From Long-Term Dev to Indie Hacker: The Habits I Had to Break (and Build)

I’ve been coding for a long time. Long enough to remember when jQuery was the cool kid, when we debated SVN vs. Git, and when Docker first felt like magic.

But here’s the thing: being a solid dev for years doesn’t automatically make you a good indie hacker. In fact, some of the habits that kept me employed for so long almost sabotaged me when I tried to go indie.

This is the story of what I had to unlearn — and the habits I’m still rewiring today.

1. Shipping Features vs. Shipping Experiments

At my old jobs, shipping meant finishing a Jira ticket: fully tested, reviewed, and deploy-ready. As an indie hacker, I realized no one cared about my polished features if nobody wanted the product.

The first time I launched something scrappy (and slightly embarrassing) and got real sign-ups, it hit me: experiments beat features. Now I celebrate “half-baked but live” way more than “perfect but private.”

2. Talking to Strangers

I used to think: “I’ll just build it and users will come.” Classic dev arrogance.

But when I forced myself to DM a few people on Reddit and jump on Zoom calls with early users, I discovered problems I never would’ve thought of. The awkwardness was real, but so was the clarity.

Turns out customer discovery is just debugging — except the bug is in your assumptions.

3. Letting Go of “Perfect Architecture”

As a senior dev, my brain defaulted to clean abstractions and future-proof design. As an indie hacker, that was a trap. I wasted weeks designing “scalable systems” for products that didn’t even have 10 users.

Now my rule is simple: if a duct-taped script gets me to the next validation point, that’s the right architecture. I can always rewrite later — if it’s worth rewriting.

4. Deadlines → Feedback Loops

Corporate life meant sprint reviews, roadmaps, managers, and deadlines. As an indie hacker, nobody cares if I “finish a feature” by Friday. What matters is whether I learn something new from the outside world.

So I swapped deadlines for feedback loops. Ship something → share it publicly → watch what happens. Feedback is my new manager.

5. Tech Obsession vs. Distribution Obsession

I’ll admit: I used to open-source side projects just for fun, never thinking about how people would find them. When I went indie, I realized distribution is half the game.

Now I spend as much time writing posts, learning SEO, and talking about the product as I do coding it. It feels unnatural… but it works.

6. Hiding vs. Building in Public

For years, I lurked. I read Indie Hackers but never posted. I had side projects, but no one knew.

The shift happened when I wrote my first messy build log post. I got encouragement, DMs, even one early customer. That’s when I realized: sharing isn’t vanity. It’s distribution, validation, and accountability rolled into one.

7. Employee Mindset vs. Owner Mindset

This one was the hardest. At work, if a product flopped, it wasn’t my problem. As an indie, every decision (or indecision) is mine.

That used to scare me. But then I reframed it: if I own the failures, I also own the wins. And the freedom to decide what to build, how to ship, and who to serve? That’s the payoff.

Closing

I’m still rewiring these habits. I still catch myself over-engineering, avoiding outreach, or tinkering instead of shipping. But the difference now is I see it.

If you’ve been coding for 10+ years and you’re curious about going indie, here’s my advice:

Don’t wait until you “learn marketing.” Don’t wait until your idea is “perfect.”

Pick one habit to shift this week. Ship one ugly experiment. Talk to one stranger. Share one thing in public.

That’s how you go from “long-term dev” to “true indie hacker.”

💬 Curious to hear from others: if you’re a long-term dev thinking about going indie, which habit feels like the hardest one to break? Or if you’ve already made the jump — which shift made the biggest difference for you?