It is known by many that programmers and
software engineers have very decent salaries and can live a comfortable life
working for a single company. However, some have enough free time to
explore alternative ways to increase their income. The hook: get some
extra money.
Maybe you're thinking about early retirement
or have enough money to not worry about losing your job. Either way, you
can find plenty of opportunities to earn extra income by keeping your current
job full-time. Let's review some of them.
How to earn money, programming video games, being a freelancer? This question is one of the most repeated in the community of video game developers.
Bearing in our minds, classics played by millions, such as Mario Bros (any of its versions), some Zelda, or Prince ofPersia, a Tomb Raider, Doom, Warcraft, etc. when we start in this world we have the goal of working for those big studios, or creating our own MEGA project, forgetting or discarding the idea of being freelancer developers, and one of the best.
I know, of course, that that feeling of not knowing if we're going to make it to the end of the month (or the middle of the month... haha) feels terrible when we start. If there is something good about working for a company, it is having the security that they will pay you your salary and that you can manage it as you prefer, in the expenses you have.
But after a few years, doing the same thing, maybe for the same company, or maybe a different one, you start to get tired, and the previous question arises. I can tell you that if you can earn money.
If you're thinking about it, my best advice is to prepare a programmer demo, with your best works, don't make it very long, a minute, minute and a half, and make a good portfolio on the Web, or at least in pdf format that you can share by email, or on specialized pages.
Before you drop your current job, and play solo, keep in mind that you should already have material ready to present and you should start showing your information before leaving your current job. Never go it alone, without having secure clients.
Invest your excess income
Saving money is always beneficial, but
investing is surely more profitable. Instead of depositing your earnings
into a bank account and trying to spend less than you earn, you can move your
money around and put it to work for you. Idle cash doesn't earn returns,
and you'll always be at risk of losing it to inflation.
In stock market investing, the key is, of
course, the word "wisely," but you don't have to be a Wall Street
wizard to make a profit.
We are not talking about day trading or
buying and selling stocks as that is a full time job in itself.
Good options to invest in are mutual funds,
ETFs, or individual stocks that use an online broker. Today many of them
do not charge fees; They can be an option to start activating your money.
Create an informative programming blog
This is a great opportunity to earn extra
income and gain prestige in the programming community. As a source of
secondary income, it could give you around 2k extra per month easily if you put
in some time and effort.
There's a saying that you won't master something until you can teach it, and that's totally true in my experience.
A blog will also help you build a strong personal brand, which
will open up many career opportunities, jobs, and occasional freelance coding
assignments, which translate into more income for you.
It's a win-win situation: as you teach
others, you'll become a better programmer and make money in the
process. How? Well, you can get benefits from:
- Ads –
Post ads on your blog and earn money from your web traffic. For
example, putting Google ads on your website will give you a share of the
revenue every time a reader clicks on the ad. But Adsense isn't your
only option - there are plenty of other premium ad agencies you can work
with.
- Become an affiliate – If you manage to build an
affiliate system by selling other people's products, you can make a lot of
money from it. For example, you can sell Amazon products on your blog
using a referral link. If a customer buys something through your
referral link, you will earn a commission.
- Sell your own stuff: If you sell your own products on
your blog, you will get more money. But you will need to spend more
time and effort on the task. However, it is an interesting passive
income.
You will need to have many readers to
monetize with ads alone, as your income will be directly proportional to the
number of readers.
Of course, since your blog is about
programming, you should suggest related products like programming software or
books. I suggest you keep in mind that you should not recommend expensive
products or products that you have never used. Spend your time on the
things you really use and know, to gain the trust of your followers.
Remember: mutual trust is worth more than a
few euros. Recommend only good and valuable products that you know and
trust.
Just make sure your products align with your
readers and are valuable to geeks and programmers. For example, a book on
coding and software engineering should be perfect for your blog.
I'm not saying selling is easy. You will
need to learn and apply many online marketing techniques to promote your
products. But at the same time, acquiring those skills will be a future
advantage in your career as a software engineer, as well as on a personal
level.
Use Fiverr or Upwork (or both)
This is a very simple method to earn extra
income. Fiverr is one of the largest online marketplaces hiring
freelancers/freelancers.
Starting at five dollars, it provides
services such as programming, marketing, design, business, writing, video,
music, translation and more. If you want to exploit your coding skills or
other talent, Fiverr can provide you with a way to earn a few extra bucks.
The platform can also be useful in your daily
work: you can outsource a task that you don't want to do and then use the
available time to do something else.
Just like Fiverr, Upwork is another platform
where you can use your programming skills to earn quick money.
Start an online business with e-Commerce
E-commerce or selling products online is a
great way to make money, and as the current lockdown has shown, it is also the
future. With physical stores closing and going digital every day, why not
take a slice of that market and make your own e-commerce store?
Nowadays, finding products and setting up an
online store is incredibly easy and can be done in a matter of a few hours, but
the real challenge is to make an effective marketing campaign and sell your
products. Next, you need to decide how to find your target audience,
select a competitive niche, and organize your traffic for real profit. In
other words, you must be creative and establish a good sales strategy to do
things better than your competition.
Found a YouTube channel
You can take advantage of the personal
interaction that YouTube provides, if you have a friendly and engaging personality. Regardless,
software engineers need to improve their public speaking skills, and a video
channel is a great way to get started and get feedback from your
audience. Comments that allow you to improve, of course.
Even when potential income isn't your goal
(and it can be substantial), polishing your communication skills will be good
for you and your career. It could be more profitable and effective than
starting a blog, as the YouTube channel allows you to build a stronger
relationship with your audience on a deeper level. Even better: have both.
In addition to YouTube monetization, you can also earn from ads, affiliate links, and the sale of your products, as we mentioned.
Make a video course
Remember that in the end you are a great
software engineer. Since programming is in high demand nowadays, and you
are an expert in the subject, you can reap benefits not only from programming
but also from teaching others to code.
Keep in mind that there are thousands of
people around the world eager to learn what you know.
There are many platforms that you can use to create a course and monetize it. All you need is to create an excellent and particular course, offering different knowledge than ordinary courses, but answering the same demands: the platform will take care of the marketing, etc.
Build software and sell it
After all, this is what you do
best. Therefore, nothing should or can stop you if you want to dedicate
some of your time and talent to creating great software and start selling it,
whether on your website, your blog or through a third party.
The idea is simple. Instead of writing
code for someone else, do it for your own project and sell it later. Of
course, you will need a keen eye for business and the help of other
professionals to complete a fully functional software. But if you help
other people or the market needs it, you will see that the money accumulates.
Regardless, leading a project through a full
cycle will give you skills that the average programmer doesn't have. Even
if you apply in the future for a team manager position, you can take advantage
of that experience… even if your software isn't as successful as you hope.
I'm not going to lie to you: the chances of
creating innovative software are slim. But if you create a phone app, SAAS
service, or downloadable software and it's successful, you can make a lot of
money with it.
Therefore, there are plenty of opportunities
to earn some extra money as a programmer. Consider your interests and
skills and go for it!
How to get clients?
Depending on what you want to do, as a videogame programmer you have many options. You can work for other independent projects, get a third-party contract with large companies, you can make advertising video games for companies that have nothing to do with video games.
Of course, each client has their contact area, it is not the same to get a client like Coca-Cola for an advertising game than to get an indie studio with an AAA game where they urgently need a gameplay programmer, or to get a freelance job in a big company like Ubisoft, and EA Etc
Another platform that has given me good results is Upwork, although now they have put in place a paid scoring system to be able to publish, before it was free and only some specifications, such as having many jobs done, could make you lose the opportunity to apply for that job. However, I have gotten many clients from various countries through that platform, and I still use it from time to time.
There are other platforms where I really haven't had any luck like Fiverr or Workana, although to be honest, I haven't configured my services properly on those pages, you can try it yourself.
Surely you will have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other networks in which there are groups in which they post jobs that are sometimes interesting and well-paid. Use their interesting search engines and hashtags to post your demo reel, portfolio, or website, and be sure to join groups and pages within those networks.
To get third-party jobs with large companies. It is not so common to get a job like this, through the Internet, without anyone in that company knowing you. It is necessary to create personal relationships, with people who work in those companies, and who can know your work. Do networking and connection work.
Go to forums and events in person, I have always said, those events of millions of people, are not so much to learn or see new things, but to network. Increase your network, and stay in touch, you never know if that person is going to be the link to your life's work.
Be genuine and selfless, and approach people with interesting jobs, even if they are unknown. Try to maintain a friendship over time, that is what will open doors for you as a freelancer with large companies.
However, online you can get interesting contracts with large and well-known companies worldwide. Especially if you are lucky enough to live near one of their bases of operation, I recommend that you search on platforms such as Glassdoor.
Another good idea is to look inside large or smaller companies, which always have a Jobs or Careers section, where you can see which jobs receive applications and see if there is one that could be Freelance, online.
One way to maintain contact is through the professional social network LinkedIn, where I have had frequent contact with people from different companies such as Ubisoft, Amazon, The Coalition, Gameloft, etc...
Maintaining these contacts can be embarrassing, or feel like you have nothing to say. I really liked your work in Modern Combat 5, how did you manage to do it… ” And the question was genuine… it's not about “you're going to give me a job”, but being cordial, kind, without showing interest… And maintaining the relationship as friendly as possible, even if you don't get a response, or receive it reluctantly.
This advice is written in this section but it is valid for everything you try professionally or personally speaking.
To get jobs with companies not related to games or even programming, for advertising games or other types of development, the move must be different. These companies usually operate in a more conservative way if you want.
It is difficult (although not impossible) to see any job posted on social media pages or groups where you find that Nestle, for example, is looking for a company to make an advergame.
These companies should be contacted directly at their offices. It may be that a party meets the right person, without knowing it, but while this is not a common case, it is best to go to their offices by appointment with the marketing and advertising area and present a good portfolio.
Wait for the rain of questions if your work was interesting to see, and if not leave with some contact made. In which if you are going to have to contact them by email, presenting a new game that you are making, and presenting new ideas so that they can use it.
During my stay in Colombia, I made more than 100 advergames, of all kinds, and for all kinds of companies, beers, government ministries, ice cream, cell phones and televisions, banks, etc, etc. I managed to get these jobs at first because I worked in a company in Bogotá that specialized in advergames, and many of the contacts I made, later when I flew solo, remained.
This is how I managed to make educational games, and other advergames for use in festivals, or shopping center events. This business model can be replicated all over the world, and the only thing that is needed is a certain portfolio to show what can be done, they do not have to be finished games, just gameplays, interesting mechanics, and quick-to-learn.
An advertising game can be put in a Microsoft or Google app store, for example, (yes, iOS too) but those that are used in fairs, festivals, or immediate events from a few hours to a few months, are the ones that make the best money and although the game can be done quickly, the support and maintenance throughout the activity is what can bring you the most monetary benefits (and headaches).