Replit bounties are basicallly freelancing listings, on Replit. The listings are programming/coding related tasks you can do for bounty posters, in exchange for something called cycles. Cycles are the currency Replit uses. Once you reach a total of 35000 cycles, you can cash it out, for real money, into your bank account.
The good thing is, unlike other freelancing platforms, you can complete your first listing within a few weeks, as an absolute beginner. No need to top up "application credits", or hope your gig gets big. You get what you put in.
If you are still unsure, feel free to check out this video. In summary, here is the 3 main benefits of Replit bounties:
- Easier to start making money as a developer, compared to other freelancing platforms
- No "application" credits needed (you don't have to pay to apply for bounties at all)
- Built in IDE: Replit has a built in IDE, making everything a breeze. From deployment, debugging. It is basically an all-in-one platform for developers
Before applying for anything, make sure your profile is optimized. This will result in a significantly higher chance of you getting the bounty you applied for. Remember, these people are spending alot of money, there is alot of competition. Put yourserlf in the bounty posters shoes. Would they choose a profile with a default robot picture, with an empty, unprofessional profile? Probably not. Here are a few things you can do to optimize your profile:
- Professional, high quality profile picture
- Name, description, links
- Your best projects, showcasing your skills
Make sure your profile picture is really professional. Use a clear picture of your face, as this makes you more trustworthy in the eyes of the bounty poster. If, for some reason, you can't get a really professional picture of yourself, borrow a phone of someone in your family, and take a photo. If you can't do that, just use AI to generate a professional headshot photo, using a prompt that describe the way you look. Feel free to use this, to generate an AI profile picture for absolutely free.
For your name, make sure you are not using a nickname, or your gamertag. Bounty posters value professionalism, that is the feel your profile should envoke. Use your real name and surname, as this builds more trust. For your profile bio/description, I recommend putting your skills there. Here is an exmample bio: "React JS | Python | Something else".
If you have some work experience, or you've contributed to a project, feel free to put it here. If you don't have any skills yet, nor work experience, don't worry. I suggest going through the free courses on freeCodeCamp, or Replit. For your links, link up your Github, and portfolio website link. If you can afford $10 - $20 on a personal domain, I highly suggest it. It will look more professional than a free domain.
Here are highly optimized Github profiles of some bounty hunters, you can use as a reference:
Adding your best projects on your profile, will also help with increasing your chance of getting accepted for the bounties you apply for. Add a great description, a banner image, and a icon image, to give it a final touch. Here is a step-by-step video, where I went in detail, on how to optimize your replit profile.
For your portfolio, it is great if you have one that showcase your work experience, best project, and skills. Here are some examples:
Here are some well optimized, professional bounty hunter profiles. They all have implemented most, if not all of the optimizations I mentioned above.
Feel free to use these profiles as inspiration for when you are optimizing your profile:
Now that you have your profile optimized it is time to apply for bounties. Here is the best advice I can give you: apply regularly. Don't expect to get accepted for the first application you made. That is unrealistic. There is a big chance that you will appy for 10 - 20 bounties, before you get accepted for your first one. That is alright. It takes time and daily effort for the snowball to start kicking in.
I recommend going for the smallest bounties there are. You will make a little amount of money, but you will get a review, and a completed bounty on your name. This will make so that there is a higher chance of you getting accepted for bigger bounties.
It is hard to compete against the bounty hunters that have already have a bunch of bounties completed. How can you stand out?
- Make a demo/simplified version
- Use proper English and grammar
- Spend time researching, understanding the problem, and how you are going to solve it
- List similar projects you have worked on, if you have
- Look at the other applications, and think: "What can I do better, to stand out?"
- Spend time writing your application, don't just copy the bounty description and paste it into ChatGPT, to generate an application for you. It is really easy to see that
Remember, it is only difficult in the start. The more bounties you complete, the higher chance you will have to get accepted for bigger bounties. A massive rock if you were to push it, the difficulty would be really hard at first. But once it starts moving it gets momentum, and soon, the rock will move without you even having to push it.
I recommend only applying if you are certain you can deliver quality results within the deadline.
What is a good structure for a bounty application? Well, you can follow this generic structure, it has been proven time and time again to work.
- Greeting (Hi ...,)
- 1 - 2 sentences of a professional introduction, and your skills relevant to the bounty
- (optional, definitely worth it) a video showcasing a demo/simplified version of the bounty, or any other free value you can give, to stand out. I highly recommend this, especially if you are a beginner.
- Past work experience/project similar to the bounty
- Your approach for how you would complete the bounty
- (1 sentencce explaining why you are the ideal hunter for this bounty
- CTA (example: Let's discuss)
Once you are accepted for a bounty, what next? Now you must complete it. Make sure to do everything that was on the bounty poster description. Give daily updates to the bounty poster, on the progress you are making. Once you are done, go to the bounty post, and click the submit button. Provide setup guides, and all the relevant links that the bounty poster might need.
Ask for a 5 star review, and a great review message. It will help you get more bounties in the future, easier.
If you want to get additional resources, about how to stand out as a bounty hunter, and understand how Replit works, here are some resources that you will find valuable:
In conclusion, Replit bounties are a great way to earn money as a developer, especially if you new to freelancing. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me, by clicking on one of the icons on the navigation bar. If you like the idea of this project, and you want to contribute, feel free to do so, by making a pull request to this Github repository. If I made a spelling mistake, it would help if you can raise an issue. Have a great day.