

Ask HN: What income sources can a developer create outside of work/freelancing? - roneesh

I know that as a developer I can work for a company (which I am) and freelance (which I&#x27;m hesitant to take on), but what non-traditional sources of income could I create? I know teaching is one and making an app is another, but are there other more obscure ones most developers don&#x27;t consider? Could you share examples you as a developer have done?
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vijayr
1\. Make Udemy courses (and sell elsewhere also). There are lots of topics
which still don't have good courses on Udemy, even though they claim to have
tens of thousands of courses. Example: [http://www.businessinsider.com/rob-
percival-online-coding-co...](http://www.businessinsider.com/rob-percival-
online-coding-courses-2015-2)

2\. Other forms of content - like eBooks. If you can write about a technical
topic or a business topic, there is money in it. example:
[http://nathanbarry.com/samuel-hulick-37000-self-published-
bo...](http://nathanbarry.com/samuel-hulick-37000-self-published-book/)

3\. Mobile apps - don't know much about it. This seems to be a hit or miss
thing

4\. Affiliate sites using various affiliate programs like Amazon, eBay etc.

5\. Teach in person - this is awesome if you can pull it off. I've seen people
do a weekend course and make 5k or more depending on the topic.

These are some interesting resources that I've recently started following:

[http://www.sidehustlenation.com/side-hustle-
show/](http://www.sidehustlenation.com/side-hustle-show/)

[http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/category/podcast/](http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/category/podcast/)

But the best is probably to build a SaaS application. Hard part is finding a
need :( Here is a beautiful example
[https://blog.pinboard.in/2014/07/pinboard_turns_five/](https://blog.pinboard.in/2014/07/pinboard_turns_five/)
($200K per year with bookmarking site).

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thewhizkid
I don't know if you would consider it "income", but in the spirit of hacking I
am an active travel hacker and have accumulated millions of miles and points
over the past 3 years or so through a combination of credit card bonuses,
strategic spending, and "manufactured spending."

I consider miles a valuable currency at this point in my life because I would
otherwise spend a lot of real money on personal travel. I can't remember the
last time I paid for a flight and can easily accumulate dozens of free hotel
nights a year.

Worth looking into if you value travel.

~~~
roneesh
Thanks for the info, this is something I've always wanted to learn a bit more
about, would appreciate any resources you could point me to.

~~~
thewhizkid
Flyertalk.com has a very active manufactured spending forum. I'd start there.

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pscheyer1
Free apps with ads on iOS or android. Consulting- similar to freelancing
without needing to build or maintain anything but relationships, can consist
of advising people on what solutions exist and then refusing to implement
them.

Rental property and the classical passive income routes like dividend bearing
stocks or stuff like lendingclub.com.

You could get a real estate license and sell real estate. You're a normal
person, you have normal person options outside of work/freelancing.

Specifically for development, you could also learn enough patent law to go for
relevant patents but that'll probably cost more than it earns.

You could offer your services to another company to help them hire developers.
Review their code and design interviews and such. But those are pretty much
all varieties of 'freelance,' so it depends on what about 'freelance' work
you're hesitant to take on.

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kelukelugames
I write about interviews and have made $2 to $100 every month. I plan on
writing about other subjects and maybe doing youtube solution to interview
questions. [http://kelukelu.me/interview/](http://kelukelu.me/interview/)

I sold art through redbubble. I've made around a whole dollar. But at least my
art skills are getting much, much better.
[http://www.redbubble.com/people/kelukelu?ref=account-nav-
dro...](http://www.redbubble.com/people/kelukelu?ref=account-nav-dropdown)

The goal of both is to improve my writing and drawing, but it's nice when
people decide to support me. :)

If I were more serious then I'd buy rental property.

~~~
roneesh
Very interesting! How exactly does writing about interviews get you the
income? Is it ads, affiliate links, etc?

~~~
kelukelugames
Hi, it is all from affiliated linked to Amazon for interview related material.

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seekingcharlie
Put 20% of your salary into an ETF. Check back in 5 years time.

Alternatively, write an ebook.

