Inspiration
Talent is everywhere, but access to opportunity isn't.
Growing up, I saw how difficult it could be to discover valuable opportunities simply because information was scattered across different websites, platforms, and regions. Someone might qualify for a scholarship, grant, hackathon, internship, or job and never even know it exists.
I built Aza to help close that information gap by making opportunities easier to discover based on a user's interests, goals, location, and region.
What it does
Aza is an opportunity discovery platform that helps young people find:
- Scholarships
- Grants and funding
- Hackathons
- Internships
- Jobs
- Other career and educational opportunities
Instead of manually searching through numerous websites and social platforms, users can discover opportunities in one place and explore options relevant to their goals and region.
How we built it
Aza was built as a modern web application using:
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- Supabase
- PostgreSQL
We structured opportunity data to make it easier to organise and discover across categories and regions. AI capabilities support smarter interactions and opportunity discovery, while Supabase provides backend and database infrastructure.
Challenges we ran into
One of our biggest challenges was dealing with fragmented opportunity information.
Different sources structure information differently, and important details such as eligibility, deadlines, locations, and application requirements are not always presented consistently.
Another challenge was avoiding feature overload. Opportunity discovery can easily become an enormous platform, so we focused on the core problem:
«Helping users discover relevant opportunities effectively.»
Building and testing with limited resources also forced us to prioritise the features that mattered most.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're proud of turning a broad idea into a working platform focused on a real problem.
We created a foundation for discovering opportunities across multiple categories instead of limiting users to a single type, such as scholarships or jobs.
We're also proud of considering location and regional relevance, recognising that users in different parts of the world have access to different opportunities.
Most importantly, we're proud that Aza is built around a problem that can directly affect people's futures.
What we learned
Building Aza taught us that solving a problem isn't simply about adding more features.
A useful product starts with understanding the core problem:
$$ \text{Good Product} \neq \text{More Features} $$
Instead:
$$ \text{Good Product} = \text{Clear Problem} + \text{Useful Solution} $$
We also learned about:
- Working with structured and inconsistent data
- Backend integration
- Database design
- Building usable interfaces
- Developing AI-assisted features responsibly
Most importantly, we learned that access to information can be just as important as access to the opportunity itself.
What's next for Aza Opportunity Finder
Next, we plan to:
- Expand the number and variety of opportunity sources
- Improve opportunity matching based on users' goals and regions
- Improve data ingestion and updates
- Develop smarter AI-assisted discovery features
- Make more global and regional opportunities accessible
The long-term goal is simple:
«To help young people discover opportunities that could shape their future, regardless of where they live.»
Built With
- devpost-api
- drizzle-orm
- esbuild
- express-5
- github
- himalayas-api
- javascript
- jobicy-api
- pnpm
- postgresql
- scholars4devs-api
- sql
- supabase
- typescript
- vite
- zod
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