While working full-time in IT Support for North West Ambulance Service, Laura taught herself mobile app development and spent six months designing, coding and testing Yourdo – a community guide-sharing platform which launched on the Apple App Store at the end of May.
The app enables users to create and discover guides on almost any topic, from sport, cooking and fitness to study, technology, relationships, routines and mindset. Users can create step-by-step guides, comment, like and save posts, follow other users and build personalised profiles.
For Laura, her time at Edge Hill provided an important foundation for both her professional development and her approach to tackling new challenges.
Laura said: “I increased my independence, confidence and time management, these have benefitted me massively in my life, from my career to family and home life. Staying organised and being confident enough to sort out my own problems and circumstances all stems from how I was treated at Edge Hill.”
Laura, who studied BSc (Hons) Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Edge Hill, developed Yourdo alongside her friend Dan after he shared an idea he had been considering for more than a decade.
Laura said: “When he shared the idea with me, I decided to bring it to life, I taught myself mobile app development while working full-time in IT, spending six months designing, developing and testing the app before publishing it on the Apple App Store.”
The project has required a significant commitment from Laura, who says she spent between eight and 16 hours a day coding, designing, planning and building the app alongside her full-time career.
One of the highlights so far has been seeing Yourdo featured on Product Hunt, a platform where new technology products are launched and discovered.
“Having Yourdo featured on Product Hunt was a proud moment for me,” Laura said. “After spending months teaching myself app development and building the app, it was exciting to launch it to a community of entrepreneurs, developers and early adopters.
“Reading people’s feedback and seeing them support the project reinforced that the hard work had been worthwhile and motivated us to keep improving the app.”
Laura’s app development journey has already led to another exciting milestone. Just three days after launching a second app, Life-Fixer, the all-in-one productivity platform reached number five in the Productivity charts on the Apple App Store. Designed initially to help Laura and her family organise their lives, the app brings together daily tasks, long-term goals, a dream tracker, journal and meditation timer, among other features. The app has also attracted international attention, with downloads coming from across Canada and the US, while a Reddit post about the app has received more than 120,000 views.
Laura’s career since graduating has taken her across computing and engineering industries. She previously worked in computer sales at Currys before becoming an IoT Implementation Engineer at the Virtual Engineering Centre. She now works in IT Support at North West Ambulance Service, where she says she feels she is making a difference.
Her decision to study at Edge Hill was influenced by a visit to the campus before starting university.
Laura commented: “I went to visit the campus on an open day and fell in love with how clean and calm it was. From the birds to the fields, I knew I wanted to study somewhere outside of the city and Edge Hill was the perfect choice.”
Laura also credits the support and friendships she found at the University as an important part of her experience.
“I met some of my best friends at Edge Hill and could always get support when I needed it from staff and peers,” she said.
Now, having combined her technical skills, determination and self-taught expertise to bring Yourdo to life, Laura is continuing to develop the platform and explore where the project could go next.
Her journey demonstrates how the skills gained through a degree can provide the foundation for new opportunities – even when those opportunities take graduates in unexpected directions.
Find out more about Yourdo and the BA (Hons) Robotics and Artificial Intelligence course Laura studied at Edge Hill.
September 2, 2026
