There are so many creative ways to make more money as a custom software engineer. Software development is undeniably one of the most in-demand skill sets in 2023. Even the world’s largest tech firms – like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon – are constantly looking to recruit new programming talent.
As such, software professionals should expect to be well-compensated in this lucrative field. As a developer yourself, you should always be looking for ways to maximize your earning potential. This way, you can boost career satisfaction, secure new opportunities, and take advantage of the latest online trends that are hard to ignore.
Plus, you’ll be able to alleviate financial stresses, afford new material luxuries, and establish stability. Read on to learn about the most creative ways to make more money as a software engineer.
Establish Yourself As A Leader
First, you can make more money as a software engineer by establishing yourself as a leader. Managers and team leaders get more opportunities at bigger companies. As a team leader, you’ll receive higher salary offers and constant career ascension potential.
It’s also a great way to challenge yourself. Of course, becoming a leader requires software engineering knowledge, abilities and skills — along with managerial traits. Certainly, these can all be quickly mastered with some time, effort, commitment, and patience.
To become a leader, you’ll need to learn how to listen, make decisions, manage a team and other soft skills. You also need to become well-versed in controlling workloads, delegating tasks, and supervising others. Surely, establish yourself as a leader to make more money as a software engineer.
Optimize Your Current Workflow
Additionally, you can optimize your current workflow to make more money as a software developer. If you’re able to work faster, get more done, and exceed performance expectations — you’ll likely receive a promotion or salary increase. One of the best ways to improve productivity is by embracing powerful development tools and supporting technologies.
For example, you can use Docker Hub to access a large library of certified, official, and publisher-verified images. To secure your repositories, Hub offers built-in security capabilities like local image vulnerability scanning, audit-logging, and multifactor authentication (MFA).
These advanced solutions also support CI/CD integrations, build triggers, webhooks, and automated testing. To start using Docker Hub, you just need to create a repository and start pulling images. Then, be sure to measure and report on upticks in project performance. Certainly, optimize your current workflow to creatively make more money as a software engineer.
Blog About Your Expertise
Blogging about your software development passions and expertise is another great way to increase your earning potential. Write articles, how-to tutorials, step-by-step guides, and videos that showcase your industry knowledge.
Prospective programmers and junior developers can engage with your content — and employ your strategies for their workplace benefit. After some time, you’ll develop your own unique writing style, niche, and reader audience. Before you start writing, do some research online to find some dedicated software engineering blogs that you like.
Read through their content, learn about their typical structures, and start brainstorming potential topics. Now, you are ready to draft your first article. Start with whatever you’re most interested in but take the time to verify search traffic too. Aim to write 750 to 1,500 words for your first post. Surely, blogging about your expertise is a profitable side hustle for experienced software engineers.
Build, Sell, And Teach An Online Course
On top of a successful blog, you could also try to build, sell, and teach your own online course. Take all your industry experience, know-how, and expertise — then teach it to somebody else. You may find that teaching helps you strengthen your own knowledge and understanding of core concepts too.
Not only that, building an online course can improve your hire-ability and career potential throughout the industry. Some of your students could also be up-and-coming developers or startup CEOs, who could become useful connections down the road. In short, this is a great way to earn passive income without geographic barriers, classroom supplies, or costly education licenses.
With a well-developed course, you’ll also become an instructor who’s available 24/7. Indeed, create an informative, educational online course to learn more money as a software programming professional.
Become A Bug Bounty Hunter
A more creative option — teach yourself to work as a bug bounty hunter. In this role, you’ll be tasked with investigating bugs, defects, errors, or issues in another developer, or company’s, codebase. This is an especially great option for application engineers with a background in quality assurance (QA) testing and vulnerability scanning.
You’ll be compensated for your searching time, as well as a bonus for any bugs discovered. Of course, you often need to work fast — competing with internal SQA teams. You can find these side hustles through private corporate program, part-time careers, or freelance job options.
Naturally, this is a great tactic to earn significant payouts and increase your ethical hacking skillset. Definitely, work as a bug bounty hunter to earn more money as a creative and innovative software engineer.
Create A YouTube Channel
Moreover, creating a YouTube channel is another side hustle to make more money as a software engineer. Make videos to share your experiences and thoughts about your career. These types of videos attract aspiring software engineers that are looking to learn more about the field.
Tutorial videos are also helpful content that help viewers once they encounter specific problems on projects. Once you get more followers, you can monetize your channel to get ads and earn extra income. Not only can you help your viewers, but you’ll earn extra money at the same time. Of course, YouTube has terms and conditions on when you can monetize your channel.
Developing your channel can be done in leisure time, boredom or whenever you are out of your main source of income. Create a YouTube channel to easily make money as a software engineer. There’s a number of effective – yet creative – ways to make more money as a software engineer.
For a start, try to establish yourself as a team leader, manager, or supervisor. In addition, optimize your current workflow with the latest software development tools, programming resources, and supporting technologies. You can also create, develop, and sell an insightful online course.
Or, start blogging about your industry expertise, passions, and strategies. Another effective tactic is to become a bug bounty hunter — investigation defects, errors, and exploits for third-party companies. At the same time, create an online audience and build your own YouTube channel.
Follow the points above to learn about the most creative ways to make more money as a software engineer.