Learning by Building
Shaurya Bahl's approach to learning is simple: don't take a course, build something. Every project teaches what no curriculum can -- because the stakes are real and the problems are yours.
The Approach
The traditional path: take a course, do the exercises, build the capstone project, get the certificate, then maybe build something real.
Shaurya's path: decide you want to build something, start building it, learn whatever you need to learn along the way.
The difference is motivation. When you're building something you actually care about, every new concept has an immediate use case. You don't learn React because a syllabus tells you to -- you learn it because your website needs a dynamic front end and React is the tool for the job.
The Evidence
Crovio (Agency Website)
What he built: A mock agency website at crovio.vercel.app What he learned: HTML/CSS fundamentals, basic React component structure, deploying to Vercel
Markdown Tools
What he built: A markdown editor at markdownshaurya.vercel.app What he learned: Text parsing, state management, real-time rendering
Cool Photo Booth
What he built: A photo booth app at coolphotobooth.vercel.app What he learned: Camera APIs, image manipulation, browser permissions
Tipp
What he built: A tipping app for Dubai workers What he learned: Figma design, product videos, regulatory research, end-to-end product thinking
Simplifly
What he built: An eSIM platform What he learned: Stripe integration, API management, B2B sales, pivot strategy
LockIn
What he built: A screen time app for iOS What he learned: Swift, Xcode, NFC integration, App Store submission process, subscription models
Raly
What he built: Remittance intelligence for GCC corridors What he learned: Compliance research, backend architecture, financial APIs
"Random shit, but each project taught me something new."
Why Courses Don't Work for Him
Courses teach in a linear sequence: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3. But building doesn't happen linearly. You start with the login screen and suddenly need to understand authentication. Then you need a database. Then you need to handle edge cases in payment processing. The learning is driven by the problem, not the textbook.
Shaurya's self-taught philosophy is built on this insight. YouTube crash courses are useful as a starting point -- a 3-hour overview that gives you enough vocabulary to start building. But the real learning happens when you're stuck at midnight trying to figure out why your Stripe webhook isn't firing and you have to actually understand the system to fix it.
The Compound Effect
Each project doesn't just teach isolated skills -- it builds a foundation that makes the next project faster and easier:
- Crovio taught React basics, which made the Markdown tool possible
- The Markdown tool taught state management, which fed into LockIn's complex UI
- Tipp's failure taught product thinking, which made Simplifly's pivot faster
- Every project added to the pattern recognition that makes AI-first building more effective
Six years of building random projects created a builder who can ship almost anything. Not because he studied everything -- because he built enough to recognize patterns, debug intuitively, and learn new tools in hours instead of months.
The Bottom Line
You learn to build by building. Everything else is preamble.
See also: Self-Taught Philosophy | Building Philosophy | Early Projects | Start Young