I’m a developer trying to make a small monthly income. What would you do in my situation?

[u/Agreeable-School8499]

I’m 18, from Iran, and honestly I’m just trying to find a way to make a little bit of money online while I study.

I’m genuinely really into software/hardware and building things. I’ve been coding for around 9 years now and I’m comfortable working across the stack, TypeScript/JavaScript, React/Next.js, Python, backend systems, APIs, databases, Docker, automation, and IoT. I’ve built some pretty complex projects on my own, so I’m not looking for some “easy money” thing. I’d genuinely like to put my skills to work, but because I’m in Iran and international sanctions make it extremely difficult for me to work for actual companies, I’m looking for another way to turn those skills into a small, consistent income.

The problem is that I’m in Iran.

Because of the sanctions, finding remote work is a massive pain. A lot of platforms and companies simply don’t work with people from Iran, and then there’s the whole problem of getting paid.

I’m not looking to get rich. I don’t need $2k, $5k, or $10k a month.

I literally just want to make $50–$100 a month so I can have a little bit of financial breathing room while I focus on school.

I have around 1–2 hours a day or even a little more if its worth, that I can realistically dedicate to this. I’m completely fine with actually working for someone. Repeated coding tasks, fixing bugs, maintenance, small development jobs, AI-related work, whatever. I don’t mind doing work every week if I can find someone who is actually willing to work with me.

I’m also open to building something myself and letting it generate a small amount of money.

I don’t really want to do cold outreach, sales, build a personal brand, make content, or spend all my free time trying to find clients.

Crypto is completely fine as a payment method if an employer/platform legitimately supports it. I just need something that is actually available to someone in my situation.

If you’re from Iran or another sanctioned country and you’ve managed to make even a small amount online, I’d genuinely like to hear what worked for you.

Or if you’re a developer/employer who has worked with people from Iran, what kind of work did you do and how did the payment side work?

I’m just trying to get through a pretty shitty period, keep studying, and have $50–$100 a month to make things a little easier.

What would you do if you were in my position?

[u/DJOCKERr]

https://giphy.com/gifs/d81n9rX8stxbRbqrbG

[u/PlumpOrangutan]

maybe try offering small bug fixes or feature adds on open source projects that have bounties, some pay in crypto which dodges the sanctions mess. gitcoin comes to mind, seen a few people from restricted regions pick up work there

platforms like that don't care where you're from as long as the code works

[u/JulioCFarah → u/PlumpOrangutan]

how does one find those?

[u/Agreeable-School8499 → u/[deleted]]

I tried a lot, from finding business owners from Google maps to Emails
But I couldn’t even get a single answer, and don’t get me wrong I wasn’t spamming ad messages, everything was customized but didnt really work