The Reality of Shipping Products as a Student in India
Balancing a Computer Science degree with a growing portfolio of side projects. From tutorial hell to shipping Rune.codes, here is my story.
Being a Computer Science student in India often means oscillating between two worlds: the academic grind of exams and assignments, and the creative chaos of building and shipping independent products.
It's not easy. But it's arguably the best way to learn.
The Dual Life: Exams vs. Deployments
There have been countless nights where I had a data structures exam the next morning, but dsa-hub had a critical bug that needed fixing.
The Reality: You can't do it all perfectly. You have to learn the art of "good enough" for exams so you can be "exceptional" in your craft.
Balancing university life with indie hacking requires a ruthless prioritization framework. If a feature on Rune.codes doesn't directly impact the user experience or revenue, it gets deprioritized. My time is my most limited resource.
Escaping Tutorial Hell
Like many, I started by watching endless tutorials. I'd follow along, build the exact clone, and feel good. But the moment I opened a blank VS Code window, my mind went blank.
"Tutorial Hell" is comfortable. Shipping is scary.
I only truly started learning when I stopped watching and started building things that I wasn't qualified to build. I forced myself to solve problems without a guide.
- Project: dsa-hub
- Challenge: Creating a real-time collaborative code editor.
- Lesson: WebSockets are hard, but reading documentation is a superpower.
Managing Costs in INR
As a student in India, every dollar adds up. Most SaaS pricing is built for US salaries, not student allowances.
- The GitHub Student Developer Pack: This is a goldmine. Free access to tools that would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars a month.
- Generous Free Tiers: Vercel, Supabase, and Appwrite have incredible free tiers that can support thousands of users.
- DigitalOcean / VPS: Sometimes, a cheap $5 droplet is all you need if you're willing to manage the server yourself.
Leverage .edu Email
Your student email is your ticket to free software. Use it everywhere.
Self-Host When Possible
Instead of expensive managed databases, I often self-host instances on a cheap VPS or use open-source alternatives like Appwrite.
Optimise Resources
Static generation (SSG) over Server Side Rendering (SSR) saves compute costs.
Prioritizing Features for Rune.codes
With Rune.codes, the backlog is infinite. The only way to ship is to cut scope aggressively.
"Perfection is the enemy of done."
I focus on the "Core loop." What is the one thing the user needs to do? Everything else is fluff. I use a simple Kanban board (Notion is great for this) and limit my "In Progress" column to 2 items max.
Conclusion
Shipping products as a student is a crash course in time management, budgeting, and product management. It's stressful, chaotic, and tiring.
But seeing a real user sign up for something you built in your dorm room? That feeling is unmatched.
Author Parth Sharma
Full-Stack Developer, Freelancer, & Founder. Obsessed with crafting pixel-perfect, high-performance web experiences that feel alive.
The Solo Developer's Toolkit (2026 Edition)
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