Money Saving Resources For Developers (Feels Illegal)
TThe Coding Koala
Computing/SoftwareSmall Business/StartupsAdult EducationInternet Technology
Transcript
00:00:00Hosting, API's, domains, coding assistants, courses, these are basically the bare minimum stuff every developer need.
00:00:08But the thing is, they are not completely free.
00:00:10But what if I told you that you genuinely don't have to spend money on most of this stuff anymore?
00:00:15Because I found a bunch of free resources that can literally save developers hundreds of dollars every month.
00:00:21And some of these resources are so good that it actually feels illegal that they are free.
00:00:25So first, let's start with one of the biggest money traps for developers - courses.
00:00:30And listen, I'm not against buying courses.
00:00:33As developers, we absolutely need to keep learning because this industry changes every five business days.
00:00:39But what you should avoid is spending $100 on a course that teaches the exact same thing you could learn for free.
00:00:46So one really great free learning platform you should check out is Cognitive Class.
00:00:50This is a platform by IBM itself where you can access free courses in almost every tech areas.
00:00:56And this isn't just one of those websites with outdated tutorials and a PDF from 2016.
00:01:02They actually give you interactive labs, notes, projects, and even certifications.
00:01:08Which honestly deserves respect because IBM could have easily charged money for this.
00:01:13Another platform I really recommend, especially for web developers, is called the Odin Project.
00:01:19If your goal is to become a full stack developer from scratch, this site is genuinely one of the best free resources on the internet.
00:01:26It gives you a structured roadmap, teaches you by making you build actual projects, and is a really active community.
00:01:33So make sure to check these sites out.
00:01:35Now let's move on to something even more expensive.
00:01:38APIs.
00:01:39If you're building literally any modern application today, chances are you will need external APIs.
00:01:45And especially right now, everybody wants to integrate AI into their applications.
00:01:50The problem is that these APIs can get expensive very quickly, even for small projects.
00:01:55So before I show you where you can get free AI APIs, one incredibly useful resource is this GitHub repository called Public APIs.
00:02:03This repo is basically a dictionary of free APIs.
00:02:07Whatever you need, whether APIs, finance, anime, cryptocurrency, random useless APIs that nobody asked for, chances are you'll find it there.
00:02:17Now for AI APIs, my favorite platform right now is OpenRouter.
00:02:22And honestly, this thing is insanely useful.
00:02:25Basically, you create an account, get one API key, and then use that same key to access different AI models from different providers.
00:02:34And if you set the pricing filter to zero dollars, you can see all the free models available to use.
00:02:39This is the best free alternative to these costly AI APIs.
00:02:43So make sure to check these sites out.
00:02:45Now let's talk about hosting platforms, which is basically where developers deploy side projects to slowly die in peace.
00:02:53Thankfully, hosting has become way cheaper and more beginner-friendly now compared to a few years ago.
00:02:59Platforms like Vercel, Netlify, Render, Railway, and Cloudflare pages all offer really solid free tiers where you can deploy front-end apps, back-end, and full-stack projects in minutes.
00:03:12And if you need databases, platforms like Superbase are amazing.
00:03:16And for NoSQL databases, MongoDB Atlas also has a pretty generous free tier that works perfectly fine for small and medium-sized projects.
00:03:25Now finally, let's talk about the bonus resources.
00:03:28And honestly, these are probably the most overpowered ones in the entire video.
00:03:32First, we have the GitHub Student Developer Pack.
00:03:35If you have a student ID and you are not using this already, you are genuinely missing out on free money.
00:03:41You get access to free domains, cloud credits, GitHub copilot, hosting services, developer tools, courses, and a ridiculous amount of premium resources completely free.
00:03:53The amount of stuff they give students is honestly insane.
00:03:56And if you're not a student anymore, well, just borrow your cousin's student ID or something.
00:04:02Anyway, once you get accepted into the program, you basically unlock hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of developer resources.
00:04:10Another resource I absolutely love is this website called Free for Dev.
00:04:14And this site is honestly one of the greatest survival guides for broke developers.
00:04:19It's basically a giant collection of platforms that offer free tiers, credits, or free plans for developers.
00:04:25If you need something for your development workflow and want to know if you can get it for free, this should be your first stop before spending money.
00:04:33So yeah, being a developer can become surprisingly expensive if you're not careful.
00:04:38But thankfully, we also live in a time where there are more free resources available than ever before.
00:04:44Anyway, I'll link all the resources in the description below.
00:04:47And if you want a part 2 with even more free developer resources, drop a comment because I've barely scratched the surface in this video.
00:04:55If this helped you out, show some love, and I'll see you guys in the next one.