Stop Overcomplicating Your Dev Stack – Start with What Matters

As a developer, it’s easy to get caught up in the complexity of modern tech stacks. You see tutorials with Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and 15 microservices, and suddenly you feel your simple app needs all that too.

Let’s be real: It doesn’t.

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The Overengineering Trap

When you’re building your first product, it’s tempting to architect everything like it’s a 24/7 e-commerce platform or a global SaaS application. But here's the harsh truth: your project won’t fail because you didn’t use Kubernetes. It’ll fail because you didn’t build a product people actually want.

Most early-stage products fail because they:

• Lack users

• Are too buggy

• Don’t solve a real problem

If your app isn’t gaining traction, adding more infrastructure complexity is just wasting your time and resources.

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What You Really Need

Here’s what CoDevs Circle recommends for solo developers or small teams building something meaningful:

• A simple VPS from providers like Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or Vultr (around $5-$22/month)

• Docker for containerization (you can even use Docker Compose to manage your app)

• A managed hosting platform (for those who don't want to handle ops themselves—e.g., platforms like Sliplane)

You don’t need Kubernetes. You don’t need auto-scaling, complex APIs, or dozens of cloud services just to show a webpage.

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When Should You Use AWS?

AWS is not evil. In fact, there are cases where it makes sense:

• You’re specifically building a product that needs to scale globally from day one.

• You’re learning cloud architecture for a future job.

• You have very specific compliance or regulatory requirements (e.g., government data storage).

But unless you’re in one of these situations, don’t complicate things. You can always migrate to AWS later when your product has more users, more revenue, and a clearer roadmap.

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How to Start Without AWS

If you’re serious about getting your product off the ground quickly, start small:

1. Use Docker Compose to manage your app, database, and any background processes.

2. Deploy it to a VPS via SSH and docker-compose up—easy, straightforward.

3. Use simple open-source tools for monitoring, authentication, and task queues.

4. Deploy early, iterate fast, and refine your product with real user feedback.

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Final Thoughts

AWS and complex cloud services can be powerful, but they’re not always necessary—especially when you’re just starting. What you need to focus on is building something users love and getting it in front of them quickly. Start small. Launch fast. Iterate and scale as needed.

Don’t let infrastructure hold you back. Keep it simple, and grow naturally.