The tech industry is notorious for swinging between periods of boom and bust. When it’s in a good place, jobs are abundant, salaries are sky-high, investment is relatively easy to find, layoffs less likely, and tech is a great industry to be a part of.
When things aren’t going well, layoffs are everywhere, investment all but disappears, job listings are few and far between, and over time, salaries have fallen to more… normal levels.
In this series, we’re going to help developers find ways of making extra income, so whether you’re looking for side hustle ideas or full-time independence, here are seven practical ways to make money as a freelance developer.
1. Take on Freelance Gigs via Platforms
This is perhaps the most obvious approach, but it shouldn’t be overlooked.
Freelance sites like Upwork, Freelancer, Toptal and even Fiverr are filled with opportunities. However, it’s worth knowing before you dive in that many of these platforms are saturated with huge numbers of freelancers, making it difficult to stand out on them.
Even so, they’re absolutely worth exploring if you’re just starting your freelance journey and have a portfolio of previous work you can use to stand out and entice future customers with.
2. Offer Optimisation & Debugging Services
When developers think about being a freelancer, they often imagine building new applications, tools, apps, websites or services that are useful for their clients. However, you might be overlooking the fact that there’s a huge amount of existing code out there that needs optimising, and teams don’t always have the time they need to do it.
This is where you come in.
Many businesses have codebases that need performance tuning, security audits, or bug fixes. Offering targeted services like database optimiSation, load testing, or fixing critical issues can position you as a problem solver (either with areas of specialism, or in a particular niche) and these kinds of roles can pay very well, but of course relies on you negotiating.
3. Create and Sell Code Templates or Tools
Developers are always looking for tools to speed up their workflow. You might have even built tools for yourself in the past that could be actually useful for other devs.
If you’ve built reusable components, boilerplates, or custom scripts, consider selling them on marketplaces like Gumroad or CodeCanyon, because there’s value in something that saves time.
Templates for things like admin dashboards, login flows, or automation scripts are especially in demand, so bear this in mind.
4. Offer Consultation & Mentorship
In the same way you could offer to optimise existing code, you could formalise it further and start offering consultation as a service.
In a similar way, you could offer to become a mentor to others. As we discussed in this article, mentoring is as beneficial for the mentor as it is for the mentee.
Either way, you’re putting your experience to use by helping others. You could advise startups on tech stacks, mentor junior devs, or review codebases for best practices. Platforms like Clarity.fm or MentorCruise can connect you with people who’ll pay for your insights.
5. Build Custom Software for Small Businesses
From inventory systems to booking platforms, small companies often need lightweight, custom-built tools. Reach out to local businesses or nonprofits and pitch tailored solutions. These projects are often under the radar—but can be highly profitable and repeatable.
6. Teach Programming Online
With so many of us developers working remotely, we’re well prepared to use our home offices for other things.
Turn your knowledge into income by teaching others. You can build courses on Udemy or Teachable, run a YouTube channel, or create paid newsletters or blogs.
If you can break down complex concepts and deliver real value, there’s a big market for your content, and we would recommend you experiment with each platform to see where your content gets most traction.
Conclusion
You might wish to freelance to make a little extra cash, to look for a way out of the 9-5, or to raise your profile as a developer. Whatever the reason, we hope we’ve given you a few tips and tricks for getting started, and we’d love to hear all about your freelancing journey on socials.
