My side project is live! Get Buddy Info - a LinkTree(-ish) alternative with a nostalgic twist

Hey everyone! I just "launched" https://getbuddy.info/ a LinkTree(-ish) alternative with a nostalgic twist. But first, some background -

I'm a Product Manager (@ Twilio ... well, formerly @ Twilio, as of last Monday 🪓🪓🪓🪓) trying to develop my technical skillset and eventually build my own business. I've been hanging out here for a while and experimenting with several different side projects with React, Vue, Node, Python, Flutter, etc.

About a month ago, I challenged myself to build a full stack app and actually deploy it online (no offense to my good friend localhost 🤖.) I didn't want to do the traditional To-Do app because I found that if I blindly follow a tutorial I don't actually learn anything and I can't repeat those steps again.

Soooo, I decided to relive the glory days of AOL Instant Messenger + custom profiles, and build a simple app that blends the "one-profile" idea of LinkTree with the aesthetics of Windows '98. It is just complex enough for me to have to use some braincells, but not complicated enough to abandon halfway through. I hacked this together in about a week, with a non-insignificant amount of time spent figuring out how to get this working in production (spoiler alert: please keep all your filenames lowercase.)

Overall, the app is kinda slow 🐢 (not entirely sure why - any ideas would be appreciated!) There are some bugs that are egregious/breaking and some bugs that are not noticeable. There is UX that is a little wonky and design decisions that are questionable. I was/I am embarrassed to share this publicly. But, after 11 years in the software industry, I've noticed that even the most successful orgs can share those same shortcomings 😉. At the end of the day, I'm proud of myself for actually getting something live.

For those that are interested, these are the Technical Details 💻 :

• The frontend is built with vanilla🍦HTML + JS + CSS, bundled with Parcel, and hosted on Netlify
• The backend is built with Express.js and MongoDB (using the Mongoose.js library), and hosted on Render
• Quill.js for the text editor, a Windows 98 CSS stylesheet, domain from Google Domains
• Honorable mention to my 9 year old macbook ...still going strong

Take it for a spin - the API is hosted on the free tier of Render, which goes to sleep after 15 minutes and takes 2-3 minutes to start up again when the backend is pinged - try refreshing or waiting if it seems non-responsive. You don't have to use your "real" email addy if you don't want to. If the Register/Login flow breaks (once again, not entirely sure why), try again or refresh the page. <--- apologize for all the caveats, but this is what happens when PM's try to code 😬.

Share your profile if you make one! Mine is: https://getbuddy.info/?sn=bharat

I'd appreciate any feedback or enhancement ideas... (should I build out the full instant messenger piece as well?? 🤟🏽😝🤟🏽)

And, finally, if anyone is looking for a PM with passable(..../questionable 🤣😅) coding skills - I'm in the market for a new role! 🙏🏼

Thanks!