7 Reasons Why You Can’t Make Money from Programming Jobs
Programming side enterprises are becoming more and more popular since they can be done anywhere at any time and are likely to be relevant in the future.
While some programmers do generate some extra money, others claim that they are unable to pursue programming as a side career.
How come this is said? I’ll explain the reasons why you can’t make money from programming as a side hustle in this post, along with the criteria for winning high unit pricing projects.
7 reasons why people say “I can’t earn a programming job”
It’s not necessarily accurate to say that “programming side employment cannot be earned.” Some people do, in fact, make tens of thousands of yen from their programming side hustle each month.
There is a purpose for which you cannot profit from a programming side business, and you can earn a certain amount of income by understanding it and taking measures.
Let’s start by outlining the seven arguments against earning money through programming side employment.
It takes time to acquire programming skills
The fact that it takes time to learn a talent is one of the causes. Many individuals learn programming, an advanced talent, at universities and specialized schools.
It is usually believed that learning the fundamentals of programming takes 300 hours, and that it takes 1000 hours to get to the point where you can work as an engineer. It will take 125 days of 8-hour study sessions to accrue 1000 hours of study time (about 4 months).
As you can see, learning programming is not something a total novice can do on their own and start making a lot of money right away.
High skill level required
The complexity of the project and the level of competence affect the unit cost of a programming job. In other words, large unit price projects need high levels of expertise and a wealth of work history in line with the incentives.
Additionally, the unit price for programming effort is typically greater when several engineers collaborate to complete a significant development project over several months to a year.
Many people are forced to accept orders for low unit pricing projects since many projects have the application requirements of “more than 2 years of development experience in a firm” and “development experience in a team.”
High competition rate of projects
While using crowdsourcing platforms like CrowdWorks has made it simpler for anybody to close sales, the level of competition is rising as more people sign up for the service.
There will be more competition for projects in that industry because skills like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are reasonably simple to master, even for beginners, and may be utilized by many individuals, even seasoned engineers.
In actuality, it will be challenging to win projects if you lack the abilities, specific talents, and information that you can use to stand out from the competition.
Continuous skill improvement is required
Technology for programming is actively being developed.
A few years ago, technology that is now considered outdated did not always indicate that “once you learn the ability, you can use it for the rest of your life.”
It is crucial to continually catch up with knowledge, such as trends in new technologies and programming approaches, and to develop skills in order to retain high market value as an IT engineer.
Programming also requires “readability” and “easiness to grasp,” just like phrases written in languages like Japanese.
Simply “building something that works” will not add to the workload since engineers who create clear, easy-to-read code will be highly valued even if the underlying behavior does not change.
It takes effort to negotiate conditions and delivery dates
In general, side businesses—not only programming—proceed with their jobs as the customer and the contractor communicate directly.
To be more specific, you must examine the company’s contents, negotiate delivery dates and compensation, create bills, manage taxes, and other tasks independently.
It’s not difficult once you get the hang of it, but for novices, it will require time and effort to decide whether the reward is fair or the delivery date is enough.
Difficult to secure operating time
Unlike data input and survey response businesses, programming-related businesses cannot be built incrementally during downtime. In order to earn a given sum, you must reserve that much time.
On weekdays, many individuals work in offices during the day while also working on the weekends and at night.
It will require a lot of work time if you work a side job on Saturdays and Sundays for the full two days, but you won’t be able to get anything done on your private or home time, so the pay will be meager.
Orders are not stable
Beginners in the side company often experience success when getting orders for one-off jobs like website renovations one after another. Because of this, it is usual for the number of projects in a month to fluctuate and for the supplemental income in a month to increase or decrease by 50% from the previous month.
How to earn by programming side business [For beginners]
As I stated at the outset, not everyone can make money doing a side job in programming. By taking the necessary steps to develop their talents and find tasks, even novices may make a little bit of extra money.
“I want to earn more quickly” and “I want to increase the unit price of labor more” may make you impatient. However, in order to become an engineer in the future with greater market value, get ready for a side job in the sequence listed below.
- Setting goals and goals
- Learning a programming language
- Creating a Portfolio
- Received an order for a project by crowdsourcing
- Accumulate achievements and experience.
How to increase the unit price of programming side business [For intermediate users]
Go on to the procedures to get larger unit pricing deals once you’ve gained some expertise in the programming side company.
I’ll outline four actions you may take to help with that.
Develop your business skills
Not only in the primary business but also in the side business, communication abilities, negotiation strength, and sales power are crucial.
skills in selling that appeal to one’s own value, effective contact with contractors, and the capacity to negotiate better terms for orders, such as delivery schedules and prizes. You may become a “competent, experienced, and reliable engineer” by honing these abilities.
All online work-related communication, including chat and email, is essentially finished by the programming side of business. To gain the other party’s trust through textual communication, business skills are crucial.
Gather the latest information
To gather the most recent knowledge, use IT-related blogs, journals, seminars, etc. The development of programming languages is still in its early stages.
You will ultimately turn into an “old engineer who can only employ old approaches” if you are content with the talents you already possess and ignore advancing your knowledge.
Keeping up with the latest news is crucial, as is learning future-demanded programming languages and frameworks and using them to your advantage.
Expand your network
By holding exchange meetings and study sessions for engineers, let’s broaden the peer network.
Of course, there is a benefit to exchanging information with one another as a friend or opponent, and there is also the potential that it will lead to an order for a project asking “Would you like to work together?”
There are many online communities these days, so if you live in a rural area and can’t easily go to a social gathering in the city center, you should look for one.
Combine multiple skills
It is also effective to combine the fields of your main business and differentiate yourself from your rivals with multiple skills, instead of competing with just one programming skill.
The combinations of multiple skills include the following:
- Design and programming (website development can propose UI and UX as well as coding)
- Web marketing and programming (you can also make marketing proposals after developing apps and web services)
- Web Writer x Programming (IT-focused web writer)
Let’s research what kinds of human resources and skills are in demand while looking at the projects on the crowdsourcing site.
Frequently Asked Questions About Side Business
Because they are “popular these days” and “because they are also doing things around them,” a growing number of individuals are taking on the task of side employment.
There are many aspects, nevertheless, that individuals who typically work as office employees do not comprehend because the side company is all handled by one person, from ordering the case through delivery, issuing bills, and filing taxes.
Let me now address five often asked questions concerning side companies.
What do you recommend if you do a side job other than programming?
Programming is only one of several side occupations available. The side business of programming may not be suited for individuals who wish to take advantage of the downtime because it takes a lot of time to work on it.
It is advised that folks who are not particularly fussy about programming try alternatives.
What side business can you earn safely?
One thing to keep in mind when choosing a side job is the safety of the job.
In the streets, there are also dubious job offers that recruit applicants with the slogan “Everyone can easily earn with a smartphone” and “$1000 a month in 5 minutes a day”.
To avoid being involved in criminal activity or being scammed, be sure to check the following information when placing an order:
- Is the work content clearly written?
- Is age or gender specified?
- Is the orderer’s information (name, location, etc.) clear?
Is there a side job that even one person can do?
Many of the side firms communicate with one another while working in teams with customers and other cloud employees.
People who prefer to work alone in their leisure time may find it challenging because such work is commonly traded in chats and online meetups.
How can I secure time for a side job?
There are three types of side jobs: hourly labor (similar to a part-time job), performance-based pay (such as yen per delivery), and stock work (similar to being a blogger).
No matter what kind of side business you run, the first requirement is to set aside time for it in order to generate a particular quantity of cash.
If you are too busy to work side-by-side, first review your work-life balance, such as how you work in your main business. If you make your main business work that you can work at your own pace, such as staying at home, it will be easier to secure time for side jobs.
Can you aim for independence and freelance by starting from a side job?
It is possible to get the work you want or long for from a side job, switch careers after gaining skills and accomplishments, or go independent or freelance.
The chance to explore new things while guaranteeing the financial security of your primary business is a huge benefit. Physical and mental strength are necessary to work hard for a specific amount of time with two main businesses and side businesses.
There is no such thing as “I can’t earn a programming job”
It is true that some programming-related side jobs can be both high-paying and low-paying.
Even novices have a decent possibility of making a steady income by appropriately enhancing their talents and taking action to land projects.