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6 Different Ways I Make Money as a Software Developer  -  You Can Too

Sunil Kumar on April 17, 2021

I wanted to make money on the internet for years, but I didn't know how to get started. Being a Software Developer is like a super power. The skil...
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leob • Edited

Apart from option 1 (working for a boss), I think that option number 2 (freelancing) is still the most reliable and "scalable" way to generate a steady revenue stream. All of the other options are nice but seem very marginal for any but a very small group of people who "made it" - who've managed to hit the jackpot with their blog or "digital product" - I think there can only be a small number of "winners" in those areas.

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Bhupesh Varshney 👾

+1
All other options indirectly requires you to "grow" or "build" your audience which is what an average twitter user does all the time

Although I do like to build a SaaS one day, just for the sake of it 👀

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leob

Apart from freelancing, building a SaaS is the option that would appeal most to me ... as you said, the other options are more about social networking and getting followers than about building products ...

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Sunil Kumar • Edited

Agreed. Although making money through info products is easy well. But one needs to build a social presence for months/years before selling info products.

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leob

Right, so to be successful with info products you need a lot of patience and willingness to invest in building your "presence" - if you're not prepared or willing to go through that, then it's not going to be "easy" to earn money this way ... that's what I mean when I say that freelancing is the most obvious and straightforward way to make money as a dev, because it means doing what you like and what you're naturally good at. All of the other options are much more of a long shot and don't come naturally to most people.

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Bhupesh Varshney 👾 • Edited

For people who may want to add adverts to their blog but want something less annoying then Google ads, checkout carbon ads or ethical ads. The money might be less but user experience is much better then google ads

Note: Both are these services are not for everyone especially if you have just started writing, they require at least 10k average monthly visits

So practically there is no way other than google ads
But

  • You can sign up as a Brave Creator
  • Add web-monetization to your blog
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Atibhi Agrawal

Thanks for the lovely article ! May I know how you joined the medium partner program while being in India. I want to join too

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Sunil Kumar

So many people have asked me this question on Twitter :)

I basically have a company setup in US through Stripe Atlas. I was able to subscribe to Medium Partner Program through that Stripe account.

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Atibhi Agrawal

Thank you 💕

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daviesjoan54

Yeah, I think freelancing is not exactly a profession that will bring you good money. Only if you are not a proven freelancer. For example, I was freelancing a couple of years ago and I didn't make a lot of money. Then I saved up for a business and read some business ideas on afreeadvice.com/best-business-idea... after that, he opened a T-shirt manufacturing shop. Now it brings me good money, which allows me to provide for my family and buy a car without leasing, lol
But if you do not count freelancing, then in general, here are really good tips for making money. I hope all of you here will be able to do what you want and earn a lot of money on it!

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Daniel Diaz

Interesting article! thanks for sharing it.

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Sunil Kumar

You're welcome Daniel.

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Emmanuel

Thanks for the advises. I need this as I hope to scale earning more contracts remotely

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Sunil Kumar

You're welcome and all the very best 🙂

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COBaker

I think working as a freelancer is absolutely unnecessary here. There is a job that will be much better than a freelancer, it has a lot of disadvantages!