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Get paid for open source coding in GitHub

Codemil - Main — Codemill is a new freelance GitHub marketplace for developers

If you have mad coding skills and you're after a way to earn a bit of money on the side, a new outfit called Codemill might be just the thing you're looking for.

Describing itself as a marketplace for GitHub pull requests, Codemill is a clever way for organisations to get issues in their code fixed for cold hard cash, rather than relying on the good nature of GitHub, and of course it's also a way for developers to profit from their abilities quickly and easily.

It's all set up to be nice and straightforward for everyone to use. Clients can mark up their code issues with a simple tag – codemill${price} – which also includes the price that they're willing to pay to get it sorted, and it then becomes a task in Codemill's system. Developers can then browse open tasks, or simply set up alerts for new tasks based on programming language and price.

Codemill - negotiate a price — If you feel the price for a job is too low, it's easy to negotiate

If you find a job that's up your street then you can fork the repository and get to work, or if you think the price is a little low you can negotiate with the client first, through Codemill's system. Once you've forked the repository it's yours to work on alone; no-one can undercut you if you've started work.

When you're done, you send a pull request to complete the task, and if the client is happy with your work and merges it, you get paid via PayPal. Easy!

Codemill - getting paid — Submit your pull request, and if it gets merged that's when you'll get paid

Codemill also works with private repositories, making it suitable for companies that are a little more sensitive about sharing their code. In this case developers simply have to request permission to access the repository, which also enables clients to vet developers in advance, rather than have the work snaffled by the first dev to come along.

It's early days for Codemill, but if it catches on it could be a win both for companies that need their code fixed quickly, and for freelance coders looking to monetise their abilities.

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Jim McCauley is a writer, cat-wrangler and occasional street performer who's written for a multitude of publications over the past quarter of a century, including Creative Bloq, T3, PC Gamer and a whole load of long-dead print magazines.