--- title: Stop Coding for Free: Get Paid First! | daily.dev description: A mentorship anecdote argues developers should never write code without a paying customer committed to the bill. After adopting a strict no-pay-no-work policy,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-coding-for-free-get-paid-first--4uvrxfga4 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Stop Coding for Free: Get Paid First! | daily.dev og:description: A mentorship anecdote argues developers should never write code without a paying customer committed to the bill. After adopting a strict no-pay-no-work policy,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-coding-for-free-get-paid-first--4uvrxfga4 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4uvrxFGA4.png og:image:alt: Stop Coding for Free: Get Paid First! og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Stop Coding for Free: Get Paid First! **[The Serious CTO](https://daily.dev/sources/seriouscto)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A mentorship anecdote argues developers should never write code without a paying customer committed to the bill. After adopting a strict no-pay-no-work policy, a business partner refused further free features or changes, resulting in more available time and increased revenue. The core message: treat coding effort as an investment that must generate a return, not free labor. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Write some software, give it away for free](https://daily.dev/posts/write-some-software-give-it-away-for-free-jl8u6eowb) · Hacker News · 52 upvotes · 6 comments - [Stop building side projects. Nobody cares — and here's the uncomfortable math.](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-building-side-projects-nobody-cares-and-here-s-the-uncomfortable-math--azxnbhn3v) · DEV · 47 upvotes · 20 comments - [You're Not Paid to Write Code](https://daily.dev/posts/you-re-not-paid-to-write-code-v90betmzy) · Tech World With Milan · 288 upvotes · 26 comments --- Tags: [#business](https://daily.dev/tags/business) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-coding-for-free-get-paid-first--4uvrxfga4) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Stop Coding for Free: Get Paid First!","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-coding-for-free-get-paid-first--4uvrxfga4","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-coding-for-free-get-paid-first--4uvrxfga4"},"datePublished":"2026-08-24T06:47:50.943Z","dateModified":"2026-08-24T06:48:03.453Z","description":"A mentorship anecdote argues developers should never write code without a paying customer committed to the bill. 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