Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Which programming language to learn to make extra income?

J

jc0481

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 16, 2005
228
0
My wife and I both work full time and go to school full time. We have in the near future big hospital bills coming our way.

I would like to learn a programming language so that way I can make some extra income on the side besides getting a job delivering pizzas. I went to my local bookstore and was overwhelmed at all the different programming languages out there to learn.

I understand it might take me a year or so to learn but I am willing to make the time to learn a programming language. I would like to put a local ad in Craigslist for example and other websites when I am ready to take on jobs.

But I'm not sure what kind of programming is in demand right now. I hope you guys can help me out with this. Thank you.
 
Sorry to be a downer, but I doubt you will get very far trying to freelance program without any experience or projects under your belt, companies can go to sites like rentacoder and find talent relatively cheaply.....

That being said, if you are at all artistically inclined you probably could carve out a niche doing web design/programming. By being local(so you can meet with the customer and get their input), and be able to offer the whole package, front end, back end, interactivity etc. you may be able to carve out a profitable niche for yourself. If you go that route then javascript, PHP, and Ruby would be safe bets.

Sorry if I sound kind of grim, but thats the reality of the situation....:rolleyes:
 
miles01110 said:
Assembly language :-\
Click to expand...

No, it's a pain and only works for very low level programming such as video games, OSs and heavy productivity programs.

Like foidulus said, you have to pick something else. Freelance programming will mean your starvation unless you work for a software company or IT department in a company.
 
Objective c... Programmers for ios are very much in demand right now.
You can gain a freelance job doing iOS apps fairly easily. Plus you can it your skills to use on your own time and make an app of your own and make some money with it (if it is good).
 
If you want to get money quickly, I recommend learning web development. If you would like to learn how to program and maybe later get a job as a programmer, I recommend learning Java and / or C++.

I know plenty of people who get paid for programming, yet struggle to implement a linked list in Java (further reading), so I think it's definitely possible for a self-learned programmer to get a job.
 
Like stated above, Java or C++. They are Object Oriented and are good springboards for learning a whole bunch of languages.
 
I'd suggest Objective-C and Python.

Objective-C because then you take advantage of the demand for iPhone applications (and to a lesser degree Mac OS X applications) and Python for website programming (using the Django framework). In combination they should allow you to do all kinds of interesting projects.

Both languages are pretty easy to learn.
 
foidulus said:
Sorry to be a downer, but I doubt you will get very far trying to freelance program without any experience or projects under your belt, companies can go to sites like rentacoder and find talent relatively cheaply.....

That being said, if you are at all artistically inclined you probably could carve out a niche doing web design/programming. By being local(so you can meet with the customer and get their input), and be able to offer the whole package, front end, back end, interactivity etc. you may be able to carve out a profitable niche for yourself. If you go that route then javascript, PHP, and Ruby would be safe bets.

Sorry if I sound kind of grim, but thats the reality of the situation....:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


This is the best advice.... Programming is not something that you can just sit down and do on the side to make money. You might make a little doing side web projects, but regular programming will take up a lot of time (not just a few side hours) and finding clients for side jobs will not be easy. If you do want to learn a language, any OOP language is probably the way to go.

FYI, I have been coding for over 4 years now and I am still learning. Programming is not something that you can quickly learn and I am bewildered why people think it is easy. You might be able to code a small cheesy app after about a year, but to do anything with substance to it will take many years of studying. Most of us never stop learning.
 
Last edited:
Why don't you try to make money doing what you are studying full time?

Sorry but I think it is unrealistic for someone with no programming experience to make any money coding. There are so many unemployed programmers right now with years and years of experience.
 
Whatever you feel like really to learn the principles, I find myself that skills are largely transferable between languages and once you have the basics it's fairly easy to map a learned paradigm to a particular syntax.
 
neiltc13 said:
Sorry but I think it is unrealistic for someone with no programming experience to make any money coding. There are so many unemployed programmers right now with years and years of experience.
Click to expand...

I completely agree.

Besides, there is a lot more to implementing a system than just coding it and it's not a skill you are going to be able to learn and put towards making money quickly.
 
neiltc13 said:
Why don't you try to make money doing what you are studying full time?

Sorry but I think it is unrealistic for someone with no programming experience to make any money coding. There are so many unemployed programmers right now with years and years of experience.
Click to expand...

this makes sense. why would someone NOT want to do this. and why on earth, would one deliver pizzas while studying? study hard, get an internship (paid or unpaid), and turn that into a real position.

pizzas/learning new code don't really fit in here.
 
Learn Brain****. It's the best out there, and there is even an IDE available!

But seriously, I suggest you start with Python, as it's very easy. Then, move to C++, ObjC (if you want to program on iOS/OSX), C#(Windows) or Java, as they are the most widely used in the industry.

There's also web programming, in which case you might want to look into PHP/SQL.
 
Sorry but I also think it's not a good idea. There are so many coders (and good ones) from India and many places working for very cheap on Rentacoder or Guru...
 
It sounds like your goals are misaligned with what you're trying to do. The idea behind taking up programming is fueled by the desire to make money to pay hospital bills in the near future. I've been trying to learn Java for the past 3 months outside my full time job and have barely cracked the surface of what I'm doing. No one would hire me right now.

Maybe as others have said you can learn HTML/CSS (and a dash of Javascript if you pickup the others quickly). These languages are much easier to learn, and you could realistically create a good enough looking website in a few months. Position and market yourself as a low-cost web developer to local small businesses who have basic web design needs (think places that don't need/have e-commerce, but who would need a web presence to be found on search engines).

This might get you smaller payments, but they would start rolling in sooner. Then, if you're still motivated to learn a real programming language, go with Java or Python as others have said.

Above all, good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back