5 Ways to Get Disgustingly Rich As A Programmer

Finance / Markets Relevance

This video is primarily career/entrepreneurship advice for programmers. It does not provide investment/market analysis, portfolio construction, macro context, or finance performance metrics.

It includes a few dollar-amount earnings/case figures related to business opportunities such as:

• bug bounties
• freelancing
• jobs
• SaaS

Mentioned Instruments / Tickers / Assets / Sectors

• None (no stocks/ETFs/bonds/commodities/crypto mentioned)

Key Numbers & Figures (Earnings / Payouts)

Bug Bounties

• Google: $81,933,423 paid out since 2010
• Example individual payout: $605,000 for one vulnerability
• Apple: up to $2,000,000 for one critical vulnerability
• HackerOne: $380,000,000+ paid to users
• HackerOne user distribution (2018):
  • 12% earn $20,000+/year
  • 3% earn $100,000+/year
  • 1% earn $350,000+/year
  • Implied: 84% earn <$20,000/year

Non-financial scoring/ranking (“C tier”)

• Realism: 4/10
• Effort: 8/10
• Money potential: 8/10
• Time to first dollar: 3/10
• Luck: ~4.5/10

Freelancing

Non-financial scoring/ranking (“A tier”)

• Realism: 7/10
• Effort: 9/10
• Money potential: 9/10
• Time to first dollar:
  • 10/10 “technically”
  • realistically 2–6/10 (depends on selling/pitching)
• Luck: 3/10

Hackathons

Prize examples

• Typical prizes: “few hundred bucks to thousands”
• “Bolt hackathon” (largest mentioned):
  • $1,000,000+ prizes
  • $100,000 for first place

Non-financial scoring/ranking

• Realism: 4/10
• Effort: 6/10
• Money potential: 3/10
• Time to first dollar: 9/10
• Luck: 4/10

Explicit conclusion: “F tier” for making money (but great for career)

Job (Tech Employment)

• Claimed pay: “entry-level… more than most jobs,” “easily six figures”
• Research source referenced for compensation: levels.fyi (no numeric figures quoted)

Timelines

• Degree: about 4 years
• For AI/ML: additional master’s or PhD, adding roughly 4–6 years, totaling 8–10 years

Non-financial scoring/ranking (“S rank”)

• Realism: 8/10
• Effort: 9/10
• Money potential: 7/10
• Time to first dollar: 1–3/10
• Luck: 3/10

Software as a Service (SaaS)

General risk statement

• “Statistically, your first SaaS will probably not work”

Revenue potential claims

• “Hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to even millions”

Timing

• Time to first dollar: 4/10 (e.g., waiting list, Stripe link mentioned as a tool)

Non-financial scoring/ranking

• Realism: 4/10
• Effort: 9/10
• Money potential: 10/10
• Time to first dollar: 4/10
• Luck: 8/10
• Tier conclusion: “B tier” (due to high failure rate and effort)

Methodologies / Frameworks (Step-by-Step)

No investment methodology is provided. The “framework-like” content focuses on practical paths to earn money.

Bug Bounties

1. Learn cybersecurity/security fundamentals
2. Find vulnerabilities and submit reports via programs/platforms (e.g., Google/Meta/Microsoft programs; HackerOne/Bugcrowd)

Freelancing

1. Choose a valuable skill businesses need
2. Build portfolio proof/design mockups
3. Pitch clients, deliver projects, get paid, then iterate/scale toward an agency

Hackathons

1. Form a team (or go solo)
2. Build a demo quickly (weekend to up to ~month)
3. Pitch to judges and win prizes

Job

1. Learn fundamentals + job-specific skills
2. Build resume projects
3. Prepare for interviews
4. Apply and interview until hired
5. (Optional) use roadmap guidance (roadmap.sh) and a newsletter (SlothBytes)

SaaS

1. Identify a high-demand idea
2. Build an app and charge monthly subscriptions
3. Acquire customers (e.g., waiting list / “Stripe link” concept)
4. Scale as a business rather than a side project

Explicit Recommendations / Cautions

• Bug bounties: “not that easy”; most users earn under $20k/year (per 2018 HackerOne stats)
• Hackathons: “absolute garbage, F tier” for making money (but good for networking/career)
• SaaS: recommended approach is build a SaaS as a side project while your tech job pays the bills
• Job: presented as the most realistic path with stable income (paycheck “every two weeks” mentioned)

Disclosures / Disclaimers

• Says: “I’m not a financial advisor” (in the bug bounty section).
• Includes: “I’m going to give you five ways…” and ranks them by factors like realism/luck (not financial advice, beyond the casual “not a financial advisor” statement).

Presenters / Sources Mentioned

• Presenter: the (unnamed) speaker who ranks methods and promotes tools/services
• Referenced companies/programs: Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple
• Referenced platforms: HackerOne, Bugcrowd
• Referenced tools/resources:
  • Mobbin (web/app/design tool)
  • levels.fyi (compensation data source)
  • roadmap.sh (learning resource)
  • SlothBytes (newsletter)
  • Stripe (payment tool mentioned for SaaS idea validation)