devConnect

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Inspiration

devConnect was born out of a personal struggle that many college students, including ourselves, often face—the challenge of finding like-minded individuals to collaborate with on projects. As college students passionate about technology, we encountered difficulties in forming project teams, sharing knowledge, and fostering a sense of community. This personal struggle inspired us to create a platform that would not only address our own needs but also provide a solution for countless others facing similar challenges. Our aim was to craft a space where developers, especially college students, could seamlessly connect, share their expertise, collaborate on exciting projects, and offer support to one another. The personal touch in our inspiration comes from the genuine understanding of the hurdles faced by students in the tech community, and the desire to make this journey smoother and more enjoyable for everyone involved.

What it does

devConnect is a comprehensive platform designed to facilitate networking, project collaboration, and skill development within the developer community. It allows users to create profiles, connect with other developers, join or create projects for social goods, and participate in discussions and events. It also has a blog feauture!

How we built it

The frontend is built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, while the backend is powered by PHP and a MySQL database. We utilized libraries and frameworks such as jQuery for interactivity, and PDO for database operations.

Challenges we ran into

As first-time participants in a hackathon, Sheryl and Ruby faced the pressure of working within tight deadlines and under the constraints of a hackathon environment. Additionally, unforeseen circumstances led to a reduction in our team size, as one member had to step down due to personal commitments. This adjustment required us to adapt quickly and redistribute responsibilities.

Ruby, who primarily focused on front-end development, took on the challenge of learning PHP to assist Yulduz with the backend tasks. Meanwhile, Sheryl navigated the unfamiliar territory of building a full project website for the first time. Despite these challenges, we embraced the learning opportunities that arose and supported each other through the process.

Another challenge we encountered was managing timezone differences, with two team members located in Eastern Standard Time (EST) and one in Pacific Standard Time (PST). Coordination and communication across different time zones required careful planning and flexibility but ultimately strengthened our teamwork and collaboration skills.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Throughout the hackathon, we maintained a positive and supportive team dynamic, fostering open communication, sharing ideas, and celebrating each other's contributions. Our cohesive teamwork was instrumental in achieving our objectives and making the hackathon experience rewarding and enjoyable. As Sheyl says: An achievement I could think of (aside from the completion of the project, learning how to work together virtually. We definitely kept consistent with contacting each other through Discord with project updates. It was imperative and important as we have a teammate that on PST time so collaborating and providing updates to each other was very valuable in the completion of the project All of us learned a new skillsset like PHp, javascript and sql.

What we learned

Throughout the development process, we learned valuable lessons about teamwork, problem-solving, and user experience design.

Ruby learned more about implementing PHP and understadning how the backend is connected
Sheryl was able to implement the UI they created on Figma as css and html
Yulduz also learned php in depth and was able to develop her skills with SQL.
We all practiced how to commit our Github messages properly!

What's next for devConnect

Looking ahead, we have several exciting plans for devConnect. We want to use AI to find partners based on skills ets. We also plan to grow the devConnect community through targeted marketing efforts and partnerships with developer-focused organizations. Our ultimate goal is to create a vibrant and inclusive ecosystem where developers can thrive and create amazing projects for social good!

Built With

Submitted to

Black Wings Hacks 2024

Created by

I worked through full-stack. I had some experience with back-end and learned the details for HTML. I wasn't as familiar with PHP so that was something I learned throughout the process.

Ruby Rios
I worked mostly on front-end. It was my first using figma so it became a learning experience . I was familiar with it and considered to use it for designing our website. So learning how to use figma was definitely was a process.

Sheryll J
I worked on the backend using PHP and SQL. I was responsible for ensuring that various functionalities, such as managing connection requests, projects, and friends, were implemented effectively. This included tasks like storing data in the database and retrieving it when needed. I played a crucial part in enabling the core features of devConnect, facilitating smooth communication and interaction among users.

Yulduz Muradova