Joshua Ehiosun

5 Easy Ways to Make Money as a Beginner Web Programmer Do you feel like there is no way a web programmer can earn money easily? Do you feel like it’s pointless trying coding or does the thought of being a 50-year-old broke geek living in your parents’ basement scare you? Are you having second doubts about coding because you are just a lost beginner in the midst of thousands of Bill Gates? Don’t worry, today's article will answer the very basic question most beginner programmers ask; how the hell do I make a quick buck from my little experience? First, what is web programming? Web programming is simply the writing of software codes/instructions synonymous to web development. Over the years web programming has grown to become one of the most lucrative careers in STEM. Currently, the most common languages used in web programming are JavaScript, PHP, Python, and Perl. Yes, we all dread the beginner’s web programming journey, it’s hard, brain-tasking, super stressful, and in some cases, you may feel like a hobo. However, there is a way that might make the journey seem worthwhile and it all boils down to the question: Why not earn as you program? It is a fact (mostly my speculation), that there is no better motivation than getting money while learning web programming, and today we are going to see 5 sure ways you can earn money as a web programmer. 1. Get work locally. Well, this is one of the easiest ways to earn as a web programmer. Nothing stops you from advertising yourself to your friends, neighbors and family members. Earning a few bucks designing a template for a friend could help add to your portfolio as a web programmer plus, it’s practice to help you perfect your craft. The downside to this way is that you rarely may find gigs around you and the reason is simple, not everyone wants to own a website. What you can do however is to use your friends and people that are important to you as advert campaigners, ring it in their ears until the idea that you are a web programmer sticks in their head. You will be surprised to land a programming gig as a result of a referral from friends and family or an acquaintance you mentioned being a programmer to. 2. Become a tutor. With a programming knowledge experience of a year or two, you could earn money offering basic lessons to people desperate for teachers. Though the money would be minute in most cases, it still could count as something right? How you can do this is simple; become a tutor. Most programmers earn money from being tutors early, and the reason is very relatable; people want the easiest way to do something, and no one wants to suffer himself or herself to learn programming the hard way. Hence, they would prefer to give out 5 dollars, or 10 dollars for a shortcut. Now the best thing to do to ensure this money flows consistently is to ensure you don’t teach everything at once, try to be secretive about what you teach, you will be shocked as to how more people would want you to teach them. Now most of you may be wondering how you get a programming tutor job, the answer is simple, you can go online or you can talk to friends, family, and acquaintances, and let them know you are always open for a programming tutor job. For the online part freelance sites like Upwork would come in very handy, all you need to do is to register, fill your profile, set your rate and bingo, you are ready to earn as a programming tutor. 3. Sell website templates. Small businesses may be looking for a template that suits their needs and won’t want to buy from the numerous templates online. The reason for this may be as a result of low funds and trying to stand out, that’s where you come in. You could sell your already made templates for money to these sites, the price may range from a few 5 dollars to even 50 dollars, it all depends on the client and you as the programmer. Other places where you can sell your templates include: ● ● ● ● Theme forest. Templamatic. Buystockdesign. Sitepoint. 4. Enter coding contests. Do you feel that you are a really great programmer but you are also looking for some quick money? Why not try getting prize money for contests? Programming contests are made to increase the zeal of programmers, both beginners and the experienced. You can key into one of these contests, you never know if you will be the one walking away with a really good sum of money. The advantage to also entering a contest is that top pointers are selected to be part of very large projects and this is also a great plus on your programming portfolio. Even though you get to contribute for free, you also get to have a very strong portfolio to add to your resume, a win, win situation. Sites that organize programming contests include: ● ● ● ● Top coder. Code chef. At coder. Hacker blocks. 5. Get a client to sell already made websites to. This is one of the hardest ways to earn money as a beginner web programmer. Getting a client involves creating a website for somebody, the only thing that is different this time is the fact that you are going to be using an already made template for your client. Note that it isn’t a must you get paid for doing this, sometimes it may not involve money and sometimes it would, the steps to selling an already made template to your client includes: ● Find a client (you have to do this yourself, you could get clients by visiting forums on social media and directly asking for those who need websites). ● Find an already made template for free, don’t worry it’s easy to get, you can just go to Bootstrapmade. They offer free samples of sites built with bootstrap. The reason why I prefer using bootstrap is that, bootstrap templates are very straight forward to edit and use, you don’t need to be all pro to use bootstrap. ● The next thing to do will be to re edit the template you got to the form your client needs or likes, I will advise you that you ask your client about what they want first before you start editing. Ask your client for the important things like logo, bio, color theme needed. If your client isn’t sure what color theme he or she wants, don’t worry you can use a color theme site so as to be able to determine which is best for your client. Editing the template would be an easy thing as it only involves using CSS so don’t worry about changes or breaking the template. ● After the site has be fine-tuned, you can then sell it to your client. A great price range would be from $100 down to $1500, try to show your worth with your price but also look at your client’s pocket. ● You can also help your client with hosting and domain, as most non-programmers don’t know the important things needed for hosting, you can help out. A sweeter method will be to host your client’s site on a hosting you purchased, if you bought your hosting for $75, you could sell it to your client for about $100, cool $25 made. When getting a domain, I would advise you get one with an SSL certificate. Some web hosting plans however comes with a free SSL certificate and even free domain names so two bird gone with one stone. ● Don’t forget to fine tune the site for your client, things like example email addresses used in the template needs to be changed to the client’s email. The final thing you should do is to tell your client to help advertise you, your work may be exquisite but without anyone knowing what you did and without great testimonials, you may not land larger jobs. I hope this article has been helpful to you in lots of ways. Being a programmer is a lifelong journey, a rocky beginning, sore eyes and even the lack of drive to code comes with the job description but it always doesn’t last. Web programming is growing and getting more recognized and important day by day, keep at it and in no time, you could be among the 7 figure gang, the 10 figure gang or the people creating new technologies, the journey of a thousand miles is made by making consistent steps.