6 Side Hustles to Make Money as a Developer (2025)

[00:00] hey folks if you're a developer looking

[00:01] to monetize your coding skills and make

[00:03] some extra cash on the side without

[00:05] losing focus on your main job then

[00:07] you're in luck because in this video I'm

[00:09] going to be talking about six side

[00:10] hustles that you can get started with in

[00:12] 2024 that will help you level up your

[00:14] coding skills and earn some extra cash

[00:16] on the side as well so let's not waste

[00:18] any more time and jump right into it so

[00:21] the first side hustle I want to talk

[00:22] about is the bug Bounty a bug Bounty is

[00:25] a program that developers sign up for

[00:27] and get paid when they identify and fix

[00:29] a bug within that company's code base so

[00:32] these bugs could be critical bugs that

[00:33] pose a security threat or just smaller

[00:35] bugs that impact their application in a

[00:37] certain we but basically once you find

[00:39] these bugs and report it back to the

[00:41] company they pay you a certain amount

[00:43] for your contribution and from what I've

[00:45] seen companies pay anywhere from between

[00:47] $100 to even over $10,000 for a single

[00:51] bug Bounty so if you're interested in

[00:53] signing up for a bug Bounty program then

[00:55] consider checking out websites like

[00:56] hacker 1 bug crowd or even Microsoft's

[00:59] bug Bounty program progr the second side

[01:01] hustle that I want to talk about is

[01:02] online mentoring now if you're someone

[01:04] who's reasonably confident with your

[01:06] programming skills and also like

[01:07] teaching and helping people as well then

[01:09] you might want to consider signing up

[01:11] for an online mentorship program

[01:13] websites like code mentor and super Prof

[01:15] offer a platform for connecting mentors

[01:17] with students who are in need of your

[01:19] programming skills so when you sign up

[01:21] for these websites you'll usually have

[01:22] to list all the skills that you can

[01:24] offer mentorship in and select an hourly

[01:26] rate as well and every time a student

[01:28] books a session with you you'll normally

[01:30] have to hop on a call and help them with

[01:32] whatever problem they're having but if

[01:34] you don't actually want to have any

[01:35] face-to-face interaction with students

[01:37] you could get a bit more creative and

[01:38] use websites like Fiverr or upwork to

[01:41] basically help students out with their

[01:42] assignments all they send you is their

[01:44] assignment and all you send back is a

[01:46] solution to the problem they're facing

[01:48] within that assignment how much can you

[01:50] actually earn from online mentoring now

[01:52] again the rate really depends on what

[01:53] you choose but but from what I've seen

[01:55] online mentors typically charge between

[01:57] $15 to $30 for a 15 minute session the

[02:01] third side hustle that I'd like to talk

[02:03] about is freelancing freelancing is a

[02:05] side hustle that allows you to charge

[02:06] people money for a specific task so if

[02:08] you're a game developer you charge

[02:10] people money for converting their ideas

[02:12] into an actual working game or if you're

[02:14] a web developer you charge people money

[02:16] for building websites the great thing

[02:18] about freelancing is that it's extremely

[02:20] versatile and your earning potential is

[02:22] basically unlimited because you charge

[02:24] people for the complexity of the project

[02:26] that you actually take on it's not

[02:27] uncommon to see Freelancers charge

[02:29] anywhere between $50 to even over

[02:32] $10,000 for a single project if you're

[02:34] interested in becoming a freelancer then

[02:36] you should check out websites like

[02:37] Fiverr or upwork because they basically

[02:40] provide a Marketplace to connect

[02:41] Freelancers with paying customers the

[02:43] fourth side hustle that I want to talk

[02:45] about is selling code on specific

[02:47] marketplaces so this side hustle

[02:49] involves building and selling code on

[02:51] marketplaces that are hosted by websites

[02:53] like Shopify or a Trello to give you a

[02:55] more concrete example of how this works

[02:57] Shopify is a platform that allows anyone

[02:59] to set up an an online business in

[03:00] minutes and through this online store

[03:03] business owners can sell products to

[03:04] people all across the globe you as a

[03:06] developer can then build themes or

[03:08] add-ons or apps for these online stores

[03:11] and list them on the Shopify Marketplace

[03:13] and every time any of these businesses

[03:15] decide to purchase your application or

[03:17] integrate it into their store Shopify

[03:19] pays you a certain cut the benefit of

[03:21] selling code on a Marketplace is that

[03:23] your income is basically infinite as

[03:25] well and it's recurring and it's not

[03:27] uncommon to see people earn anywhere

[03:28] between 1,000 to over $10,000 a month

[03:31] doing this the fifth side hustle that I

[03:33] like to talk about is building and

[03:35] setting up a micro SAS application a

[03:38] micros siiz application is a tiny

[03:40] subscription based application that's

[03:42] usually built and maintained by either a

[03:44] solo developer or a very small team of

[03:47] developers and this side hustle is the

[03:49] closest thing to passive income for

[03:51] software Engineers to build a Microsoft

[03:53] application you normally need to

[03:55] identify a problem that a certain group

[03:57] of people are facing and then build a

[03:59] product for that group and sell it to

[04:01] them to give you a more concrete example

[04:03] hype Fury is a micras application that

[04:06] allows people to create and scheduled

[04:08] Twitter posts and around 3 years ago the

[04:10] founder posted on Reddit that they were

[04:12] able to scale their business to earn

[04:14] about $20,000 in Revenue every single

[04:16] month if you're someone who's been able

[04:18] to identify a problem within a certain

[04:20] Niche then maybe you should consider

[04:23] building a micras application the next

[04:25] side house I want to talk about is

[04:27] building an online presence of some sort

[04:29] in 2024 having an online presence is

[04:32] easier than ever with platforms like

[04:33] Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Tik

[04:36] Tok or even blogging websites like

[04:38] medium you can basically create content

[04:40] in any shape or form that you desire and

[04:42] generally when you consistently upload

[04:44] good quality content for a long enough

[04:46] period of time to start to build a

[04:48] following of some sort and that's when

[04:50] you can start using your following to

[04:52] earn some extra money on the side

[04:53] through basically an infinite number of

[04:55] income earning opportunities to give you

[04:57] a more concrete example an affiliate

[04:59] link is a link to a product that you as

[05:01] a Creator endorse you typically show

[05:04] this link to your audience and anytime

[05:06] they purchase this product through your

[05:08] affiliate link you'd earn a small cut of

[05:10] the profits of the product and there are

[05:12] creators out there earning millions of

[05:13] dollars every single year just through

[05:15] having affiliate links on their posts if

[05:18] you have something to share with the

[05:19] world then you should really consider

[05:20] setting up an online presence and

[05:22] growing it over time now if you're

[05:23] someone who's planning on starting a

[05:25] side hustle anytime soon then you

[05:27] probably need to keep honing your

[05:28] software development skills every single

[05:30] day and what better way to do that than

[05:32] to use these six websites that were

[05:34] absolute game changers for my coding

[05:36] Journey