Any decent writer can make money from writing, but depending on how you want to be hired/paid then the approach could be very different. So, I guess it depends

Any decent writer can make money from writing, but depending on how you want to be hired/paid then the approach could be very different. So, I guess it depends on... 1. What do you want to write? Ad copy? News? Fiction? 2. What do you bring to that subject matter that has value? Here's a real life example: About 10 years ago, a friend of mine was a business major and had a day job in marketing. He liked to write so he spent an hour every weeknight writing on his website. That website gained a following and with that proven success, he wrote a book proposal, shopped it around with some book agents, then they shopped it around with some publishers. They eventually got him a book deal. That book did very well and he got another book deal. Then one book was optioned for a movie. After his third book deal he was able to quit his day job. The movie option expired after two years and another studio optioned it. It has yet to be turned into a movie, but he continues to get paid by a studio who wants to prevent other studios from turning it into a movie before them. They may never actually do it though. He's written a few more books since then too. If you're thinking of writing a book though, the book itself is not where you make the money... you make the real money on whatever the book leads to: speaking engagements, movie options (fiction or nonfiction), other gigs that come from the awareness of you through the book, etc. I think it would be much harder to be hired as a journalist without a journalism degree, unless you demonstrate your journalism ability somewhere else first (your own website perhaps). As a developer, I think technical documentation could use a major improvement at many companies which might let you use both writing and development skills. But again, your journey to getting paid to write starts with knowing what you want to write.