stable and the first days of your full-time job are paid (often very good).

To have a well-paid full-time job, you need to solve one main problem for most of the beginners… you need to get it.

That can be a bit difficult without the experience, or you will need to start from the trainee position (sometimes are free).

Of course, you can put as a cons the point, in most cases, you will need to work from x to x hour, in the x place.

A full-time job is an excellent way to earn money, sometimes it can be remote, and there is a quick path of upgrading your salary.

Sometimes you can upgrade from junior to very good paid senior role even in 2 years.
 

3. Create a WordPress plugin or theme

The third way that you can follow is a WordPress plugin or template that you can later sell.

It's a very lovely and 100% passive income.

That means, after you develop and start selling your product, you won't need to engage so much effort in it (in most cases).

There are many code marketplaces where you can sell your code and won't need to take care of the extra marketing so much.

With this one method, you need to remember about some of the marketplaces have very tight requirements.

For example, you will need to pass like a very advanced settings panel, very deep documentation, or provide some time of the support.

 

4. Create a youtube channel

Now youtube is kind of like television was a few years ago, but with one big difference.

Everybody can create his channel and start sharing valuable content to the people.

You don't need a large amount of money to start your channel. Sometimes it is enough to own just a smartphone.

What's better about this way of making money is the fact you can make money in a few ways.

It's not a very passive method (you need to make content consistently), but definitely can be worth it.

5. Create an app

This method is a bit similar to the WordPress plugin methods, but there are a few differences.

The first of them and the most important is you can make money in many ways, like subscriptions, ads, affiliates, or even dropshipping.

Sometimes you can make a huge, stable company, just by building the app that was an initial after-hours project.

With the app, you have unlimited opportunities because you can develop whatever you want. It can be a mobile app, web app, desktop app, or even a browser extension.
 
All of them can be very profitable, and this time sometimes you can build a multi-platform app with one language like javascript.

6. Create a programming course

If you have valuable knowledge of some topic that the rest of the people would like to learn as well, you can develop your course.

To make high-value content, you need to spend a lot of time and know the topic that you talk about on an excellent level, but it's worth it.

You can next sell your courses on ready-made platforms like education marketplaces, where they will care about your marketing and promotion.

These marketplaces take some percents of your income, but your edu-business will be almost effortless.

You will just be able to teach and earn without worrying so much about technical issues.

  

7. Create a blog

 
If you like writing and have some ideas, what would you like to share with the people, blogging can be an excellent way for you. 

Blogging as a method for earning money can require some effort to build the first audience. If you would like to make money only from ads, you will need a massive amount of visitors.

Of course, it depends on the topics, for example, in the entertainment industry rates are a bit lower than in the for example finance or IT.

This method of earning money can be very profitable if you have a lot of followers.

You can use a lot of methods of earning money like sponsored posts, affiliate, ads, or even use web monetization.

8. Write and sell an ebook

This method needs similar skills as the blogging one.

Ebook can be an excellent addition when you will make your blog a bit bigger, and earn some experience with writing. 

If your ebook goes popular, you can earn a lot of money, and every next sale will be almost effortless.

9. Develop a game

Are you a gamer with tech skills? This method can be for you!

Now we have some helpful frameworks like unity or cocos.
That gives you a lot of features like, for example, x behavior of psychics and make your game multi-platform.

This time you can even use ready-made graphical assets like landscapes or characters.

You can buy them in the asset shops or find them for free. 
Game development is a very profitable business, and we don't need a whole big company for that.

For example, we can create some mobile mini-game with micro-payments, that will go popular, and we will earn good money.

10. Be bounty hunter

Some people think being a bounty hunter is only for very advanced hackers.
Nothing more wrong!

You can start looking for bugs, even if you do not know how to code, and your security knowledge is minimal.

Of course, knowledge of the few programming languages and security skills can make you rich very quickly, but beginners can try as well.

For a start, you can learn about the OWASP top 10 or some web app popular issues, and started looking for them.

Some of the bounties are very, very well paid.

11. Coding challenges and hackathons

 
If you want to join coding challenges or hackathons, you need solid skills, proper motivation, and have a creative mind.
 
This method will make your IT-friends network much bigger, and you will meet a lot of cool people and recruiters.

One of the biggest benefits is you will be building your portfolio a lot, and you will look better in the companies eyes.
 
One more benefit is if you win some prizes, you can be an IT rockstar.

That will make you a heavy player in the salary negotiation position.

 

12. Programming coaching

Personal coaching works not only in the fitness, mind, personal dev, and business industries.
 
If you are an expert in your topic, you can find a lot of the people that would like to boost their career in the IT industry immediately.
 
You can offer mentorship with the IT skills, teach somebody how to be a programmer, and how to get the first job.
 
If you find a few students that you will mentor, it can be a profitable way of making money. 

It's not only profitable, but you can make new friends, have a lot of fun, and make somebody's life much better.

13. Create a podcast

It's a perfect method if you have a lot of knowledge or ideas to share, but don't want to show yourself on the camera, and you don't like writing blog posts.

What is sweeter, with that method, some people can record podcasts even when commuting to work, so they do not need to have a lot of extra time for that.
 
If you get some experience probably, you will not even spend so much time on post-production.
 
Most of the podcast cases are not the fastest method to make money from the first days.

Still, you can have a massive advantage because not that many people do podcasts like youtube or blogs. 

You can grow your channel faster because of less competition, and still a big demand for audio.

Conclusion

Congratulations! 

Now you know how you can make money with coding and make your skills more profitable.
 
Of course, you can try to combine some of them or maybe even all (if you have enough time)! 

Tell me in comments what are your favorite ones, and show your progress when you will decide to start one of them.
 

Thanks for reading,
Radek from Duomly