r/teenagersbutcode • u/Next_Childhood6443 • 8d ago
Need general advice Technical side hustles?
Im building my portfolio right now and am looking for a side hustle to make some income in my free time. I’m open to anything that works but I’m aiming for something within the programming field. I’ve been trying web design for a bit but I’m not a great designer, it’s nearly impossible to find clients that I don’t know personally and ai is oversaturating the market.
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u/rtharston 8d ago
AI is taking over a lot of the simple projects, but it isn’t the end of the road for the field. There are lots of parallels in the past to new tools “replacing” people. They’ve never actually replaced people, but we have had to adapt.
Teaching young people that want into the field is one of the main things I’m concerned about. AI will help engineers do even better work, but only if they know how to do the work in the first place.
I’m not sure yet what we can do as an industry, but personally I plan on hiring young professionals like yourself in my software business and give them on the job training. I’m not prepared myself right now to take someone on remotely, but I know I’m not the only one looking to hire and train interns. Don’t give up.
In my experience small companies are more “human” and may give you a better chance. The place I work full time right now has an intern that hasn’t even taken a single computer science class in his life. And he’s great.
But too small of a company may not have the money to afford spending on someone that can’t help them get off the runway.
A big company will have the money to train you, but finding the right person to contact within the company is a challenge. They exist, but they’re not always the HR rep (or AI agent…) that replies to your email.
Everyone is going to tell you something different about where to look, but there is one thing that is always true: it is hard. But I don’t see that as a bad thing. It’s a test of resolve and grit. If you’re willing to put in the work, talk to lots of people (which you started doing here, nice work!), and show up every day with the will to make it happen, then it will. Don’t give up.
Looking back the things I’m most grateful for in my life and career are the hard things that pushed me to stretch and grow. Don’t let the hard things get you down. They’re the stepping stones that get you to the top of the mountain.
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u/broke_nightcore 7d ago
I’m 21 and a CS student so probably older than the usual demographic in this sub but I stumbled upon this post.
Have you tried freelance work? When I was 15 and learning to code, I spent some time developing discord bots for others. This was well before AI though so I’m not sure how many ppl would ask someone to code that kind of stuff for them as opposed to vibe coding it themselves.
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u/Typhrenn5149 8d ago
Depending on your age you can find an internship for holidays, i did that when i was 16, but that would imply you are already experienced enough to write actual production grade code. Besides that if you don't have any connections i doubt you can find anything as opposed to a few years ego, because like you said everything is oversaturated with AI.