Indie, Alone, and Figuring It Out

Summary

Going indie is exciting. Total freedom, no 9–5, no meetings - just building your own app. I imagined quiet mornings, deep focus, full control over my day. And some of that is true. But once you’re actually doing it, you discover a whole other side of indie life. The loneliness. The pressure. The constant decision-making. The endless context switching. All the invisible work that isn’t coding. These are the things you learn once you’re already in it. It’s more chaotic and demanding than it looks, but also more rewarding in ways you don’t expect. Being independent is a dream many have. To work on your own product, your own app, for yourself, on your own time. You’re no longer tied to a desk and a regular 9–5, and that sounds exciting. After a couple of failed attempts to build and release my app while working a full-time job - I quit and went indie. I released my app Nunch this year. I gained deep respect for anyone who’s able to build an app and have a full-time job at the same time. It’s hard. But, it does get a bit easier once you release the app. In a company, you’re the developer, you focus on one area of the product. You work together with other developers, designers, product owners, and other people. As an indie, you’re the developer, designer, product owner, and everything else. You’re doing all the work. As a product owner, you need to have a clear vision on the features and the roadmap. As a designer, you need to think about the UI and UX. And then you have to do all the work of developing new features, fixing bugs, and maintaining the code. It’s a lot of work for one person. Some indie developers hire other developers as freelancers to help them out on a feature. They hire a designer to create app icons and other artwork. You don’t have to do everything yourself, you can outsource any work you’d like. But you will, for the most part. Being independent is lonely, you have no colleagues to talk to, no one to ask questions, no one to bounce off ideas. But, you...