I build software like I have limited energy — because I do 🪫

Hey. I'm not great at introductions but here goes.

I'm a solo developer in the UK, starting a one-person software business called Code and Sea. I work a full-time corporate job alongside it, and I manage ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) — a chronic illness that puts a hard ceiling on how much I can do in a day.

That constraint, frustrating as it is, turned out to be the clearest design philosophy I've ever had.

I can't ship fast, so I ship carefully. I can't maintain bloat, so I don't build it. I can't chase growth metrics, so I focus on making things that are genuinely good and leave them alone. Every product I build will be a one-time purchase. Data stays on the device. No subscriptions. No dark patterns. No "we've updated our terms" emails at midnight.

I build for people who are tired of renting software they used to own, and tired of being the product.

My first app is a meditation timer for iOS — intentionally minimal, intentionally calm, no accounts required. It's in development now and it's the first vessel in what I'm hoping becomes a small, quiet fleet.

The longer goal, I call it the coastal goal, is to build this into something sustainable enough that I can eventually leave corporate life and work somewhere near the sea. Slowly. Deliberately. Without a growth deck.

If any of that resonates, I'd love to connect. Especially if you're building something you actually believe in, at a pace that doesn't break you.

Brent Vardy

codeandsea.com