Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?

Hey, I've got a bit of first hand experience here. Been doing professional work since ~15ish and had a handful of friends in similar situations.

1. Use your age as a strategic advantage not a limiting factor.

Seriously, I wish I'd appreciated this a little more because it changes the day you graduate high school and become a college student. You have a unique ability to talk to just about anyone right now as a virtue of being young and curious. Reach out to people you admire, not specifically asking for work, but for mentorship and advice. The returns will be high. People in this industry love young ambitious developers.

2. Get involved in the community.

All the work I got before college was through personal connections. Show up at hackathons (big one), go to technical meetups if there are ones in your area, get to know people on a personal level. Forget "networking" start making friends with other people in the field, you'll start getting calls about work.

3. Code a ton

Seriously, open source, personal projects, whatever. Just improve as a developer. My first steady contributions were doing volunteer web development for a local non-profit and that kickstarted all the professional stuff I was able to do pre-college.

4. Understand your value

Unless you're truly an outlier - you aren't going to be getting paid what a CS grad with 10 years experience is. That's just a reality of your experience level. That said I see way too many younger developers accept gross underpayment. Do not work for someone paying you $10/hour. Your time would be much better spent contributing to meaningful open source work.

5. Get into the best school you can

A good CS program will be a game changer for you, or at least it was for me. Get the grades and exam scores you need to do that. A resume of relevant experience is also massively helpful.

Companies are much more interested in your skills than your age. Startups in particular are very willing to hire teenagers if they can see that you will provide value. Keep learning. If you want to chat more email me (in bio).

What kind of work are you interested in? I have a few web apps that I'd like to get up and running if you want something that fits your schedule. My e-mail is in my profile.

Not OP but am in a similar position. I had a look at your website and would love to help out with developing the Android app. I'm looking for 1-2 days a week while I'm a student, is this suitable? Once I finish my exams in a few weeks I can send you my CV. Also I'm in commutable distance to your Hatton Garden offices.

Again, I didn't start pursuing CS in college to get employed. I started learning more about computers, learnt to code websites and then went back to figuring out how a computer works. However, I haven't figured out which area of the stack to develop an expertise in.

I will definitely check that book out. Thanks

You got it relatively easy: I assume you don't have any good contacts on the business, which is the obvious first choice. You can find clients at upwork or some freelancing site. Prioritize portfolio building and long term projects/recurring clients over one time deals and money. After a trial period, if you are good and trustworthy enough, ditch upwork and start charging them what you are really worth. Obviously don't be a dick and be upfront about your intentions of charging them more when you prove them you are worth it. It is a lengthy process. You need to be reliable and smart, otherwise you will not find good clients and you'll be taken advantage of. I don't want to discourage you but if you aren't good enough yet and you need the money now you'll be better off working at mcdonalds or some other simple teenage job.