Stacy Kutyepov @codemyjouney

5 WAYS TO
MAKE MONEY
FOR
PROGRAMMERS
Stacy Kutyepov

5 WAYS TO MAKE
MONEY FOR
PROGRAMMERS
© Stanislawa(Stacy) Kutyepov
Email at: codemyjourney@gmail.com

Social Media
IG: @codemyjourney

Twitter: @codemyjourney

LinkedIn: @stacykutyepov
 PROLOGUE
In the digital era, making money has never been easier and,
at the same time, more challenging because of
competition. As a developer, you have tons of options for
side income. We're not going to consider the full-time job as
an income, as it might be as evident as it is, but make sure
you're getting paid a competitive salary in your full-time
role. Other than that, I'm happy to share with you some
di erent ways to help you advance your career and increase
your income!
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CHAPTER 1

1. FREELANCE

Freelance comes to mind when you think about making irst

money as a developer! Even if you have a full-time job, it is
worth trying. To do so, you need to have a portfolio and take
on your irst projects without high expectations about your
income.

You'll be working, in the beginning, to gain your reputation

and only after a few months can you get a steady income.
During the process, you might take several jobs for a small
amount to get a rating and accelerate career growth. It's
still worth a try as it gives you many possibilities in the long
run, as you can decide what projects to take on and what
working hours are good for you. As a freelancer, you have to
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be able to run your own business, and self-discipline
requires hard work. You have to be strict with yourself.

Here are some signi icant online marketplaces for newbies

in the ield to start taking on jobs and gaining experience.

https://www.upwork.com/

https://www.glassdoor.com/

http://Freelancer.com

Steps you can take to increase your chances in the

freelance market:

- Create a pro ile on freelance websites, such as http://

Freelancer.com and http://Upwork.com

- Search job boards (like http://www.linkedin.com and

http://www.indeed.com ) for "freelance Web Developer."
Or the job title you're looking for.

- Join professional networking groups for freelance Web

Developers.
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- Be active on Linkedin, where you'll get to know other
freelance Web Developers who might have over low work
or referrals for you.

- Search for remote jobs or contractor roles where you

work as part of a larger team.

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CHAPTER 2

2. SELL PLUGINS
for WordPress and other engines

As you already know, WordPress is an open-source CMS

where people can build their websites for free. All the
plugins and themes we see on the WordPress repository are
free! However, you can also sell a plugin exclusively as a
premium plugin, not uploading it on the WordPress
repository.

The Premium model is one of the most popular ways of

selling WordPress plugins, as it gives you more chances to
be seen by people and earn money.

There are two primary ways of selling. You can sell the
plugins on your website, or you can sell the plugins on a
 third-party marketplace. Marketplaces have hundreds of
thousands of buyers who are looking for plugins. That
means you get great exposure meaning you get many
customers!

For example, CodeCanyon is the largest and most popular

marketplace to sell your plugin.

To sell on a marketplace, you must create an account and

upload your plugin to their website. The marketplace quality
assurance team will review and publish your plugin on the
website.

While uploading a plugin on a marketplace, ensure you’re

following this advice to increase sales.

1. Attractive Product Description is required to submit a

plugin on a marketplace. A relevant, catchy product
description increases the chance of sales.

2. Product Image: Having an attractive design makes a

signi icant impact on plugin sales. Highlight essential parts
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with modern design to stand out. You can use Canva to
help you with designing.

3. Demo Site: A demo site where users can see your plugin
in action will help you to increase sales. Users like to know
how your plugin can perform, and a demo site gives you the
chance to show them.

You can list your plugin code for sale in many marketplaces
without worrying about marketing the plugin. For example,
in the international market, the most famous sites of the
Australian platform https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envato :

- https://themeforest.net/ — stock of themes and templates

for WordPress and other engines.

- https://codecanyon.net / — a sink of the program code of

scripts for sites.
 CHAPTER 3

3. CREATE AN
APPLICATION
OR A GAME

You can make money in several ways by creating an

application or a game. In this particular Guide we're not
going to look at how to create it, as It'd be an entirely
di erent topic. However, I assume you should already be
familiar with app development to consider this option. We’ll
consider some ways to help you better understand this
business.

The easiest way is to place in-app advertising. Once you

know how to create an and you are ready to publish the
app, you can then decide whether you want to let
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advertisements show on your app. As the app owner, you
get paid according to the number of impressions their ads
make, the clicks they get, and the type of ads you o er.

In addition, you can earn money from your users by o ering

them an ad-free version of the app by buying an upgrade.

You can sell it for a ixed price like 7,99/9,99, /12,99,

whatever you want.

So basically, if someone buys your game without ads, they

pay that ixed price and have access to that game for the
rest of the time. And when you sell your game for a ixed
price, you have some lexibility, so you can maybe put your
game on sale, sell it for half price and maybe make some
more sales that way.

Another great way to make money through your apps is to

sell merchandise. It is a particularly great solution if you are
building an e-commerce website where you sell your
products and services. In this model, the apps are generally
free to download from the app stores. Then, you can
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combine it with email marketing to get the products in front
of the right audience.
CHAPTER 4

4. LOOK FOR BUGS

OR GET A BUG
BOUNTY.

Bug bounty hunting involves getting paid to ind software,

websites, or web application vulnerabilities.

Once you master coding, you can start looking into how the
software works. As a bug hunter, you need to think like a
software engineer to ind security vulnerabilities. To
become amazing at inding bugs, you have four major tasks:
eat, code, hack, repeat (and then perhaps get some sleep in
the middle).
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 First, code to learn how software engineers build and hack
to learn how to break it. Then, repeat it because the
software world is constantly evolving, and new techniques
are being published all the time. This will not only make you
a good hacker, but it will also make you a fantastic software
engineer. Some resources can help you along the way in
bug hunting.

You can check out the OWASP WebGoat https://owasp.org/

www-project-webgoat/, a place where you can practice
inding bugs and vulnerabilities in web applications.

Also, take a look at Google Bug hunter university https://

bughunters.google.com/ as well. They have great
information about bug hunting and how to write solid
vulnerability reports that will get you paid.

Sites like Hackerone https://www.hackerone.com/blog can

help as well!

Being a good bug hunter will pay you well, as this is a skill
that not all software engineers have!
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CHAPTER 5

5. PARTICIPATE IN
COMPETITIONS
AND
HACKATHONS

You can combine learning and making money if you're

interested in competitive programming(CP) or learning
algorithms. One of the signi icant bene its is the ability to
build a robust portfolio and look your best in the eyes of
companies. In addition, if you take the place of honor, you
will earn money and become a "rock star" — it will be easier
to negotiate salaries during interviews.
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 For beginners, I'd suggest irst getting on http://
www.hackerrank.com/. It's a great platform for practicing
coding skills and preparing for coding interviews. In
addition, it has an excellent User Interface, and it's relatively
easy for beginners to start. Anyone with zero experience in
CP or algorithms will be able to solve the beginner
Questions.

You might get stuck after the irst 4-5 questions, and that's
normal. In that case, feel free to see the explanation on
Google or YouTube.

Top-tier companies still recruit people who have excellent

skills in competitive programming and solving algorithms.
So start tracking these coding challenges for money or jobs
today, and you could be on your way to a new career. In
addition, these di iculties provide you with an additional
opportunity to improve your coding skills. You may win a
inancial reward, a job, or extra brain cells if you remain the
last coder.
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List of Sites for practicing:

- HackerRank
- TopCoder
- HackerEarth
- Skillenza
- GeeksforGeeks
- Codewars
- Coderbyte
- CodeChef
- CodinGame
For info on more coding competitions, please check this
out- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Competitive_programming .

Here is the list of more professional CODING

COMPETITIONS to consider:

Google Code Jam - https://

codingcompetitions.withgoogle.com/codejam

Facebook Hacker Cup - https://www.facebook.com/

hackercup/
Thank you for taking your time to explore new ways of
making money! I wish you good luck on advancing your
career! For more, please follow my Instagram page where I
share daily tips on coding and motivation!
 ABOUT
THE
AUTHOR
Stacy Kutyepov works as
Software Engineer at a Big Tech
company in New York. She is a
career switcher, and she knows
how hard it is to achieve things.

Stacy has lived in 5 di erent countries and she knows how

to cook Italian pasta and speak a little bit of Swedish! She
loves spending on experiences, not things!

She is an active member of the WomenTech Network

community: working on diversity initiatives and engaging
the public through a blog and social media. Ready to take
initiative in di icult situations and always strive to improve
the product and bring new ideas.
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