Craft Link

Inspiration

The idea for craft link came about when we realised just how many skilled people are on social media trying to get their services to be recognised and used. It is safe to argue that others can make use of their services, however, these individuals cannot unleash their full potential on platforms that were initially made for social interactions. They deserve their own space.

What it does

Craf link provides freelancers and semi-skilled workers and platform where their services can be advertised in order to reach a larger audience. It is focused solely on making the public aware of these people and their work and allowing their services to be reviewed and reach a larger population. The main aim is to tackle SDG 8 which deals with decent work and economic growth. The more skilled workers can be recognised, the more potential there is for their services to expand into business and ultimately reduce unemployment and grow our economy.

How we built it

We will be using React + Vite , JavaScript, XML ,NodeJS, SQL, CSS.

Challenges we ran into

We experienced an issue in terms of meeting the deadline for the phase 1 presentation as we only found out about the hackathon a week prior. With this we also had to tackle meeting online and collaborating on spaces such as discord and google docs to work on our pitch, as we could not meet in person. Additionally, some of our team members experienced connection issues and personal commitments that had to be attended to. Creating the craftlink website was a challenge on its own as we had issues with our database, specifically the saving of user's profile pictures.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the limited time we had, we have managed to put together a thought-out presentation that conveys what it is we are trying to do and how that will benefit our target market as well as tackle the social issue we have recognised. We have also managed to develop a working prototype despite having other commitments in our academic lives.

What we learned

We have learned that the ratio of South African internet users to the unemployment rate is reflective of the lack of employment opportunities, especially for people who do not have professional qualifications. People have the skills but do not know how to market themselves even with online resources.

What's next for Craft Link

From now going forth we will be implementing the Craft Link web app. We expect to change some features, conclude unfinished ideas and add more functionality to provide the best user experience for both service providers and those seeking the services.