How to Make Money from Programming

1. Begin by checking out rentacoder.com - once you register on the site, you can bid on a variety of software design projects involving anything from building websites to C/C or Java applications from around the world. If you win the bid, you do the programming and the site takes care of payment collections. The money is deposited into your Paypal account when you complete the project. There are some other payment options available as well.
It's not always easy to win bids as there is quite a bit of competition, but if you work on your presentation and bid low until you improve your rating, you can make some decent money.
2. Take a look at some other freelance coding websites: scriptlance.com, getafreelancer.com, www.guru.com, elance.com - you may find something you can program there.

3. Check craigslist frequently, as there are often freelance programming jobs available in the gigs section under computers.
4.

Become an iPhone developer. Visit developer.apple.com to find out how to do that. It does cost $99 to join iPhone developer program, but they provide you with all the tools for developing, debugging, and distributing your apps at the app store. You can make apps for anything, even games, and you can put them up at the store for free or for a price that you determine. Whenever someone buys your apps, your account gets credited. Highest earning apps made millions.
Beware that you need a Mac to code for iPhone. If you join the developers program, however, you can get a discount on a Mac.
5.

Become and Xbox developer and sell your games on Xbox LIVE marketplace. Start by joining the XNA creators club for free - creators.xna.com/en-US/ - this will allow you to make games for Windows or Zune. You would need an Xbox console and a premium XNA memebership, which costs $99, to make and sell games for Xbox.