So you want to get paid to learn to code and find jobs that pay you to learn coding? Then, you’ve come to the right place!
Lots of people start learning to code in the hope of getting well-paid programming jobs further down the road. But what if you could actually learn how to make money coding while you’re still a beginner? Is it possible to get paid to learn to code?
How to Start Learning to Code
Before you can start making money coding, you need to begin learning to code! The first question you’re going to ask is, “Where do I start?” I asked myself the same question, but ultimately settled on using freeCodeCamp because it’s free and well-organized, and has a strong community.
freeCodeCamp is a website where you learn to code by completing challenges and projects to get certificates. They organize their curriculum in an easy-to-grasp manner and break everything up into challenges. It feels like a game and the structure provides a clear path to the end goal of a certificate
There are loads of sites and apps where you can learn skills online, one of the best being Udemy.
Udemy has a huge library of courses from beginner to advanced on many subjects including coding. Take a look at Udemy.
How to Make Money Programming.
Reach Out to Local/Family Businesses
As a beginner trying to make money coding for the first time, it’s nice to find low-pressure gigs that help your community. Ask your friends, family, or business owners in your local area if they need help building a website or revamping their current one. Or find businesses with terrible websites and offer to build them a website for cheap. For example, start by checking out your local coffee shop, hair salon, or mom-and-pop restaurant’s website to see if there are any opportunities there.
This can be a great way to gain experience, beef up your portfolio, make connections in your community, and get paid to learn to code!
Share Your Progress With Friends and on Social Media
Along with reaching out to local/family businesses directly, you can also share what you’re doing; it’ll benefit your job search and ability to find work. It shows your friends and family that you know how to code, and they’ll think of you when they need help or know someone who has an opportunity to earn money programming.
Join a Freelancing Site
Another way to find paid beginner programming jobs as you’re learning to code is by using freelancing sites that connect you to coding projects and clients, such as Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer.
Start with simpler coding jobs and keep your bids low in the beginning. On Upwork, you can filter by Experience Level to find entry-level/freelance coding jobs for beginners. As you learn, you’ll be able to make money coding with more complex, higher-paid coding projects.
In the beginning, taking on freelance jobs like building simple websites or working on existing sites or applications is best. Here’s more about how to land your first freelance client. A quick glance at entry-level web development gigs on Upwork shows that you’ll probably be able to earn $20-40 / hour with freelance programming jobs for beginners.
Join Local Slack Groups
Networking is key when it comes to earning money while learning to code. Another way to network yourself into a paid gig? One of the best places to find paid programming jobs is in your local Slack groups. If you do a Google search for tech organizations in your area, the chances are good that they have a Slack group where you can potentially find opportunities to code for money. There are lots of opportunities on Slack channels out there to code online and earn money! Do some research on the tech community where you want to find a job, join them, and get chatting.
Be Open to Coding Hybrid Roles to Make Money
When you’re looking to make money coding, be open to opportunities that aren’t only coding-related. You might find something you weren’t even looking for because of your new skills.
Consider taking on hybrid or “tech adjacent” roles that aren’t all about coding (but can help you learn to code faster in some cases) when you’re first learning to code and want to make money. Examples of this include:
- Technical writing: Write content like technical guides, which can help you understand the concepts better yourself. Avg. salary: $34.14/hour
- Tech support: Remote customer service positions are often available. Avg. salary: $17.47/hour
- Website theme building: Can be done on a CMS like WordPress, or even custom themes from scratch. $45-100+ per hour
- QA or software testing: Run tests to find flaws in developers’ coding. $27.87/hour
- Data entry: Move data from one format to another. Potential earnings: $16.02/hour
- Social media management: Manage social pages on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or a blog. You can earn an avg. of $18.37/hour
Having a foot in the door in the tech world can be powerful, even if coding isn’t your main duty in that first role!
Start a Blog
Establish your personal brand, build trust, and attract more clients by starting a blog. You can write about your coding journey, share industry news and write about other topics that interest you. Once you’ve built up your audience, a blog can also earn you money through monetization strategies like advertisements, sponsored ads, and affiliate marketing. You can also create a Services/Contact page to let clients know you’re open to paid coding gigs.
If you get around 1,000 page views per month, you could make around $10-$25 per month in ad revenue. That’s not a huge amount, but if you manage to build your audience and get more viewers, you could earn a whole lot more! Ryan Robinson, for instance, started a blog that earns over $327,000 annually.
Enter Coding Competitions
While you’ll have to have a bit more experience for this one, entering online coding competitions can actually win you cash prizes if you rank among the top participants. This is a fun, unique way to get paid to code!
CodeChef, for example, is a coding contest site that holds competitions called Cook-Off and LunchTime. If you score in the top 10 globally you could win $100. HackerEarth is another coding challenge site that offers a range of cash prizes for winning various coding challenges. Prizes are often in the thousands of dollars.
Entering these competitions is a great way to practice your skills, build up your portfolio, and potentially win cool cash prizes. You may not be able to earn a ton from this method, especially if you’re just starting out, but it can be a great way to motivate yourself to take on new challenges and earn a little extra cash along the way.
Create your own apps
Obviously you’ll need to be a bit further along than learning HTML/CSS to do this, but if you’re learning mobile app development, you could put together free apps with ads or paid ads.
With a bit of luck, you might be able to make money programming mobile apps. To make a decent amount, you’ll need to really dedicate time to marketing and treat it like a business. If you’re still learning coding skills, you could even use a no-code or low-code tool to build it. Or, instead of an app, code a plugin or WordPress theme or other online tool you could list on a marketplace to start earning money.
The apps that are in the top 200 apps on the app store earn around $82,500 every day. The top 800 apps earn around $3,500 daily. Of course, you’ll need to manage your expectations here, but there’s a lot of potential if you find the right niche and build a great app.
Conclusion
Don’t underestimate yourself; everyone starts somewhere and you don’t have to be a perfect programmer/web developer to make money coding!
