Ad Astra

Inspiration

From a 2020 study conducted by Stephen Greet, it was found that out of the 57 biggest tech employers in the U.S., nearly 100% of them over-represent non-POC in leadership positions. link

What it does

Ad Astra works by pairing mentors to mentees who wish to enter their technical field of expertise. Mentees are guided through four different levels that focus on (1) narrowing on their interests, (2) learning key technical skills and concepts, (3) networking, and (4) preparing for technical interviews. Mentees are supported throughout the entire process by their mentor, who currently holds a position in their technical field, and fellow mentees who are completing the same tasks along the way. Our goal is that Ad Astra addresses the lack of minority representation in technical positions by reinforcing diversity and inclusion through guided learning, something that would be beneficial not only to the prospective employee but the company at the other end.

How we built it

We built Ad Astra using the Salesforce Lightning Platform and integrating high scale components into our application.

Challenges we ran into

At the beginning, we faced a bit of trouble with understanding how the Salesforce Lightning Platform worked and how we could build a product as a team using it. From the help of our Salesforce mentors and a lot of practice, we were able to use the platform efficiently and create our final solution.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re very proud that we were able to create our end product in the time given! Becoming familiar with the Lightning platform was our initial issue, but once we passed that stage, we were all able to contribute and help one another with ease. Our final demo video demonstrating our product was an extreme accomplishment that was developed by our hard work. Lastly, we didn’t realize that we could work so effortlessly within a group of people who didn’t know each other a few days prior to this hackathon.

What we learned

We learned how to rapidly complete tasks overnight, how to distribute those tasks in the most efficient way amongst one another, and how to learn a new system within a few hours. Personally, we discovered that even though we all came from differing backgrounds, we were still able to build a synonymous application that integrated all of our personal skills. In the end, we were all able to provide to the end goal in our own way throughout the entire journey.

What's next for Ad Astra

Our platform caters to those who wish to have technical positions signals that they are supported,have the guidance of mentors, and allows them to pursue goals they may have been hesitant to do before. We strongly believe that an integrated support system is essential for encouraging the growth of minority representation in the technical workspace. We hope that Salesforce can implement a product akin to Ad Astra to target inclusion in the tech field and diminish the gap between the need for diversity and the lack thereof.

Built With

• salesforce