11 software engineer side hustles
If you're interested in a side job for your software engineering career, thinking about positions that might build or complement your existing skills can help you find the right fit. Regardless of your area of expertise, there's a diverse range of opportunities to consider, including:
1. Pursue freelancing opportunities
If you want a side hustle that's similar to your primary job, you can find a software development freelance opportunity. In these roles, you can work whatever hours you want and decide how much work you want to do, and this flexibility can make it a great option for many people. Many freelance job sites cater specifically to software engineering and developing opportunities, which allow you to find ones that best match your skills.How much you earn depends on how often you work and the number of projects you do, but if you have a specialization in a certain area, you might be able to set higher rates to increase your earning potential. Consider speaking with your professional network or any peers to learn whether they do freelance work as a side hustle because they can offer suggestions to help you find roles with reliable employers.2. Create applications
You can use your software engineering knowledge to build and launch a micro software as a service (SaaS) application. These applications provide subscription-based services for specific target markets, and they're often popular in the tech industry. After creating this app, you can list it on one of several marketplaces for people to use, and you can collect payments from them monthly.A benefit of this side hustle is you can create it with no outside funding, and you make only one application. Once it's available to the public, it can become a source of passive income that requires you only to work on updating the app.3. Start a content blog
If you're well informed about the latest updates in the technology industry, starting a blog can be a great way to share your knowledge with others, which can help you brand yourself and gain more clients for your primary career. A blog can be general, which allows you to write or post videos about a variety of topics, or you can focus it on a specific subject in technology, such as reviewing changes in the latest update for a popular software tool.Finding a good niche and developing a strong following can allow you to appeal to advertisers, which can help you increase your revenue. Having strong communications skills can be vital to running a successful blog, but once the site's live, it also can be a great place for you to host some of your personal projects. This can help when you're pursuing other job opportunities because you can showcase your skills to prospective employers.4. Mentor others
If you're an established software engineer who's had some success in the industry, finding ways to share your knowledge with others can be a fulfilling side hustle. As a professional mentor, you can set your rates, create your availability and choose with whom you work. This provides you with a lot of autonomy and flexibility, which can make the experience more rewarding for you and the people you mentor.There are many platforms you can use to advertise yourself as a mentor and seek younger software engineers who want professional guidance. You can meet with them online or in person once per week or once per month to discuss their goals, challenges and accomplishments to help guide them along their career path.5. Take bug bounties
A bug bounty is a common side hustle software developers and engineers do because it aligns with their professional skills and helps them improve other people's work. In this process, you try to find any bugs in the code another person or company uses, such as any errors or exploits. Like with other side hustles, there are various programs you can use to find these opportunities, and they can allow you to work from anywhere that has internet access.This is a valuable service for other people in the industry because it helps improve the security and reliability of their programs, and you often can receive generous pay if you uncover bugs.6. Develop educational tools
Similar to mentoring, if you have specialized skills or knowledge you want to share with other people, you can develop educational tools to help teach other people how to learn various processes. There are various ways you can do this, such as creating a video subscription service that releases new lessons every week or month or writing documentation for programs that you host online for people to buy.Like with a micro SaaS application, this is often a one-time job that helps you receive passive income for longer periods, which can make it an appealing option for many people. Another way you can do this is by hosting workshops in your community and inviting entry-level or aspiring software engineers to help them develop their skills.7. Build an API
Businesses in many industries rely on data to help them make more informed decisions on a variety of topics. Using your software engineering skills, you can capitalize on this by building an application programming interface (API) that collects and organizes data for other people to use. This process generally includes making a web scraper to gather data from one or more sources, then having your API organize and host the data, which you can have people pay to access.For example, you could build an API that scrapes data from a professional sports league to create a database that tracks statistics and other trends, such as player speeds and distances. Sports analytics and data visualization are growing fields, and having access to niche data about a league and its players can be valuable. After you test and release the API, data analysts can pay to have access to the data, which they can use for their work.8. Write a book
Another good way to share your expertise with others and profit from it is to write a book. They can be shorter books you publish yourself or release virtually as an e-book. You can write about any subject that you're knowledgeable about and that interests you, regardless of whether they're about software engineering. Being able to write about a passion can be a fulfilling experience, and there are many platforms that manage the advertising and selling of a book for you.If you're writing about software, your book might explain a trend, such as how cloud computing revolutionized data storage in the modern world, or you can work with a leading expert in the industry to share the story of their career. Another idea you might pursue is a book for children that introduces them to software engineering terms and processes in a creative and fun way.9. Become a teacher
If you want to help other people start a successful career in the industry, but writing isn't your passion, you can consider becoming a teacher. Colleges and universities often hire teachers to work part-time or as adjunct professors and teach a course or two about a specialized topic, such as software engineering. This can allow you to work with many people and oversee their growth and development, giving them assignments and testing their knowledge.If this side hustle interests you, consider contacting schools in your area or using online career boards to discover schools hiring for part-time positions. Because many fields in information technology are in high demand, schools might want to expand their course listings to provide more classes on these subjects.10. Explore e-commerce
Because many industries and consumer habits are relying more on digital services, exploring e-commerce can be a beneficial side hustle for a software engineer. This can include anything from selling various pieces of technology you own or creating products specifically to sell, and it can give autonomy in how your market and price your goods. Many platforms allow you to set up an online store, which can save you time from having to create a website. They also often manage most of the site upkeep, meaning you might pay only a small hosting fee each month.You can use your software engineer skills to create and sell things like web themes for popular sites, or you can sell products that have nothing to do with software development. Another option might be to combine your software passion with another. For example, if you like making jewelry, you could create pieces that incorporate computer parts in them, like an earring that's part of a motherboard.11. Create a virtual community
As many aspects of human relationships and communication move online, creating virtual communities for people to connect can be an exciting side hustle. A community could be something as small as a message board about niche technological subjects, or it could be more broad and open to anyone in a tech job in your region.This can create a place for people to network, find mentors and learn about the latest industry trends. You might allow free access to this site, but you can profit from it by creating premium features people can pay for to enhance their experience. For example, you can allow someone to pay to create a custom tagline at the end of their messages, or they can pay to allow them to see who viewed their profile.shameless copied from here