Budgeteen
Last reviewed 30 September 2026 · Age rules from each platform's own terms · Pay data is adult context, not a promise
Virtual assisting, design and coding are skills adults get hired for, and a teen can start all three for free. Age limits matter: GitHub and freeCodeCamp set 13 as the minimum, Canva limits under-13s to Canva Education, and Fiverr and Upwork require 18. This guide covers how to start, how to build a portfolio, and what official sources say.
| Platform | Minimum age | What the official page says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canva | Under 13 only through Canva Education | "Children may not access or use the Service, other than through Canva Education"; a child is under 13 or under the local minimum age of consent for data. The terms also require that you can form a binding contract, so involve a parent | Canva Terms of Use |
| GitHub | 13 | "A User must be at least 13 years of age"; your country's minimum may be higher | GitHub Terms of Service (effective April 27, 2026) |
| freeCodeCamp | 13 | Users must be at least 13 | freeCodeCamp Terms of Service |
| Fiverr | 18 | 13- to 17-year-olds only through a parent- or guardian-owned account, with permission; under-13s not permitted | Fiverr Help Center |
| Upwork | 18, or the age of majority where you live if higher | Business use only | Upwork User Agreement |
A virtual assistant organizes someone's calendar, inbox, files, spreadsheets, research and simple customer messages. BLS notes that some administrative assistants work from their own homes as virtual assistants, and that entry typically takes a high school diploma. You can start free with any free document and spreadsheet tool. Practice on real tasks you can show: a family trip plan, a club sign-up sheet, a price comparison for something your household needs. Good portfolio pieces are a before-and-after spreadsheet, a reusable template and a one-page research summary. At 14 and 15, office work for an employer is allowed within the federal hour limits; see jobs for 13, 14 and 15 year olds.
Canva's pricing page lists a Free plan alongside paid ones. Practice with real briefs: a flyer for a school club, a menu for a family event, a social post for a neighbor's yard sale. Follow Canva's content license rules and only use photos you have the right to use. For the adult career, BLS says graphic designers typically need a bachelor's degree, that a portfolio matters, and that about 20% are self-employed. Employment of graphic designers is projected to fall 2% from 2025 to 2035.
freeCodeCamp's FAQ says: "Every aspect of freeCodeCamp is 100% free. The courses, the projects, even the certifications." It is a 501(c)(3) public charity. GitHub's Free plan includes unlimited public and private repositories, and GitHub Pages works in public repositories on GitHub Free. Both need you to be 13 or older. Build three small projects: a personal page, a tool that solves a real problem (a chore rota or a savings calculator), and one that uses data. For the adult career, BLS says web developers' education ranges from a high school diploma to a bachelor's degree, and that some may not need specific credentials if they can show their abilities through prior work or projects. Employment of web developers and digital designers is projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035.
For each piece, write down the brief or problem, what you did, the tool you used, how long it took and the result. A short, honest write-up beats a long list of software names. Ask permission before you show work you did for someone else, and blur anything private. Keep your full name, school and address off public portfolio pages. Ideas for small paid work by age are on side hustles by age.
Upwork and Fiverr set 18 as the minimum; Fiverr allows 13- to 17-year-olds only through a parent-owned account. Otherwise, start with people you or your family know, and let a parent handle contracts and how you get paid. The FTC says honest employers never ask you to pay to get a job. Watch for the fake-check scam, where someone sends a check and asks you to send part of it back, and talk to someone you trust before accepting an offer. On taxes, IRS self-employment tax usually applies at $400 or more of net self-employment earnings; the details are on first paycheck taxes for teens.
| Occupation | Median pay, May 2025 | Typical entry education | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secretaries and administrative assistants | $48,310 a year | High school diploma or equivalent | BLS OOH |
| Graphic designers | $62,960 a year ($30.27 an hour) | Bachelor's degree | BLS OOH |
| Web developers | $92,650 a year (web developers and digital designers combined: $99,520) | Varies (high school diploma to bachelor's) | BLS OOH |
| All occupations | $50,980 a year | None | BLS OOH |
These are medians for adult employees and exclude self-employed workers. They are not what a teen will earn from a side project, and Budgeteen makes no earnings promises.
Budgeteen's Skills roadmap includes a track on shipping real work with free tools, alongside money foundations, the First Paycheck sim, pay-stub decoding and scam-DM spotting. The Skills Card is a shareable proof-of-work profile built from finished tracks, streaks and tracked earnings. The Work tab ranks hustles and job ideas by age. Budgeteen isn't a coding or design course. Use the free resources above for those skills. Comparing money apps? See Budgeteen vs Greenlight.
Canva's Terms of Use say children under 13, or under the local age of consent for data, may use Canva only through Canva Education. The same terms say you may use Canva only if you can form a binding contract, so a teen should set up an account with a parent's agreement. Canva's pricing page lists a Free plan.
Eighteen. Upwork's User Agreement requires users to be at least 18, or the age of majority where they live. Fiverr's help center says all users must be 18 or older, and that 13- to 17-year-olds may use Fiverr only through an account owned by a parent or legal guardian, with their permission.
freeCodeCamp says every part of its curriculum is free, including its certifications, and its terms require users to be at least 13. GitHub's Free plan lets you keep projects in public or private repositories, and GitHub Pages can publish a simple site from a public repository. GitHub also requires users to be 13 or older.
BLS pay data covers adult employees, not teen freelancers. In May 2025, median annual pay was $48,310 for secretaries and administrative assistants, $62,960 for graphic designers and $92,650 for web developers. The figures exclude self-employed workers, so they say nothing about what a teen side project will earn.
Official pages, reviewed 30 September 2026.
More short answers live on the Budgeteen FAQ. What the app is: What is Budgeteen. The envelope loop: how teen budgeting works in Budgeteen. Data rules: Budgeteen Privacy Policy.