When I was in high school, my summer jobs included: lawnmowing, building construction, dishwashing, and being a gas-station attendant. It worked out just fine.
Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
21–30 of 103 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#22My school used this online grade management system and the students access to it was really bad and only showed the letter grade for each calss average. So I made a python app to manage all your grades and calculate the by scarping the online site using python. I sold the app and made some money so i don't know if you can do the same. Otherwise just keep learning and follow everyone else's advise.
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#23>but software companies are not willing to hire people my age for good reason
I doubt it. I've hired two 18 year olds to work remotely for me, one of whom does excellent quantitative analysis I've yet to see out of anyone I've employed with an advanced degree.
Companies are by and large very stupid. Don't devalue yourself or your skills.
Craigslist is decent.
One of the best things you can do is invest in a Github or open source portfolio where you demonstrate proficiency with various technologies, methods, and algorithms. It'll be easy for me (or other hiring managers) to look at it, ring you up, ask you questions to make sure you didn't fully steal all the work, and task you with some basic contract work to see if it's a good fit. Then we go from there.
I got a lot of recruiting requests after I contributed a pretty solid amount of documentation and debugging work towards Facebook's HipHop (now hhvm, sort of anyway) repository and project.
You won't get paid upfront, obviously, but consider it a good investment. Hiring managers are more increasingly wanting to see proof that you can do work, especially independently.
Good luck. And if you're handy with R-stats, quant work, machine learning, and maybe even some Python/shell programming (have an application that could use some freelance work), hit me up. Info in my bio.
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#24Step 1: solve someone's problem
Step 2: collect money
The small business world is filled with unsolved problems. Get out there and find 'em.
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#25The most honest answer is you don't. Unless you are a legit genius-level developer, in which case you wouldn't be posting this question on here.
I'm typing this on my way from work to university.
I'm 19 with no formal qualifications except high school. Not a 'genius'.
There are jobs out there for young developers!
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#26I would recommend getting involved with Udacity as a classroom mentor/forum mentor/project reviewer. All you have to do is demonstrate enough domain experience for whichever course you want to help out in. You can do that by either completeing the course in stellar fashion or demonstrating your skills via a stellar personal project. For more info on it, you can check out my other comment from a couple of days ago: ht…
On a similar note, maybe offer to teach programming during the summer. There may be parents who are willing to pay a bit so their kids can be exposed to programming, and being a kid yourself, you could create a fun and non threatening atmosphere. Plus, for kids, it's not so important that they learn exactly the most marketable languages and techniques, but just to expand their brains and tickle their interests.
Another idea is to tutor introductory college students. I made reasonable money in college as a math tutor, even as a freshman. The college had a tutoring center, who paid my wage, so I didn't have to deal with collecting money from my students.
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#27When I was in high school, my summer jobs included: lawnmowing, building construction, dishwashing, and being a gas-station attendant. It worked out just fine.
And so you're saying that because you did this work and he would like to do technical work that somehow he is wrong? What value are you bringing to this discussion for this young man?
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#28Open an account at freelancer.com and similars and see how the system works and what can you offer. It really works, though competition is high. This will help you build a portfolio and make money in the process.
Search for people problems and build an app to solve it. Apps are hot.
Github portfolios, open source projects, etc... may make you look important but it does not generate direct income. Try to avoid the ego trap there.
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#29Keep checking in with your network for jobs they need that you can do. Present yourself well online (your portfolio and yourself). Expand your network.
Two previous threads about starting to freelance: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8761088 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14424699
I'd pick a technology to focus on, and present yourself as a person who specializes in it. Put your skills and work first and foremost online / on your resume. Choose something you can use quickly, and fully build the projects you have or are about to have. Whatever it is. Start with the HTML/CSS/basic JS. Or Wordpress, Drupal. Or React or Rails or Flask. Practice most for the job you have. Second most for the job you want.
Work with the businesses you built things for to be references, and if at all possible get a good looking project one to be publicly accessible. At least as a few screen shots. Clients want to see what you've done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_...
Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: How do I earn money as a teenage programmer?
#30I was in your shoes 10-15 years ago. Here's a few bits of advice:
* Upwork (well, Elance back then) worked out pretty well for me. The skill test are a nice way of showing that you can do the work without having much history.
* You don't have to tell everyone that you're a teen - don't lie about it, but don't shout it from the rooftops.
* As other folks have mentioned, a GitHub and/or personal website can help you.
* Create a couple of side projects - they don't have to be that original or full-featured, make a simple game or something. Just put something out there that you can point to and say "I built that".
I do some mentoring and also occasionally hire folks for contract work. Email is in my profile if you're interested in either.