From Beginner to Profitable: A Coder's Guide to Intrapreneurship |

Coding is a great way to earn money, and if you go about it the right way, you can make a lot of money. Some say you have to be an expert developer to make even a dime, but that isn't necessarily true. In this article, we will explore how a commercially viable web application was created by complete beginners and what you can learn from it to build your own money-making machine. A unique idea will be presented, so make sure to read the entire article because it will be worth it.

The Problem with Traditional Career Quizzes

Have you ever done a quiz where it'll eventually, after answering over 100 questions, tell you what career would suit your personality? The process is often awful and unnecessarily time-consuming.

A Modern Solution: Pathfinder

Pained by this experience, a team of developers participated in building a web application called Pathfinder. This application has the same purpose as those dreadful quizzes—to recommend a career that suits you—but it's way faster and more in line with today's times. It's actually fun to complete and has been proven to be very accurate.

Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

Skill Selection: When entering the page, you are shown a couple dozen bubbles, each containing the word of a soft or hard skill.
Personalization: You click the five words you can relate to the most.
Career Recommendation: Pathfinder then recommends a career path based on those words.
Detailed Information: You can then click on one of the suggestions to get more information about it, such as what the role is about and what education to get.

You may have noticed that the color scheme is honestly pretty ugly. The reason these colors were chosen was because when developing Pathfinder, the team mimicked the color style of the Swedish job agency. The belief was that had the project continued, it could have been sold to them or at least one job-matching organization in the world.

The Power of Intrapreneurship

Entrepreneurship is everywhere on the internet these days, but have you heard about intrapreneurship?

Note: Intrapreneurship is when you create value within an already existing organization, such as a job agency. It differs from entrepreneurship, which is when you try to create value on your own out of the blue.

So, instead of trying to create the next Spotify, think about something you can create that would offer value within Spotify. This is a way smarter and easier approach than being an entrepreneur, and it's something you can try for your next coding project. This idea is not commonly seen, offering a unique perspective on development.

You Don't Need to Be an Expert

The back end of Pathfinder, which included a robust personality and job-matching algorithm, was developed by an almost complete beginner. The only knowledge at the time were the basics of Python, and the rest was learned along the way. The entire application was built in just a few weeks.

This shows that if you come up with a good idea, even if you're new, you'll still be able to create it fast and then go about selling it.

Your Action Plan

If you'd like to make big money with coding, intrapreneurship is something you can try. Really think about the value you can offer within an existing product or service. Make a prototype, like with Pathfinder, and then try to sell it to someone. This approach has a high potential for success. Good luck with your coding project.