How I Actually Made My First $3,000 Writing Tech Articles on Medium (No BS Guide)

Let’s be real for a second. If you read one more “How I made $10,000 in 30 days using ChatGPT” article, you’re probably going to put your fist through your monitor. I get it. The internet is flooded with robotic, generic advice written by people who spend more time prompting AI than actually building things.

When I started writing tech pieces on Medium, I didn’t have a massive following, a fancy newsletter, or a secret growth hack. I just had a laptop, a bunch of weird server errors I’d spent hours fixing, and a desperate need to turn my frustration into cash.

It took some time, but I eventually crossed the $3,000 mark from the Medium Partner Program. Here is the exact, unvarnished truth of how a normal person can actually do it—minus the corporate buzzwords.

1. Stop Writing Like a Textbook (Seriously, Stop)

The biggest mistake tech writers make? They try to sound like a senior documentation engineer at Google. They write passive sentences, use massive blocks of code with no explanation, and drain every ounce of personality from the page.

Guess what? People don’t read Medium for official documentation. They go to GitHub or Stack Overflow for that. They come to Medium because they want a human being to explain a complex topic like a friend over a beer.

• Instead of: “The implementation of Docker containerization architecture facilitates optimized resource allocation…”
• Try: “I was sick of my server crashing every time I updated a plugin, so I finally threw everything into Docker. Here is how I set it up without tearing my hair out.”

Write the way you talk. Use “I,” “me,” and “you.” Throw in a joke about how much you hate YAML indentation. Readers connect with people, not algorithms.

2. Mine Your Daily Frustrations for Gold

You don’t need to invent a new programming language to write a viral tech article. In fact, the pieces that made me the most money were born out of pure, unadulterated annoyance.

Did you just spend four hours troubleshooting a bizarre Nginx 502 Bad Gateway error? Did you figure out a clever way to link directory files across a server to save CPU? That is your next article.

The Anatomy of a Money-Making Tech Post:
1. The Problem: "This broken thing drove me crazy for a day."
2. The Failed Attempts: "I tried the top 3 answers on Stack Overflow. They lied."
3. The Real Fix: "Here is the exact script/config that actually worked."
4. The Takeaway: "Do this to save yourself the headache."

If you ran into a specific technical wall, odds are thousands of other developers are hitting that exact same wall. When they Google it and find your clean, relatable guide on Medium, they’re going to read the whole thing. And on Medium, reading time equals dollars.

3. Hit the “Sweet Spot” of Breadth and Depth

There is a massive market for intermediate tech content.

If your article is too beginner-friendly (“What is an If/Else Statement?”), the market is completely oversaturated. If it’s too hyper-specific (“Optimizing custom kernel compilation for a specific 2018 AMD processor”), only three people on Earth will care.

Aim for the middle. Write about architectural setups, automation workflows, debugging tricky environments, or clean ways to manage small-scale production systems. Things like building custom algorithms for content discovery or setting up self-hosted authentication are complex enough to be highly valuable, but broad enough to attract thousands of readers.

4. Work the Publications (But Don’t Beg)

When you have zero followers, publishing to your own blank profile is like shouting into a void. You need to leverage Medium’s built-in publications. Groups like Towards Data Science, Better Programming, or The Startup already have the audience you want.

Here is the normal person strategy for getting in:

• Don’t send half-baked drafts. Make sure your code blocks are clean, your formatting is scannable, and you’ve fixed any weird spacing issues with your punctuation.
• Submit via their official forms.
• Once you’re in, you inherit their distribution network instantly.

But here’s the kicker: don’t rely only on the publication’s front page. Medium’s algorithm rewards external traffic too. Share your link on specific subreddits, tech forums, or developer communities where people are actively asking the question your article answers. Just don’t spam—be helpful.

The Reality Check

Look, you’re not going to buy a mansion next week off Medium earnings. It’s a slow burn. Some articles you think are absolute masterpieces will make $4.12. Then, a random 800-word post you wrote in an hour about an open-source tool will go mini-viral and pay your rent for the month.

Stop trying to optimize for the perfect SEO keyword and stop letting AI write boring, soulless content for you. Just build cool stuff, fix annoying problems, and write about the process like a real human being. The money will follow.