3 Ways Tech-Savvy People Can Earn Money While In College

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If you’re currently attending college or university, you will know that your expenses have gone up the roof. If you use some type of budget planner (I use email-based TheBirdy), you have probably been scared off by the high amount of money you’ve spent on even little things.
Do you want to try to get a grip on your expenses? Fear not. There are many ways you can quickly earn some money while balancing a student life with classes and social events. Let us present to you now a few of the best ways to earn money that can help you if you want to earn money.

Become Part Of Tech Support

Are you the kind of person whom your friends run to when they have technical questions? Do you have a fair knowledge of all things computer or web? You might be suitable to obtain a job as tech support. Your college or university most likely offers a helpdesk to assist students who are having trouble with their laptops, or students that require general technical assistance. Try looking up your college website’s job board to see if the school is hiring technical help desk staff.
Alternatively, you can walk up to the help desk and ask if there are any openings and if so, whether you can apply for a position right there on the spot. This job may require you to speak remotely to students or staff needing assistance over the phone or even chat.

Since this job is usually given to students, they are bound to offer flexible schedules and general pay, which isn’t bad if you don’t have a busy class schedule and you do enjoy helping others with their technical problems.

Assemble Computers For Others

If you have a knack for knowing all of the latest and coolest hardware components and can build a desktop computer, you could get a job at nearby computer repair shops. There are often places around campus that can actually fix computer issues when the university helpdesk cannot, so these are probably very near your school. Try applying at those locations if there are openings.
Duties might range from building computers to replacing cracked laptop screens. There are plenty of YouTube tutorials that show you how to do either. Here is one video from which I learned how to do the latter, which consists of removing the bezel and carefully detaching the ribbons before replacing the screen.
These duties will definitely be deeply hardware engineering-centric, as opposed to the helpdesk position where you might have to answer software-related questions or simple laptop concerns.

Make Mobile Apps

If you consider yourself passionate about technology, you have most likely considered learning some type of programming language, whether it is a software or web development or even a scripting language. If so, you can quickly become familiar with Java/XML, C#, or Objective C to make your own Android, Windows Phone or iPhone apps, which could be games, simple utilities or larger projects. MakeUseOf has Android tutorials for beginners, including ones on how to test your apps, and even articles for creating Android and iPhone apps without coding experience. There are also plenty of very thorough YouTube tutorials on programming for Android and iOS.
Making mobile apps can take some time, especially if you want to finish a good, actually usable app, but at least you are your own boss in this one, and you can write your app in the comfort of your home. When you finish writing your app, you’ll have to submit it to the market of the mobile platform you chose, which will cost $99+, though I know for Windows Phone apps, you can waive the fee for the first year only if you can provide a student email address with your university extension (i.e. @someU.edu). After that, you can sell your app for $0.99 and advertise to your friends or on blogs. You probably won’t get rich from your first student project app, but if you gain considerable experience and insight of what apps customers might need, you could earn some money with some passion for (clean) code and time.
Do you have suggestions for how tech-savvy students can earn money while still in college? Share them in the comments section below!
A bank of call center operators Image Via Shutterstock, Build a PC Image Via Shutterstock, Touchscreen smartphone with cloud of colorful application icons isolated on white background Image Via Shutterstock, Earning Money Over The Internet Image Via Shutterstock