I’ve been a programmer for more than a decade.
I’ve written thousands of lines of code. I’ve debugged until sunrise. I’ve worked at big companies with “stable” salaries.
And yet, none of that made me financially free.
Like many developers, I also chased side hustles. I tried blogging, dabbling in e-commerce, running small websites, even playing with social media. Most of them failed. Some made a bit of money, but nothing lasted. I even quit my job once to go all-in on a side project — only to burn out and walk away empty-handed.
The truth is brutal: your job won’t make you rich. And most side hustles won’t either.
Why Salary Will Never Be Enough
When I first started coding, I thought promotions and raises would be my ticket out. Work harder, show loyalty, and eventually I’d “make it.”
That’s the story we’re sold. But here’s reality:
- Raises never keep up with inflation.
- Promotions come with more stress, not more freedom.
- Even high earners I knew were trapped — $200K salaries but no real independence.
Salary is linear. You trade hours for money. Stop working, it stops paying. It sustains you, but it will never set you free.
Why Random Side Hustles Don’t Work Either
I thought side hustles were the escape hatch. I tried everything. Selling online. Content creation. Reselling products. Affiliate links.
Most were exhausting. Some worked briefly but collapsed. In the end, I was just busier, not freer.
Why? Because I was still stuck in the same trap: effort in, money out. Linear income. No leverage.
The Shift: Stop Thinking Like an Employee
The turning point came when I realized I was still playing the wrong game. Employees and hustlers both chase effort → money. But the people who quietly get ahead think differently. They ask:
“What can I build once that pays me over and over again?”
That’s leverage. That’s a system.
And the best systems today are built with media and code.
Building for Pain Points, Not Portfolios
Most developers (my past self included) build for ego. Portfolio projects. Clone apps. Shiny demos to show off skills.
Nobody pays for that.
The money is in solving pain points. Urgent, narrow problems that someone is happy to pay to make disappear.
Think about small SaaS tools, B2B utilities, niche automations. They don’t need to be sexy. They just need to work.
One solo dev built a $15/month tool for bulk-editing Shopify images. Four thousand users later, he’s at $60K MRR. Zero fame. Zero courses. Just usefulness.
My Current Struggle: A Real Example
Today, I’m working on my own security product: OkRASP. It’s a runtime protection tool for Java applications, built to defend against real-world vulnerabilities.
The tech is almost done. The problem? Public presence.
I only realized it when I needed to create product videos and PDF brochures. My website was half-baked. My marketing nonexistent. I could code the product, but I couldn’t communicate its value.
That’s the blind spot for so many of us developers:
We think finishing the code means finishing the product. But the real challenge begins after that.
Lessons for Developers Like Me
If you’re like me — a programmer tired of jobs, failed hustles, and half-finished projects — here’s what I’ve learned the hard way:
- Salary only feeds you. Systems free you.
- Side hustles aren’t enough. You need leverage.
- Pick one narrow pain point and solve it deeply.
- Validate before you build. Don’t spend six months coding for nobody.
- Face marketing head-on. Even a simple landing page or demo video beats silence.
A Small System Beats a Big Salary
Here’s the math nobody tells you:
You don’t need millions of users. You don’t need investors. You don’t need to be the next Facebook.
You just need 100 people paying you $100/month. That’s $10K.
Even smaller works:
- $19/month × 526 users = ~$10K/month
- $49/month × 204 users = ~$10K/month
- $99/month × 101 users = ~$10K/month
It’s not impossible. It’s focused.
Final Thoughts
I’m not writing this because I’ve “made it.” I’m still in the middle of it — still coding, still struggling with marketing, still trying to push OkRASP into the world.
But I know one thing: I’ll never go back to relying on salary alone. And I’ll never waste my time again on side hustles that scale effort, not systems.
So if you’re a developer feeling stuck, here’s my encouragement:
Stop building for applause. Start building for wallets.
Stop thinking like an employee. Start thinking like a tiny CEO.
And above all — build a system that pays you for something other than your time.
Because once you do, even just a small one, you’ll finally start to feel free.