I Built and Launched a Real App in 45 Days — While Working ICU Night Shifts and Studying for My Master’s
2025-05-23
45 days ago, I was just another nurse learning to code on the bus to work. Today, I’ve built and launched my own full-stack app — live, tested, and helping people capture memories in real time. This isn’t your typical “I followed a course and cloned a landing page” story. This is about what happens when consistency meets chaos.It’s about building at midnight during 12-hour ICU shifts. It’s about learning React, Next.js, Supabase, Tailwind — and shipping a full MVP. Alone.
It’s about MemoireeApp.
Not with a startup idea or a product roadmap — just a question I kept asking myself: Could I build something real, even with the little time I have?
I was juggling night shifts in an ICU, writing a master’s thesis on
critical care burnout, and doing my best to survive the weight of adulthood.
Still, I carried a laptop in my backpack, watched tutorials during 4 AM breaks,
and scribbled component logic on the backs of nursing handover sheets. That’s
how MemoireeApp was born. Not in a co-working space with kombucha and Notion
docs — but between adrenaline spikes, patient alarms, and sleep deprivation.
Just me, React, Google, and an unshakable desire to make something real.
I began the #100DaysOfCode challenge with one goal: to become dangerous enough to build and launch my own app. No frameworks at first. Just React. Then came TypeScript. Then I learned how to store data in localStorage. Then came the itch to do more — to build something personal, something someone might actually use.
I created MemoireeApp — a memory journaling app where users can log events, upload photos, and preserve the little things that matter. I designed it with privacy in mind. No logins, just a UUID key that grants access to your private vault.
Was it perfect? Not even close.
I fought with image blobs. I broke my routing logic more times than I can
count. My dark mode toggle refused to behave. Supabase auth kept ghosting me.
But with each bug, I got better. Stronger. More stubborn. What mattered wasn’t
the elegance of my code. It was that I kept coming back, even when nothing was
working. Especially then.
By Day 28, I launched it publicly. I registered the domain, wired it to Vercel, and said a quiet prayer. My hands were shaking when I clicked “submit” on Product Hunt. What if nobody cared?
But some people did.
MemoireeApp reached #22 for the day. Real users. Real feedback. One user said, “This
feels like something I’d actually use — it’s simple, private, and honest.” That one
comment fueled me for weeks.
I wasn’t just building an app anymore — I was building belief.
During this time, I also launched my personal site, builtbydecency.com. It became my playground. A space to tell my story. To document every misstep and milestone. I’m not a bootcamp graduate or CS major. I’m a nurse with a keyboard and a habit of wanting to know more.
Some days, I felt like a dullard. Others, like a damn genius. That emotional swing? That’s the developer experience.
People ask me how I found the time.
The truth is, I didn’t. I carved it out of exhaustion. I coded during bus rides, between ICU admissions, and on breaks most people would use to nap. I didn’t always ship perfect features, but I always showed up.
That’s what I want this post to be — not a brag, not a breakdown of frameworks — just proof. Proof that you don’t need more time, you need more intention. You don’t need permission, you need momentum.
MemoireeApp isn’t changing the world yet. But it changed mine.
If you’re reading this and thinking about starting something — please start. Start small. Start scared. Start when you’re not ready.
You’ll never regret showing up. You’ll only regret the versions of yourself you never met.
Try MemoireeApp if you’d like. Or don’t. I built it for me. But if it helps you remember something important — even once — then maybe it was worth every tired keystroke.
Until next time,
Decency