What Do Developers Usually
Wear For Work?
Regardless of the reason, developers seem to prefer wearing plain shirts almost daily for work.
This was only partially true for me. Yes, I do have a rotation of plain shirts from Uniqlo for my daily work shirts but I was also a fan of puns and statement shirts, that I mostly got from Linya-Linya.
Uniqlo at Linya-Linya. – #BakaNaman?
Suddenly, like an NBI clearance check, it hit me. Dev themed pun shirts.
Kinda like those statement shirts that were geared for people of a certain profession?
It would feature some jargon that would only make sense for people on the same field of work. In my case would also be some kind in tongue-in-cheek pun for devs.
There were some shirts available on shops and also online but I was looking for something subtle and minimal.
Designing My Own Shirts
Circa 2016, I stumbled upon a platform where users can upload a design and have it printed and shipped to them. I whipped up a design and a few days later was shipped to my address.
You might have seen me in walking around Greenbelt and Glorietta while wearing this shirt. This is inspired by a project I was working on at the time.
Lightbulb Moment!
Why did I decide to sell shirts online?
Let’s fast forward a few years – 2019, my friend H and I are now working for different companies. H reached out and said something like:
“Hey, MatipidNaDahon, can I still order that dev shirt from you like before?”.
By this time, that printing platform had shut down. I also lost track of the PSD design file.
Wouldn’t want to let my friend down. I booted up Photoshop and re-created the design. Exported it to a transparent PNG file and sent it to H to have it printed somewhere else.
This was the lightbulb moment where I decided to look for another platform and thought to myself “Maybe, I can sell my shirts online”.
Inspired by MKBHD
I opted to use the same print on demand platform (cottonbureau.com) as tech YouTuber: Marques Brownlee.
The stars were aligning like divs on a display flex.
Cotton Bureau‘s catalogue was not yet saturated with developer / programming themed designs.
I have found my platform and my niche.
Only *Cricket Sounds* At The Start
With my new-found platform and a few designs ready to release to the world, I uploaded my designs and hoped for a few sales at best.
November 2019, my store is now live.
Days went by and still no sales, just *crickets*.
Weeks went by, and soon enough, months later still no sales.
Digital cobwebs are forming on the corners of my store.
Doubt was creeping in.
Maybe I was in over my head.
FINALLY GOT MY FIRST SALE!
Having no sales for months was discouraging but I only had a few designs on my store, maybe I just needed to create new designs.
So, I did just that.
I also watched a lot of ‘How to sell shirts online‘ videos on YouTube and read blogs about marketing my store.
The common suggestion from these vlogs and blogs was to create an online presence on social media.
I created a Twitter and Instagram page for my store and proceeded to spam the follow button expecting a follow back.
My target demographic are web developers and software engineers, I check their profile to see if they work the IT field before clicking the follow button.
Slowly getting user feedback and follow-backs, It seemed like the ball is now rolling and I have established a small online presence.
February 2020, months after uploading my first design,
after following hundreds of tech accounts on Twitter and Instagram,
after churning out a few more designs,
after shooing away the crickets
and after clearing away the cobwebs.
*drumroll*
I have my first sale!
!Goldmine
Looking back at the amount of work to reward ratio, selling shirts might not be the best approach to generate extra income.
We always hear about the success stories that earned thousands of dollars.
This is not one of them.
From conception, design work in Photoshop, adjustments, creating the product photos and posting on Twitter and Instagram, a shirt would usually take me about two to three hours to complete.
It took about a year for the store to be stable enough for me to take a backseat and leave it to earn passively.
There was a string of exhausting months where I wake up at 5:00 AM on weekends just to create two designs to upload to my store.
Passive Income While I Sleep
The store is still steadily growing even though I have stepped-back to focus on other things.
When I get an idea for a new shirt design, I can take my time and enjoy the design process instead of rushing.
Now, it does not feel like work, just a hobby of someone who want to create shirts for devs.
At the time of writing (April 2021), my store is on its third consecutive month of generating a modest amount while I sleep. Almost half of my total sales came from the last three months alone.
I did not find a goldmine, but I guess I can say I learned how to find gold.
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I wanted to thank you for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoyed every bit of it. I have got you book-marked to check out new things you postÖ
Hey there! Really appreciate your comment! Glad you liked my story, I am working on a new article.
I’m not the fastest writer but doing my best to publish more soon.
I must thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this website. I really hope to see the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own, personal site now 😉
We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our
community. Your website provided us with valuable information to work on. You have done an impressive job and our whole community will be grateful
to you.