I bet you saw the tweets.
The revenue screenshots. The $30k/month MRR.
All while surfing shirtless in Bali.
They claim there were developers just like you… But, they supposedly quit their job, “vibe-coded” an app in 3 days with ChatGPT.
And now they are making $30K/month while chilling.
All while you are exhausted by your 9 to 5 job.
Your code is making other people rich. All while salary gets cut in half by taxes.
Management is clueless… For them, you're just another expensive dev. They can’t wait to have an AI that will replace all these expensive developers.
Including you.
You see guys like Peter Levels building an AI flight simulator in a few days, with $100k MRR. Suddenly, your life feels like a bad joke.
And you start thinking:
“I could do that too, right? I know how to code. I just need to build something.”
(btw: I also talk about this topic on YouTube, watch below)
Well…
Let me get this out of the way as soon as possible:
Coding was never the bottleneck. It’s the easy part.
Getting users is the hard one.
Keeping them, even harder.
To do both those things, you need totally different skills than coding. That’s the bottleneck.
It’s marketing. It’s sales.
You can code an MVP in a weekend using ChatGPT.
Cool. But guess what?
Nobody will pay you for an MVP these days.
They might test it. Might use it once. And then bounce.
User acquisition and retention are the big blockers.
Those influencers are not great software engineers… They are great at generating hype on Twitter by taking shirtless selfies with a computer.
Skills that most developers don't have. And honestly don’t want to learn.
P.S. If you are a JavaScript developer looking to level up their interviewing skills: Here is a free PDF with the Top 25 Most Asked Technical Interview Questions for 2025.
Influencers Are Selling You a Dream (But Only Telling You Half Of The Story)
Sure, they post product launches, MRR charts and beach selfies.
What they don’t tell you:
- The 67 failed apps before that one worked
- The social media posts they push 24/7 - they post more than code lol
- The fact that the 100+ followers they had before lunching helped them more than their “vibe-coding” skills
And most of all:
They don’t show you the months they made $0 while working 12hrs days.
Take Marc Lou, one of the most famous (and I transparent) indie hackers. He’s like running six apps at any given time. Most of them make a few hundred bucks.
He’s most profitable product is a course about how to code.
Not an app he built. Not a SaaS.
Yet, even in his best months… He makes just enough to get by in a city like London or New York.
Meanwhile, a mid-level engineer in the U.S. makes $10K/month every month on easy mode. With health insurance. And weekends off.
(and without selling his soul on Twitter)
Do the math yourself.
You Won’t Get Rich By Leaving Your Job. But You Might Get Poorer.
Let’s say you are making $130K/year at your day job as a software engineer. You quit to build your own SaaS. Nine months go by and you make… nothing.
No revenue.
No salary.
No health insurance.
No holidays, PTO or free coke in the office.
Even if you succeed, it will take you years to make up for the stuff you gave up.
Even if you do make some money… Guess what? You’ll be stuck solving support tickets, fixing bugs and maintaining that thing 24/7.
Forget surfing at the beach. You’ll be answering angry customers at 2:00 am.
That’s not freedom.
It’s another job masked as independence.
But one where you have to do everything (including sh**t you don’t like) – coding, support, marketing, accounting, video shooting and editing – all while you get paid less.
You Can Build Something Great. But It’ll Take 5+ Years.
That’s the part these dudes are not telling you.
Most “solo developers” end up burnt out, broke and going back to their corporate job in a few months.
That’s because they underestimate the effort.
And they overestimate how easy it will be.
The mistake $30K/month screenshots for stable cashflow - month to month, year to year.
And they confuse Twitter likes with product-market fit.
Sure, you might say… But what if I just keep trying… Keep throwing spaghetti at the wall. Something will stick.
Look, even if it might look like a lottery sometimes… Business is not one.
It’s strategy. It’s timing. And it’s distribution.
Successful SaaS and online entrepreneurs have:
- A massive audience
- Years of failures behind them
- Referrals & partnerships
- And 5 years of agony, barely paying bills until they hit the “overnight success”
P.S. JavaScript Developers: We’ll Get You To Senior. OR You Don’t pay. See how it works here.
Most Developers Should NOT Become Solo Developers
The risk-reward equation doesn’t make sense.
Unless you are 21 living in your mama’s basement with nothing to lose.
OR…
- You’re already at Senior or Lead dev level
- You’re good at technical interviews, and highly employable
- You’ve got at least 6–12 months of cash saved
- You’re okay making $0 for the first year (yes, a full year of zero!)
- You’re willing to do things you might NOT like: sales, support, and marketing
- You have zero liabilities, no family, no kids
- And you can afford to loosed money
If you are not there?
Don’t quit your job. Stay employed.
Keep improving your skills. Switch every 2 years. Negotiate aggressively. Save some cash. Invest. Maybe freelance a bit.
Later you can try to start small with an audience or a niche project.
But don’t toss your money and career chasing dreams.
TLDR
If you are a talented software engineer, you can 100% build your own thing.
Just know what you’re getting into.
Don’t start because you’re burned out.
Don’t start because you hate your job.
And for God’s sake, don't start because you want to make “quick money”.
Most SaaS founders I know worked a lot harder and made less money that most Senior Engineers we work with at theSeniorDev.
You want to get rich as a dev? Here’s a better way:
- Get freakin’ good at technical interviews
- Work your way up to high-paying companies
- Live below your means
- Save and invest the difference
- Repeat
Give it 10 years like that, and you will retire sooner than most people you know.
And book a trip to Bali if you really want to kill your FOMO.
If you still want to build your own app…
Do it with realistic expectations, clear eyes and thinking long-term.
Best of luck,
Dragos
P.S. JavaScript Developers: We’ll Get You To Senior. OR You Don’t pay. See how it works here.
