Over the years, most programmers have had to depend on just creating software and applications. Moreover, the number of programmers increases yearly. According to statistics, in the year 2018, there were 23.6 million programmers in the world. This number increased in 2019 to 26.4 million. And currently, in 2021, there are 26.9 million programmers in the world. 

With the continuous rise of the number of programmers in the world, it is advisable that a programmer lookout for other passive means of income. Although this does not mean that a programmer who doesn’t have a passive income stream will not be able to make ends meet.

What is Passive Income?

Passive income can be defined as a source of income different from one’s regular source. Passive income most times requires the least amount of work because it is a job done alongside one’s regular income. In simple terms, it is any job done to earn extra money. 

A lot of individuals, companies in different fields have separate sources of income apart from the regular ones. Hence it is not surprising to see programmers engaging in different passive income streams. However, a lot of programmers in their quest to make more money, make the mistake of taking up a passive income stream that is not beneficial. Hence, this article will teach you the  5 best passive incomes to engage in as a programmer. 

5 Best Passive Income Streams for Programmers

The 5 best passive income streams a programmer can engage in include:

1. Monetizing Your SaaS Product 

Creating and monetizing SaaS products is one of the best passive incomes for a programmer to engage in. It is even more advantageous for programmers who work remotely. This is because there is always a demand for SaaS such as Adobe, Zoom, Slack, etc. In addition, this demand is always on the rise. The easiest part is that it is not necessary to create complex software or applications. The most important thing to note is that the software must be useful and in high demand. 

Furthermore, this passive income does not need you to be at an advanced level of your programming skills. Even as a programmer who is still at the beginner level, you can still be engaged in this passive income stream. All you have to do is to create software (s) that a lot of people will find very useful and sell it out at a monthly subscription. 

The only challenge you might encounter is the problem of marketing your software. However, this problem should only be at the beginning of the launch of the software. Once the software has become well known and received by many, there is no need for you to continue to engage in aggressive marketing. Instead, focus on trying to upgrade and improve the software so that people don’t lose interest in it. 

2. Blogging

Blogging is another passive income that a programmer can engage in. You might be asking yourself these questions – why should I own a blog? How do I make money from blogging? What should be the content of my blog? Well, your questions will be answered shortly.

Blogging is another good passive income stream for a programmer. This is because there are millions of people who are interested in learning about programming every day. So instead of just using the knowledge you have to develop software (s) and applications, you can as well monetize your knowledge. 

How do you monetize your blog? When your blog is filled with awesome content, it is very easy to draw traffic to your blog. You can then run Google Adsense and you will be paid for every click. Furthermore, you can also be involved in affiliate marketing and be paid for every product and service bought from your blog. In addition, you can get your visitors to pay a fee for them to get complete access to your blog’s contents.  

The easiest part of this passive income is the content of your blog. You don’t have to post content every day on the blog. You can just post once a week or twice a week. That way, you are posting at your convenience, while still making money.

3. Create a Chatbot

You can develop and sell chatbots to businesses to help them maximize productivity while at the same time render quality customer services. A lot of businesses are regularly searching for programmers with relevant skills to hire them to develop chatbots for their businesses. 

This chatbot will be able to solve the problem of time-consuming customer support tasks for their businesses. A good chatbot should also be able to help customers and visitors to have easy navigation of their websites, answer FAQs and relieve the customer service agents of some pressure. 

Therefore, as a programmer, you can develop chatbots as a source of passive income stream. You can make money from the sale of these chatbots as a service, using them as a form of advertisement, for customer service or support, etc. With the right ideas and awesome marketing skills that target the right businesses, you can make it big with this passive income.

4. Create or Buy a Website or an App

This is another easy passive income stream for programmers. Here there is little or nothing to do and yet you are making money. Create a website or an app and make money from the website or app through affiliate marketing and purchases made through them. 

More so, you can skip the process of developing a website or an app and jump to the money-making process. This is achieved by buying a ready-made website or app and claiming exclusive ownership of it. Although there is little work here. You have to constantly renew the contents of the website/app and also upgrade it to attract new customers or visitors to it. 

5. Develop or Sell Special Effects / Functions,  Animations, Websites

As a programmer, you can generate income by developing special effects or functions, animations, and websites for sale. All you have to do after developing them, you target the right businesses that might need them, with the right advert you will get them to buy from you. 

You can also contact a business website’s owner or an app developer and propose to help them develop special effects, functions, and add-ons for their website or app for some money. If your proposal looks enticing enough, you will be hired and you have made your money. 

In addition, you can have ready-made special effects, functions, and websites available to make it easier to convince your prospective clients. Hence, whatever you are developing has to be very enticing and useful. 

Conclusion

Having passive income streams alongside being a programmer is very beneficial. Not only do you earn more money, but you also get to expand your skills and utilize them to the maximum. Therefore, it is important although not compulsory to have passive income stream(s). However, if you want to be engaged in any passive income stream(s), then you should choose from any of the streams explained in this article.