| Given you C++ skillset I would look into less obvious "jobs", like maybe creating mods for games (not sure if minecraft mods can make you real money but at least it seems like fun thing to do). I suggest trying to do some small 2D game like vampire survivors like and publishing on Steam - this is what I would do if I was me at your age today. (but also training competitive programming if you want interesting jobs later) Or mobile games, like idle games like Idle Iktah, and other clones of RuneScape like idle games are good starting point. Other idea I have is just make a good voice note taking app using Whisper etc on mobile with some niche use-case. It's easy 1 man job. Other niche is making Android apps that are very low-resource for old devices that people use in Africa and Asia. In Poland one guy created chess on side and is millionaire from that because it was not using much resources and got popular in emerging markets. Thing very "boring" but popular thing like crossword puzzles, sudoku etc - execution and luck is key there. Also bots for games are good money but questionable and kinda hard these days, private servers etc. In games it's seems like tough market but you could get gigs easier. Also freelance platforms but it's mostly web stuff. You can also make side money doing programming tutoring maybe if you like that. Or just invest your time into winning competitive programming contests and in 3 years get job at FAANG and it's reliable way to get rich still. Money will come to you if you are good don't worry about it too much. |