In my series of articles on side hustles and learning how to grow them, I break down an individual hustle for people who want to augment their income but need some additional information. The overview will include the fundamentals of the hustle, how to get into it, and a breakdown of my GROWTH metrics. Not every hustle covered will be ideal for you, but it may help you find out more information before you take the dive. I’ve covered a list of lucrative side hustles and how to turn your side hustle into a full-time endeavor. If you want an additional push, take my 30 day side hustle challenge now!
What Is Coding?
Coding is a great skill to learn these days. It’s rapidly becoming mandatory for more and more jobs, and it can beneficially to just about everyone – no matter what career they’re in. From advancing your technical skills to helping you with creative pursuits, there is something for everybody when it comes to coding. Now, I know it can be intimidating at first – but don’t let it scare you. Everyone can learn how to code well, it’s just a matter of getting those fundamentals down. Fortunately, there are tons of great places to learn how to code online these days.
“Speaking” To The Computer
At the end of the day, coding is just “speaking” to the computer – in a sense. You’re basically just giving the computer instructions you want it to follow. Then, once it executes the code, it performs whatever those instructions are.
That means coding is probably less complicated than you think. It’s all about breaking it down into the tiniest, simplest components and building that set of instructions from the ground up. Sometimes people pretend like coding is hard, but if you look at it like you’re just making instructions for the computer, that makes it much easier to get into.
Who Can Get Started?
One of the lovely things about coding is that almost anyone can get started immediately. As long as you have access to a computer, you have the ability to start coding or at least learning how to. This is one of the easier side hustles to start since you can potentially take the skills you learn at your day job and just use them for coding as well. Of course, coding may also require you to learn some new skills – which is fine too!
Why Should You Get Started By Coding And Making A Video Game Or App?
You should code if you want to start a straightforward, flexible side hustle. You don’t, generally, have to learn a ton of new skills to start since you can just focus on learning to code, advancing your coding skills, or building on what you already know. Also, depending on the niche, creating apps or games can be extraordinarily lucrative, so it may be the best option for you.
When Is A Good Time To Start?
Coding is a best when you have the available time for a side hustle, or even enough time for a full-blown business. Overall, this is just a great opportunity. Even if you’re juggling a job and kids, it’s not abnormal to make a few hundred bucks (if not a thousand) per month with this. Some coding could even be done through consulting gigs too, so it just depends on what you want to pursue.
Where Can You Start This Side Hustle?
Fortunately, coding can be done just about everywhere. There are endless opportunities in every location – but there is also a lot of competition.
GROWTH
Next up, we’re going over the GROWTH metrics behind coding. These include gains, ROI, obtainability, workability, time required, and general health. These aren’t the only things you can consider, as there are many specifics to your personal situation I can’t account for. However, this will go over the common truths with coding and give you what you need to know in order to make the best decision about starting this side hustle successfully.
Gains
First up is the potential gains, or income. For the most part, especially as you start out, it can be hard to make money. Instead, you should focus on smaller projects and learning the skills you’ll need to make a larger project successful. Eventually, you can create apps or games that can help you get into the industry starting with a solid salary. Alternatively, going the indie developer route can be very lucrative for individuals, and you could make tons of money just by coding on your own time. It can be a slow start if you have no coding knowledge, but ultimately this can make you a lot of money over time.
ROI
It’s hard to gauge the return on your investment for this. Really, your startup costs will just be whatever it takes to form your company – essentially just the legal fees. You may also have to pay for a website, which is honestly a low expense. All-in-all, you should be able to earn back your startup costs relatively soon.
In other words, this has an amazing potential ROI. If you start your own software company, then there may be additional expenses that go with that. I’d still label the ROI as good, probably strong, but I’d suggest testing the waters on your own so that you can build up your skills and contacts. Either way, I don’t see an issue with the general ROI on coding.
Obtainability
This category is more about the realism aspect. How easy is it for most people to achieve? Generally, it’s one of the easier side hustles to start. Again, as long as you have focus and learn how to code, you can begin making money developing almost any project you’re interested in. Keep it small, simple, and straightforward. As long as you do great work with your code, you’ll see your fanbase and reputation growing.
Starting your own company is a bit more complex. That is also moderately achievable on your own. However, it is much more obtainable if you do that initial leg work on your own. There is a huge difference between hiring staff when you’re starting out with no revenue and having a backlog of projects – or already being at the max of what you can do on your own.
Workability
Workability, while similar to obtainability, has more to do with the operations side of it. In other words, how easy is this to work into your schedule? If it is flexible, or requires light hours, then I’d consider it a good deal.
In the case of coding, I also give high marks for workability. You can start out just working outside of your normal day job – the hours are flexible and you can adjust the workload to whatever you need it to be. If you starting hiring people and create a business, if you even choose to go that route, then coding becomes much more rigid in that sense.
Time Required
This is a hard side hustle to review the time factor for. In one sense, it’s easy to work a few extra hours here and there to develop something. However, if you want considerable income, then you’ll need to work many hours, which can add up over time. Additionally, there may be a huge uphill battle if you’re starting with no coding knowledge – of course, you could always just start coding as a fun hobby (LINK HERE). Either way, this can be rough because you can do it in chunks, but you may not actually see revenue for months or years at a time while you’re starting out.
Health
Last on the list is the overall health of coding as a side hustle or business. I’ll go ahead and give you the short version – it’s strong here as well. As long as you develop a useful app, or a fun video game, then you should be able to make money off of it. Technology is constantly expanding, and software is definitely benefiting from that growth.
Scalability
Scalability is a mixed bag with coding. It’s above average, but it’s also not stellar. You can hire programmers on under you, and at a certain point you definitely should. However, between their pay, benefits, and time off, you are looking at much lower profit margins. If you do it well, you will have a great opportunity to scale and make a substantial living off of it. Issues arise when you are trying to scale at the beginning, as it’s easy to try that too soon – long before you’re ready. In my opinion, it’s better to start small.
Positives
- You can make a lot of money.
- Coding is fun.
- It offers a great creative outlet.
- The longevity is solid.
- Your ROI, regarding your financial investment, is solid.
- It’s a valuable skill for many careers as well.
- You can do it anywhere.
Negatives
- It may take a while to see serious gains.
- Your ROI, regarding your time put in, may not be impressive.
- Coding isn’t for everyone – many people view it as boring.
- There is a lot of competition.
Conclusion
I’ve got to hand it to coding – it makes a fantastic side hustle. There is good money to be had, and long-term opportunities. I understand it isn’t for everyone, but it’s available to so many that it’s hard to not notice. My last tip is to just do your best work. That reputation is really the key to long-term success as a video game or application developer!
For more articles like this, and a free budgeting template and financial goals worksheet, be sure to sign up for the Bitter to Richer newsletter.
