If you’re a coder and often search on Google or YouTube for things like,
- How programmers earn money?
- programming side hustle?
- How to make money online as a programmer?
- Side hustles for coders
Then this article is just for you!
If you’re a student, working professional, or just exploring new income sources, and you want to make money as a Programmer, try these methods
How programmers earn money

Here I list 7 best side hustles to make money from coding
1. Become a Freelancer

Yes, Freelancing – this is one of the most popular ways to earn money as a programmer (you might be a developer, Tester, Bug resolver)
The best thing about freelancing is that you can set your price and work from anywhere, at any time, and on your terms.
But here’s the catch – As a freelancer, finding clients for your service can be tough at first
Note: You want to be successful in freelancing, you need to be good at communication, Discipline, and consistency
Where to find clients for freelancing:- You may simply join these platforms and create your profile. That’s it. If anybody wants your service, they’ll contact you
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Freelance.com
- PeoplePerHour
- Your personal Brand (Like your own social media account, like Insta, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, personal blog)
Average Earnings:-
It depends on what services you offer. Normally, in India, a freelance programmer may earn up to 1 lakh – 4.80 lakhs
2. Online Mentoring

If you’re more confident in your programming skills and enjoy teaching, this is a perfect side hustle!
Where to apply:-
You just need to sign up for online mentorship programs like
- Codementor
- Superprof
- Flexiple
When you sign up for these websites, you usually list programming skills you could offer mentorship in, as well as an hourly charge, and every time a student books a session, you normally have to be on a call and solve the problem they are having
One of my friends has also been doing online mentorship for 4 years
Average Earnings:-
$16 – $100 for a 20-minute session (based on your skill level and session length)
3. Bug Bounty

This side hustle is suitable for tech detectives
A bug bounty is a program that developers sign up for and get paid when they identify and fix a bug within that company’s code base
These bugs may be critical bugs or just smaller bugs that impact their application
If you fix those bugs and report them back to that company, they will pay you back for your contribution
Websites:-
- Bugcrowd.com
- Hackerone.com
- Microsoft bug bounty
Average Earnings:-
If you fix a bug, companies pay anywhere from between 100$ – and even 10,000$
4. Remote Jobs

It is also a great Side hustle for programmers to generate money without leaving their homes.
And it is very easy to find remote jobs across the world. If you want to succeed in a remote job, you need great communication skills and the ability to manage your time effectively.
Where to find Remote Jobs:–
There are plenty of sites to apply to; here are a few main ones
- We work remotely
- Flexjobs
- Remoteok
- Remote HUB
- The WFH jobs
Average Earnings:-
The average salary of remote jobs in India varies from 2 LPA – 8 LPA
You may also read:
5. Building a Micro SAAS application

If you’re an idea person, then this side hustle fits you!
A micro SaaS application is a small software as a service product
To build an SaaS application, you normally need to identify the problem that a certain group of people is facing and then build a product for that problem and sell it to that group.

Check these sites:-(for better understanding)
- Product hunt
- Y combinator
- Beta list
- AWS startups
Average Earnings:-
completely depends on your SaaS application and how well you market it.
Note:- If you build a SaaS app, you get satisfaction for creating something from scratch, and problems are that you need to manage all this stuff like marketing, customer support, and so on
6. Blogging

Blogging is one of the most popular side hustles. If you have minimal programming skills, this side hustle fits you.
You need to be good at storytelling and content writing (one thing blogging is, a long-term career; you don’t expect money after you publish one article; it takes time).
You don’t need a website to write your articles, you can contact someone willing to publish your articles on their blog, and in return, they will pay you.
But I suggest you start your blog!
What you need:-
- Select you niche
- Blogging platforms like WordPress, Blogger (WordPress is highly recommended)
- Buy hosting – Hostinger
- Buy a domain – Hostinger (free if you buy hosting from Hostinger)
- Design you blog
- Write amazing content (tip:- Tell a story from the reader’s point of view)
Average Earnings:-
Depends on your traffic source – in India, per 1k visits on your article, you get 2$ to 3 $ whereas in USA you get 5$ to 20$ per 1k Visits
7. Participate in Hackathons & challenges

If you’re good at something and are also creative too then this fits you
You just need to participate in any hackathons and challenges. If your project or idea is top-notch, then you’ll get prize money
For this, you need to be creative and have better coding skills to stand out from the crowd
Platforms:- (You can sign up for these platforms and build a project)
- HackerRank
- Kaggle
- TopCoder
- CodeForces
Average Earnings:-
It could depend on your Hackathon prize money
Final thoughts on how programmers earn money
There you go!
I’ve listed 7 best side hustles on how programmers earn money, You can pick one of those according to your interest and start your second income source right today!
One thing I want to make clear to you all is that these side hustles require your time, passion, consistency, and dedication towards your skill.
I hope you love this article. If you have any queries, feel free to comment below and share this article with your coding friends
Happy coding🧑💻❤️

I’m a Full-Stack web developer (Freelancer). I’ve a great knowledge of anything related to HTML, CSS, JS, React, Node.js, MongoDB


