Hackathons, Essay Plans, and KOL Events: A Chinese Dev's Side-Income Playbook

Hello everyone, I am a rural programmer (returned to the countryside in 2020, haven't left the village since), an independent developer (committed to developing 1000 small products), the front-end tiger Chen Suiyi (self-proclaimed). My official website is: https://yicode.tech.

Today I'm sharing a money-making idea: participating in contests, events, and activities that offer rewards, incentives, or fees.

For instance, I recently took part in the 2026 MoonBit Hackathon and received a 500 yuan prize. I'm currently working toward and participating in the quarterly competition, where first place takes 12,000 yuan. Wish me luck~.

If you're also interested in this event, you can contact me on WeChat at chensuiyime to join in.

Besides that, there's Juejin's Jinshi Essay Plan, which pays anywhere from tens to over a thousand yuan.

However, AI has become so hot that the platform's focus has long shifted, and the Jinshi Essay Plan hasn't been seen for a while.

Activities have never stopped. Among the endless contests and events flying around, Xiaohongshu's official activities stand out.

In a previous event, first place took away hundreds of thousands directly.

There's also the mini-program Jixinghui and others, which host many KOL activities suitable for self-media bloggers and community leaders.

Additionally, various platforms and websites release their own activities and contests. Keep an eye out, look around, and learn more.

So how do you find and participate in these contests and events?

It's actually simple. On self-media platforms, WeChat official accounts, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, search keywords like activity and contest, see which ones fit your direction, positioning, and abilities, then sign up and join.