It's funny how you can have a B.Tech in Computer Science, understand complex data structures,
and write production-level code, but completely fail at basic personal finance.
A few years ago, at 22, I landed my first real full-time job. I was managing digital marketing,
technical SEO, and Meta ads. Coming from a middle-class family in Panipat, Haryana, seeing a
regular salary hit my bank account gave me a false sense of invincibility.
I fell into the classic entry-level tech trap: lifestyle creep.
I started swiping my new credit card for weekend dinners at Hangries. I bought a premium Fossil
watch just to "look the part" in client meetings. I bought SaaS subscriptions I didn't need.
Before I knew it, I was sitting on ₹15,000 in credit card debt. I had zero savings, and the
anxiety of living paycheck-to-paycheck was destroying my productivity.
Here is the story of how I coded my way out of it, why I pivoted to "vibe coding," and how my
financial mistakes led me to build my own fintech side project.
The Turning Point: Engineering a Way Out
As developers, when we see a bug in our code, we debug it. I realized I needed to debug my
finances.
I stopped swiping. I listed out every single rupee I owed. I decided to leverage my existing
9-to-5 skills — SEO, coding, and digital marketing — to build local side hustles. I started
walking into local shops in my city, offering to set up their Google My Business profiles and
build them micro-tools using simple HTML/JS.
I used the extra income to attack my debt using the Snowball Method — paying off the smallest
balances first to build psychological momentum.
I actually wrote the exact mathematical breakdown of how I cleared my debt using the snowball method, which inspired me to build the Debt Payoff Calculator
for my new project.
The "Over-Engineering" Trap
Once I was debt-free, I wanted to share my frameworks with other young professionals in India
so they wouldn't make the same dumb mistakes I did. I decided to build a personal finance hub:
MonuMoney.in.
But like any developer, my first instinct was to over-engineer it.
I started planning a massive Next.js architecture with a heavy backend, user authentication, a
PostgreSQL database for saving calculator states, and complex global state management.
Two weeks passed. I hadn't shipped a single thing. I was stuck in "tutorial hell" and
architecture paralysis.
Embracing "Vibe Coding" with AI
That's when I decided to completely change my approach. I had been hearing about "vibe coding" —
the process of using AI tools like Claude and Google AI Studio to write the boilerplate, while
you focus purely on the logic, architecture, and "vibe" of the product.
I dropped the complex backend. I realized users don't want to log in to calculate their debt;
they just want a fast, client-side web app.
Here was my new stack:
- Framework: Next.js (App Router)
- Styling: Tailwind CSS (for rapid UI prototyping)
- Deployment: Vercel (push to ship)
- The Secret Weapon: Prompting AI for component generation
Instead of writing a complex amortization formula from scratch in JavaScript, I prompted the AI:
"Write a React component using Tailwind that calculates the debt snowball method. It needs
to take in an array of debts (name, balance, interest rate, minimum payment) and output a
month-by-month payoff table."
Within seconds, I had the core logic. I spent my time doing what human developers do best:
refining the UI, fixing edge-case bugs, adjusting the layout for mobile screens, and ensuring
the local context — like using ₹ instead of $ — was perfect.
By vibe coding, I built and deployed three complex financial calculators in a single weekend.
The Takeaway for Indie Hackers and Devs
Building MonuMoney has taught me a few massive lessons that I want to pass on to the Dev.to
community.
1. Solve Your Own Bugs (In Real Life)
The best side projects come from personal pain. I built a debt payoff calculator because I
literally needed one when I was ₹15k in the hole. If you build a tool that solves your own
problem, you automatically have a target audience of at least one person.
2. Don't Over-Engineer Version 1.0
Nobody cares about your database schema if the product doesn't exist yet. Vibe code the MVP.
Use AI to write the boring boilerplate. Ship it as a static client-side app first. You can
always add a database later when people actually start using it.
3. Your Day Job is Your Superpower
Don't try to build the next Facebook on weekends. Look at what you do from 9-to-5 and figure
out how to spin that into a localized micro-SaaS or a side hustle.
When I recently tested 5 different side hustles to see what actually works,
the highest-earning ones were directly tied to my existing professional skills in SEO and
digital marketing — not some random trend I found on YouTube.
Where MonuMoney.in Stands Today
Today, my credit card balance is zero. I have multiple income streams running simultaneously.
And I'm building out MonuMoney.in in public — sharing every real number, every failed
experiment, and every win.
The tools I've shipped so far:
- A Debt Payoff Calculator (Snowball + Avalanche methods)
- A Side Hustle Income Tracker
- A Monthly Budget Planner built for the Indian salary structure
Everything is client-side. Everything is fast. Everything is built for the Indian rupee and
Indian financial context — because most personal finance tools online are built for Americans
and don't translate well here.
If you're a dev sitting on an idea — stop architecting it in your head. Spin up a Next.js app,
use AI to vibe code the boring parts, and just hit deploy.
The best time to ship was last week. The second best time is right now.
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