When I got started with programming, everywhere I went, I saw (good), but paid services. I would see them and say to myself “I really want to buy that when I get the money... It will help a lot”... And then, I came to know about Github’s student developer pack. But.... I got rejected... 15 times....

If you’re a student, this is for you

The benefits

I’ll only list the stuff I extensively use, and have become a part of my lifestyle now

• Canva premium for a year
• Educative pro for 6 months
• Namecheap, .tech, name.com domains
• Github PRO (I don’t know what extra stuff I get but I’m sure I’m using all of them loll)
• Gitlens+ (Very useful)
• Termius pro
• Replit hacker plan for 3 months
• Stripe waived transaction fees
• Browerstack for testing and stuff (really good for compatibility tests too)

Now that’s really good considering that all that is for FREE! For me, I use Educative the most, and there’s a lot more stuff that isn’t much useful for me but you might like

• Jetbrains IDE
• Bootstrap studio
• Azure, DigitalOcean credits
• Productivity tools like Dashlane premium, Pomodone and HazeOver

Damn

How to get the pack

It’s pretty easy, just go to education.github.com/pack and hit this button

Then you’ll be asked to give your email, school name, etc. Fill those in, and finally you’ll be asked to submit any document to prove that you’re a student. The only requirements are

• Should have your name (and preferably photo)
• Should have school name
• Should have the date of the academic year

ID cards are perfect for this.

Well, it’s supposed to be that easy. But clearly it wasn’t so easy for me...

My story (struggle)

So after I came to know about the students pack, I was actually shocked, and tried to apply immediately. However, I had just passed my 10th grade months ago, and I hadn’t received the ID card for my 11th grade, and since everything was online, I had nothing to show. So I just started with the proofs I had in 10th grade - ID card, report card, class photo. One by one, I submitted all of them.

Dhravya Shah

@dhravyashah

I applied for the @github student developer kit again and got rejected for the 5TH TIME!!!!
- I am a student
- Since it's online right now, no ID cards are given
- I uploaded the class schedule, the document where my roll no. and other details were given

06:11 AM - 08 Oct 2021

I tried every day, and i think i’ve kindaaa sent too many applications

Dhravya Shah

@dhravyashah

I have applied for #githubstudentdevkit 14 TIMES with all the possible proofs of me being a student.
rejected, every single time.

I tried contacting support but no one responded

Please help me @GitHubEducation @github @natfriedman

10:29 AM - 10 Oct 2021

Dhravya Shah

@dhravyashah

Github's automated software keeps rejecting my requests.....
@github @GitHubEducation #github @natfriedman

07:31 AM - 09 Oct 2021

I could not even contact support...

Dhravya Shah

@dhravyashah

@GitHubEducation @github @natfriedman I contacted support again but it automatically sent me this response.
Can i get to talk to a real person about this issue?

05:47 AM - 13 Oct 2021

But FINALLY, I got a DM from Github education

Dhravya Shah

@dhravyashah

.@GithubEducation Support is amazing. They saw my tweet and messaged me
And yes, I sent my email to them.... but they seem to be busy and haven't read my message quite yet. I hope they read it asap and solve my issue

13:18 PM - 16 Oct 2021

(PS: It wasn’t as good. spoiler: Didn’t get a reply for a month)

Issue was, they never replied back! And I didn’t message too much because I knew it gets annoying for whoever is handling the account. So I did one, final tweet, and they got back to me. sigh

After a month of trying again and again, and even giving up for a couple weeks, I received it, finally.

So, happy ending, right? The same day, I met some ppl older than me and have already graduated, who HAD THE GITHUB PACK AND GOT IT IN THEIR FIRST TRY EVEN THOUGH THEY WEREN’T IN SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MEANWHILE ME WHO IS ACTUALLY A STUDENT HAD TO DO ALL THIS

Anyways, enough with the rant. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog, and if you find me funny (my friends call me not funny. prove them wrong), follow me on Github, Twitter, Dev.to

or well, don’t follow me and just 💖 this blog (or well, do both 😉)