How Can I Start Working Remotely as a Developer?

liualvin555

I'm an experienced developer looking to shift to remote work. I really want the flexibility to work from home, but I’m not entirely sure how to make a stable income from coding alone. My English is decent but not fluent, so ideally, I’d love to find opportunities that don’t require a high level of English.

I have a few ideas but feel a bit lost about where to start. I’ve also been feeling anxious recently, worrying that without the right remote opportunities, it’ll be hard to stay financially secure. If anyone has been through something similar or has advice, I’d really appreciate your input:

1. Freelance Projects and Remote Gigs

Are there any reliable platforms that are especially good for developers in China? I'd love recommendations for sites with stable, long-term projects.

2. Building and Selling Tools or Products

Has anyone successfully earned income by creating plugins, tools, or apps? What platforms are best for publishing and monetizing these?

3. Remote Full-Time Positions

Are there companies or job boards offering remote tech roles with manageable English requirements?

If anyone could share some tips or personal experiences, I'd be very grateful! Thanks in advance!

DullGreyGuy

liualvin555 said:

I'm an experienced developer looking to shift to remote work. I really want the flexibility to work from home, but I’m not entirely sure how to make a stable income from coding alone. My English is decent but not fluent, so ideally, I’d love to find opportunities that don’t require a high level of English.

I have a few ideas but feel a bit lost about where to start. I’ve also been feeling anxious recently, worrying that without the right remote opportunities, it’ll be hard to stay financially secure. If anyone has been through something similar or has advice, I’d really appreciate your input:

1. Freelance Projects and Remote Gigs

Are there any reliable platforms that are especially good for developers in China? I'd love recommendations for sites with stable, long-term projects.

2. Building and Selling Tools or Products

Has anyone successfully earned income by creating plugins, tools, or apps? What platforms are best for publishing and monetizing these?

3. Remote Full-Time Positions

Are there companies or job boards offering remote tech roles with manageable English requirements?

If anyone could share some tips or personal experiences, I'd be very grateful! Thanks in advance!

First of all, where are you based? What's your native language?

1. There are but they dont tend to be long term projects, most are relatively modest and many have unrealistic budgets if you're living in Europe, North America etc. Personally, I think this works better with a sales person and a number of developers behind them as the client time is often very high with many bids not coming off but then you can win 10 contracts at the same time. If you are in the UK/US then there are some who will pay more to have you same timezone etc. I used to make a about $500-$750 a month but it was patchy 

2. Depends what platform you build for, if you are an expert at native iOS devices you only have one place to sell. Have done similar but it was a passive income website. It was ok given at one point it was generating $100 a month for the cost of a domain a year, it could have done more if I'd promoted it etc but not a fan of marketing

3. There is a big difference between "fully remote" and "you can be anywhere in the world you want remote". There are reasonable numbers of fully remote but you need to be living in the UK and maybe come in 1-2 a quarter remote. Much less so if you need to work outside the UK