The Problem: Professional Tools Cost More Than Your Rent
Doing an MBA in Finance while teaching myself WordPress and SEO, I hit a wall that had nothing to do with code. Cloud credits, IDEs, domains—the "starter pack" for building literally anything was costing more than my monthly budget. For Indian students especially, this isn't a minor inconvenience. It's a liquidity gap that kills projects before they start.
So I built studentdiscount.tech.
What Actually Goes Into a Discount Aggregator
This isn't just scraping links and calling it a day. Three things that mattered:
1. Status Verification
Brands don't hand out discounts to protect margins. Fair. But that means verification systems that actually work. No fake .edu emails, no workarounds. Build trust or the deals dry up.
2. Real-Time API Integration
Aggregating internship data from Google, Microsoft, etc. Manual updates? Nope. APIs or nothing. Students need current data when they're hunting for roles that actually pay.
3. Technical SEO
If students can't find you during internship season or at the start of semester, you don't exist. SEO isn't marketing—it's infrastructure.
The Student Dev Stack You're Sleeping On
If you have a .edu email and aren't using these, you're leaving money on the table:
Cloud Infrastructure
- Azure for Students: $100 credits + 25 free services, no credit card needed
- AWS Educate, Google Cloud credits—basically free compute for side projects
Developer Packs
- GitHub Student Developer Pack is still undefeated. Free domains (Namecheap), Canva Pro, deployment credits.
- JetBrains IDEs at zero cost. PyCharm, WebStorm, all of it.
Productivity
- Notion, Evernote: 50-100% off Pro plans
- Not glamorous, but documentation matters when you're shipping
Why This Matters More Than Another Todo App
Building studentdiscount.tech taught me more about full-stack dev, API integration, and technical SEO than any course could. The best portfolio projects solve problems you actually have.
For students: Your .edu email is an API key to professional tooling. Use it. Build something that solves a real problem in your community. Worst case, you learn a ton. Best case, you help people who are stuck where you were.
What Student Perks Actually Saved Your Project?
Drop them below. Let's build the definitive list.