How To Make Money Online For Programmers

If you know how to code, you already have something most people wish they had. The question is not whether you can make money with it. The question is which path fits you right now, because there are at least seven real ways a programmer can hit $300 a day online, and every single one of them is something Alston has personally tested.

This is not a theoretical list. Alston currently works full-time as a software developer. He has built courses on Udemy, run a web hosting company, done affiliate marketing, created digital products, and used freelance platforms to pick up client work. What follows covers all seven methods in the order he walked through them, with the actual numbers, platforms, and nuances he shared in the video.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A clear breakdown of seven income methods built specifically for people who already know how to code
The exact affiliate networks that pay programmers, including why Amazon pays only 4% on tech and what to use instead
How Alston built and sold three AWS courses on Udemy, and the type of knowledge that converts on the platform
The difference between a Udemy course and a paid coaching arrangement, and how to price each
Why Thumbtack is worth checking before Upwork or Fiverr for local-adjacent web and app work
How WordPress themes on ThemeForest generate recurring revenue without you selling anything directly
How to find which of these seven paths fits your actual skill level and goals at finder.platformproof.com

Way 1: Affiliate Marketing for Tech Audiences

Affiliate marketing is Alston’s first recommendation because the barrier to entry is low and programmers already have the credibility to make product recommendations that people trust. The model is simple: you produce helpful content, recommend a product or service, and when someone buys through your link, you receive a commission. No product, no inventory, no customer service required.

For a programmer, the most natural recommendations are the tools you already use. Alston points to web hosting as one of the best entry points. Bluehost, for example, pays a flat rate commission that scales depending on how much revenue you bring them. Unlike Amazon, which pays a percentage, a flat-rate deal means even one referral can pay well. The key is to match the recommendation to what your audience actually needs. If you are writing about Node.js or React or Python, a link to a hosting provider makes organic sense because those readers are building something and they need somewhere to put it.

Amazon Associates is the largest affiliate network available, and Alston acknowledges that. But he is also honest about the limitation: tech commissions on Amazon sit around 4%, which is the low end of their 4-to-10% range. For a $200 item, that is $8. Physical tech products still make sense if you have volume, but the better plays are software tools, SaaS platforms, and hosting companies that pay flat or tiered rates. Alston himself earns through ScreenFlow, the screen recording software he uses for all his videos, which has its own affiliate program. The MX Master mouse is another example he brings up as a natural add-on for any developer who talks about their setup.

The channel you use to drive this traffic matters less than whether you actually produce content consistently. A blog, a YouTube channel, or a podcast all work. The point is to create enough helpful material around a programming topic that people find you, trust you, and click your links.

Way 2: Create Courses on Udemy

Udemy hosts thousands of programming courses and people buy them daily. If you have deep knowledge in any specific language, framework, or certification track, you can package that into a course and have Udemy distribute it to millions of students without you having to do any marketing yourself.

Alston did exactly this. After taking a few React courses on Udemy himself to understand how the platform works, he turned around and created courses on Amazon Web Services. At the time of the video, he had three courses live: one covering AWS broadly, one focused on computers, and a free course on IAM (Identity and Access Management). AWS certification is a high-demand topic because cloud skills command real salary premiums, and anyone studying for those certs is actively looking for structured instruction.

The path here is to teach something you already know. Udemy is the largest platform of its kind, but it is not the only option. There are other platforms that host independent courses, and you can also sell courses directly from your own website if you want full control of pricing and the student relationship. Udemy is a good starting point because the built-in audience reduces the amount of work you need to do to get your first students.

The income from Udemy is not always massive per sale, since the platform frequently runs sales and takes a cut, but courses that rank well within the platform can sell on autopilot for years. The upfront time investment is real, but once a course is built, it generates revenue without requiring more of your time.

Way 3: Paid Coaching for Specialized Skills

Paid coaching is different from a course in one important way: it is direct, one-on-one or small-group work where the client pays for access to your time and attention, not just a recording. This shifts the income model significantly. Instead of creating something once and selling it many times at a low price, you charge a premium rate because you are providing custom guidance.

Alston frames this around specialization. If you are one of 20 people who truly understand how to do something in a niche corner of cloud infrastructure, a specific programming language, or an emerging framework, you can charge what that scarcity is worth. He mentions Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud as examples, noting that expertise in any of these platforms can translate to consistent monthly coaching income where the same clients pay you month after month.

You can structure this as an hourly rate or a monthly retainer. Monthly retainers are easier to build a stable income from because you are not chasing new clients every week. The coach-client relationship works best when the client has a specific goal, like getting a certification or building a production-ready system, and you are the person who knows exactly how to get them there faster than they could get there alone.

Way 4: Launch a Service Business

This one is straightforward: if you can build things, you can sell the service of building things. Web design and web development agencies exist at every level, from solo freelancers to full companies, and there is consistent demand because most small and medium businesses either have no website or have one that is not doing anything useful for them.

Alston points out that the bottleneck here is usually sales, not technical skill. Most programmers can build the website. The harder part is getting in front of businesses, making the pitch, and closing the deal. If you can get decent at sales conversations, there is substantial money available upgrading old HTML sites to PHP, WordPress, or whatever modern stack the client needs.

Web hosting is a specific sub-category Alston has experience with. He runs his own web hosting company called Revolt Web Services, which he built using a reseller arrangement. Major hosting companies offer reseller programs where you purchase a block of server space wholesale and then sell individual hosting accounts to your own clients at retail pricing. That spread becomes recurring income because clients pay monthly or annually, and they generally stay put once their site is up and running.

App development is another branch of this same tree. There are businesses willing to pay for custom apps if you can prove you understand what they need and can deliver it reliably.

Way 5: Sell Digital Products

A digital product sits between a course and a consulting engagement. It is a packaged piece of knowledge or a step-by-step guide that someone can buy and use on their own time. For programmers, this could be a PDF walkthrough, a video tutorial showing how to build one specific thing, or a collection of templates or code snippets that solve a common problem.

The value of a digital product is that you create it once and sell it repeatedly. Alston describes the pricing range as anywhere from $19.99 up to $59.99 or even $1,000 depending on how rare or advanced the knowledge is. A guide on using Python for a common data task might sell at $29. A deep walkthrough on deploying a production-grade system in AWS might justify $200 or more. The price reflects the gap between where the buyer is and where the guide gets them.

The distribution model involves building a landing page, creating some content around the topic (on YouTube or a blog) to attract search traffic, and then sending those visitors to the page where they can buy. This is passive income in the truest sense because the transaction happens without your involvement after setup.

Way 6: Build WordPress Themes and Plugins

WordPress powers a massive portion of the internet and runs on PHP. Programmers who know PHP or who are willing to learn it are in a good position to build themes and plugins and sell them through marketplaces like ThemeForest.

A WordPress theme controls the visual design of a site. ThemeForest prices themes anywhere from $29.99 to $129.99 depending on the features included. When someone in a web design business buys your theme and applies it to a client site, they are paying for your work. You get paid, they get a professional result fast, and the client gets a site. Everyone wins.

Alston points out an additional layer here: you can have the theme built by someone else and then sell it under your own account on ThemeForest. This means the business model does not strictly require you to write the code yourself. You could manage the product, handle quality control, and focus on the sales side while contractors do the development. The marketplace takes a cut, but the income repeats every time someone buys.

Plugins work similarly. If you can identify a gap, something that a lot of WordPress site owners need but that no free plugin handles well enough, and you build it cleanly, you can sell that plugin as a premium product. Some plugin developers earn significant ongoing revenue this way, especially if the plugin requires an annual license renewal.

Way 7: Build and Sell Your Own Software

This is the highest upside option and also the one that requires the most upfront work. If you can identify a problem that a specific type of business has and you can build software that solves it, you have a product you can sell directly to companies. The buyer does not need to know how to code. They just need the software to do what it promises.

Alston gives a somewhat unusual example to illustrate the point: he saw someone build a software component for a drone that had a flamethrower attached. The point is not drones, the point is that creative and even unexpected software applications have buyers if you find the right market. Companies will pay for software that automates something expensive, eliminates a manual process, or gives them a capability they did not have before.

This path requires some marketing ability alongside the technical skill. You need to be able to explain what the software does and why it is worth the price. But Alston’s take is that as long as you understand your market and can have a basic sales conversation, there is real money available selling proprietary software to businesses.

Way 8: Freelancing on Thumbtack, Upwork, and Fiverr

Freelancing is the most immediately accessible path for someone who wants to start making money with programming skills quickly. The platforms most people know are Upwork and Fiverr. Alston acknowledges both of them but puts extra emphasis on Thumbtack, which he uses frequently himself.

Thumbtack works differently from Upwork or Fiverr. Instead of posting a profile and waiting for clients to find you, Thumbtack sends job opportunities directly to your phone. You open the app, see what is available, and decide whether to apply. The categories that consistently show up include web design, software development, and app and game development. You can apply for work that matches exactly what you know how to do and pass on anything that does not.

The $300-per-day target Alston mentions is achievable through freelancing if you land the right projects. A single web design engagement for a small business can run $1,000 to $3,000 depending on the scope. Landing one or two of those per week pushes well past $300 per day in effective daily earnings. The consistency depends on how actively you engage with the platforms and how well you convert leads into paid projects.

Not sure which of these eight paths matches your actual situation right now?

Answer a few quick questions and get a personalized recommendation at finder.platformproof.com.

Honest Drawbacks to Each Path

Alston is realistic in the video about where each method has friction, and it is worth naming those directly so you can match the path to your actual situation.

Affiliate marketing takes time before it pays. You need an audience first, which means producing content for weeks or months before the commissions start adding up. The 4% Amazon commission on tech means you need high volume to make it meaningful. Starting with higher-paying flat-rate programs like web hosting commissions helps close that gap.

Udemy courses lose value over time as the platform runs discounts. A course that launched at $199 might frequently sell for $12.99 during a sale event. Building a direct-to-consumer course on your own site avoids that problem but requires you to handle your own marketing.

Paid coaching is time-bound by nature. Every hour of coaching is an hour you are working. The monthly retainer model helps, but you still have a ceiling based on how many clients you can actually serve. This path works best as a premium complement to passive income streams, not as your only source.

A service business stalls without sales ability. Alston calls this out directly. Technical skill gets you to the point of being able to deliver, but the deals have to be closed first. If sales conversations make you uncomfortable, this is the skill to build before expecting the business to grow.

Digital products and software require upfront work that may not pay off immediately. You might spend 20 hours building a product and sell three copies in the first month. Distribution and marketing are what separate products that earn from products that sit. Most of the effort is in finding the right audience, not in building the thing.

WordPress themes and plugins on ThemeForest require quality that can compete with thousands of existing products. The marketplace is crowded and reviewers have standards. A theme that passes review and gets good early ratings can sell well. One that launches into a saturated category without differentiation will sit.

Freelancing is active income, not passive. The moment you stop showing up on Thumbtack or Upwork, the work stops coming in. It is the fastest path to cash but requires ongoing effort and has a ceiling defined by your available hours.

Email Marketing: The Multiplier Alston Uses Across All of These

One piece of the video that applies to almost every path on this list is email marketing. Alston is direct about the data here: email marketing converts at twice the rate of affiliate marketing alone. The reason is touchpoints. Research consistently shows it takes between 5 and 12 contact points with a potential customer before they buy. If someone visits your blog once and leaves, that is one touchpoint and you have probably lost them. If you get them on an email list, you can follow up repeatedly until they are ready.

Alston uses ClickFunnels as his email marketing platform and recommends it specifically because everything lives in one place. The landing page, the lead magnet, the autoresponder, and the email list all operate from the same system. He contrasts this with setups that require connecting three or four separate tools, which creates more places for things to break. ClickFunnels uses drag-and-drop templates, which means you can have a working email capture page running in an hour without touching code.

If you are pursuing affiliate marketing in particular, building an email list is not optional. It is the difference between a site that converts visitors into one-time clickers and a channel that builds a long-term audience you can sell to over and over.

Find Your X

Eight paths is a lot to think through at once. The practical question is not which one is best in theory. It is which one fits your current skills, your available time, and the type of work you are willing to do consistently. If you want to find the answer faster, visit finder.platformproof.com and answer a few questions about where you are right now. The tool points you to a specific starting path rather than leaving you to sort through all eight yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you need a big audience to start making money with affiliate marketing as a programmer?

No, but you do need some audience. Even a small, targeted readership of a few hundred people who trust your recommendations can generate affiliate commissions. The key is relevance. A small audience of developers who actively use the tools you recommend will outperform a large general audience that has no interest in the products. Start producing content in your niche and the audience builds from there.

What kind of AWS courses sell well on Udemy?

Courses tied to official AWS certifications consistently perform well because there is always a fresh wave of people studying for those exams. Alston built courses covering AWS broadly, IAM, and computers. Courses that walk through certification prep, hands-on labs, or specific services like Lambda, EC2, or RDS tend to attract buyers who have a specific, immediate goal: pass the exam or learn the service by a certain date. That urgency drives purchases.

How do you price paid coaching as a programmer?

Alston recommends hourly or monthly retainer structures. Hourly rates for specialized technical coaching can run anywhere from $75 to $250 or more depending on the rarity of the skill. Monthly retainers work better for longer engagements where the client needs ongoing support rather than a single session. Start by pricing what feels fair for your skill level and adjust based on whether you can fill your slots. If you fill up immediately, your rate is probably too low.

Is Thumbtack better than Upwork for developers?

Thumbtack works differently from Upwork. Thumbtack pushes jobs to you based on your skills and location, while Upwork requires you to search and apply proactively. For developers who want to pick up web design and app development work without spending a lot of time browsing job boards, Thumbtack’s notification-based model can save time. Upwork has a larger volume of global projects, so both have value depending on what you are looking for and whether you want local-adjacent clients or fully remote work.

What is the best digital product to sell if you know Python?

The best digital product is the one that solves a problem your target audience already knows they have. For Python, this could be a step-by-step guide on automation, data processing, building a specific type of tool, or using Python for a task that normally requires an expensive software license. The sweet spot is a specific outcome the buyer can achieve after following your guide. Vague topics sell worse than concrete, result-focused titles.

How hard is it to get a WordPress theme accepted on ThemeForest?

ThemeForest has a review process and maintains quality standards. Themes with poor code quality, weak design, or incomplete functionality get rejected. The review process can take weeks. That said, once a quality theme is accepted and starts accumulating sales and reviews, it can sell consistently for years. The initial investment is in building something genuinely competitive with what is already in the marketplace, not in cutting corners to get through review.

Can a web hosting reseller business actually make recurring money?

Yes. Alston runs Revolt Web Services using exactly this model. You purchase a block of server space from a major hosting provider at a wholesale rate and resell individual hosting accounts to your clients at a markup. Clients pay monthly or annually, and they typically stay because migrating a live site is a hassle. As long as you provide reasonable support and uptime, the income is stable and grows as you add more clients. The challenge is acquiring clients, which is a sales problem, not a technical one.

Is $300 per day realistic for a programmer just starting out online?

For someone starting from zero, $300 per day is not a first-month number on most of these paths. Freelancing through platforms like Thumbtack or Upwork is the fastest way to get there because individual projects can pay $500 to $3,000. Getting one or two decent web design projects per week puts you in that range. Affiliate marketing and digital products take longer to build the traffic needed to generate that volume. The honest path is to start with active income from freelancing or coaching to generate cash now, while building passive streams in parallel over several months.

Sources

Platform Proof YouTube: “How To Make Money Online For Programmers” at youtu.be/Mcu54gx1ivA
Amazon Associates program: commission rates for tech products (4% standard)
Udemy: course hosting platform referenced throughout the video
ThemeForest: WordPress theme marketplace discussed for theme and plugin income
Thumbtack: freelance job platform recommended by Alston for developers
Revolt Web Services: Alston’s web hosting reseller business mentioned in the video