I Made $1800 Last Month Using Tech Skills I Learned in Class

I'm a CS major. Last semester I was in Data Structures thinking "When will I ever use this?"

Turns out, way sooner than I thought.

I was broke. Part-time job paid $12/hour for 15 hours a week. That's $180 before taxes. Rent was $650.

I kept hearing "learn to code, make money." Cool, but I was already learning. I knew Python, Java, JavaScript. Where was the money?

Then I realized: I didn't need to be a Google engineer. Just slightly better than people who needed help.

The Failures

I tried internships. Got rejected from 23 companies.

"Not enough experience." "Looking for juniors." "Position filled."

Also tried Upwork. "CS student, knows Python and Java, will work cheap!"

Zero responses. Thousands of developers in India work for $5/hour. Couldn't compete.

What Worked

My roommate was struggling with Excel data analysis for his econ thesis.

"Can you help? I need to analyze 500 rows."

I wrote a Python script in 20 minutes. Cleaned data, ran analysis, exported to CSV.

"Dude, I would've paid $50 for that."

That got me thinking. I just used Intro to Python skills to solve a real problem. Someone would've paid.

Posted in Facebook groups: "CS student. Need help with data analysis, web scraping, automation? $30/hour."

First client in 2 days. Grad student needed web scraping for research. Took 3 hours. Made $90.

Did that 4 more times. Made $450 that month.

The Website Thing

I was at a coffee shop. Checked their website. Slow as hell. 8 seconds to load.

Ran PageSpeed Insights. Score of 23. Terrible.

Walked up: "Your website is really slow. Probably costing customers. I can fix it for $200."

He looked skeptical. I showed him the score. His face changed.

"How long?"

"Few hours."

Optimized images, minified CSS/JS, enabled caching. Web Dev class stuff. Took 4 hours. Score went to 87.

He paid $200 cash.

Did that 3 more times. Made $600.

Small businesses have websites but don't optimize them. They're slow, broken, outdated. Don't know how to fix it.

Not hiring a $5000 agency. But $200 for a student? Easy.

Automation Scripts

I was in a student Discord. Someone posted: "I hate manually downloading PDFs from class portal."

I wrote a Python script. Automated it. Posted for free.

Got 3 DMs asking for customization. Charged $40 each. Made $120 in one day.

People will pay for automation. Even simple stuff.

Started offering "automation as a service." Repetitive task? I'll write a script.

Made scripts for organizing files, scraping data, bulk emails, generating reports, backing up files.

Charged $50-150 per script. Made $400/month.

Tech Tutoring

Started tutoring other CS students. Not Intro to CS. Specific topics. Data structures, algorithms, debugging.

Posted in CS Discord: "Struggling with linked lists? $25/hour."

Got 3 students that week. Helped with concepts, debugging, exam prep.

Made $300/month. Easy and helped me understand material better.

What I'm Doing Now

Primary (15 hrs/week): Website optimization. $800/month.

Secondary (10 hrs/week): Automation scripts. $400/month.

Side (5 hrs/week): Data analysis and scraping. $300/month.

Occasional: Tutoring. $300/month.

Total: $1800/month. More than bookstore job, fewer hours.

Skills That Make Money

Don't need to know everything. Just a few things well.

Python: Data analysis, web scraping, automation. My bread and butter.

Web stuff: HTML, CSS, JavaScript. Basic knowledge fixes most small business sites.

Databases: SQL. Small businesses need help organizing data.

Git/GitHub: Students will pay to understand version control.

Excel/Sheets: If you can write formulas and scripts, people pay.

Don't need React, Docker, Kubernetes. Basic skills are enough.

What Doesn't Work

Building apps: Spent 2 months on a "study buddy" app. Got 12 downloads. Made $0.

Open source: Great for learning, terrible for money.

Competitive programming: Fun, doesn't translate to income.

Learning frameworks: Spent weeks on React. Haven't made a dollar.

The stuff that makes money is boring. Fixing websites. Writing scripts. Helping with Excel.

How to Start

Don't wait until "good enough." You're already good enough.

Know Python basics? Write automation scripts.

Know HTML/CSS? Fix websites.

Know SQL? Help with databases.

Start helping for free. Post in Discord, Facebook, Reddit. "Learning [skill], happy to help with small projects."

Get experience. Get testimonials. Then charge.

I spent 3 weeks "preparing." Stupid. You learn by doing.

Look, I spent so much time figuring out which tech skills to monetize. Eventually I built a tool to help students find quick ways to make money based on what they know. Not perfect but beats endless research.

The Numbers

Month 1: $450

Month 2: $750

Month 3: $1,100

Month 4: $1,400

Month 5-6: $1,600-1,900

Not rich. But not stressed about rent. Can buy textbooks. Go out with friends.

Common Mistakes

Waiting to be expert: Don't need to be expert. Just know more than person who needs help.

Undercharging: Started at $20/hour. Now charge $40-60 for same work.

Only big projects: Small projects add up. $50 here, $100 there.

Competing on price: Don't be cheapest. Be most convenient, reliable, easiest to work with.

Imposter Syndrome

Yeah, I had it. "Who am I to charge? I'm just a student."

Here's what helped: Not competing with senior engineers. Competing with people who know nothing.

Business owner doesn't know how to optimize website. I do. That's enough.

Grad student doesn't know scraping. I do. That's enough.

Don't need to be best. Just better than alternative (usually nothing).

Tools You Need

Free: Python, VS Code, Git/GitHub, Chrome DevTools, Google

Paid (optional): ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), Hosting ($5-10/month)

That's it. Don't need expensive courses.

Should You Try?

If you're a CS student and broke, yeah try it.

If doing fine, maybe focus on classes and internships.

For me it was worth it. Not just money, but learned way more doing real projects than in class.

Plus, when applying for internships: "Built automation scripts for 20+ clients" beats "Completed CS assignments."

Final Thoughts

Don't need to wait until graduation to make money with tech skills.

Don't need to be senior engineer.

Don't need to know everything.

Just know a few things and find people who need help.

First month was slow. Made barely any money. Questioned it.

But month 2 was better. Month 3 better. Now it's working.

If you're a CS student stressed about money, just try. Pick one thing. Offer help. See what happens.

You might surprise yourself.