FiltroBank

FiltroBank: Your AI-powered guardian, verifying global remote job legitimacy so you can apply with confidence.

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Inspiration

The inspiration for the FiltroBank Remote Job Scanner Tool stemmed directly from the competition's provided topic, which highlighted the critical need for robust solutions to combat fraudulent remote job opportunities. This theme resonated with the growing global trend of remote work and the associated challenges of ensuring job legitimacy across diverse international contexts.

What it does

The FiltroBank Remote Job Scanner Tool is an automated system designed to empower job seekers by providing a robust mechanism for verifying remote job opportunities. Leveraging a blend of intelligent automation and specialized verification services, the tool assesses key indicators of legitimacy, from company presence and contact details to potential online threats. It operates interactively via a Telegram bot, allowing users to initiate verification requests for company names, and delivers a consolidated risk assessment. The system is designed to verify remote jobs globally, not limited to specific regions.

How we built it

The FiltroBank Remote Job Scanner Tool is built upon a modular and scalable architecture:

User Interface: A Telegram bot serves as the primary interface, allowing users to easily submit company names for verification.

Orchestration: n8n acts as the central orchestration engine, managing the flow of data and coordinating interactions between various services.

Verification Services:

AI Web Research (via Tavily): Tavily provides AI-powered web research capabilities to gather additional contextual information and identify potential red flags.

Backend & Risk Scoring: A custom backend, developed by Anha, is hosted on Railway.app (filtrobank-production.up.railway.app). This backend is responsible for aggregating data from the various verification services, applying a custom risk-scoring algorithm, and potentially integrating VirusTotal for threat checks.

Deployment: The backend leverages GitHub for version control and Railway.app for continuous deployment, ensuring that updates are automatically reflected.

Challenges we ran into

Developing the FiltroBank Remote Job Scanner Tool presented several significant technical and integration challenges. Overcoming these hurdles required persistent troubleshooting and a deep dive into the intricacies of each component:

ISED Integration Issues: Initially, integrating with the ISED (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) search functionality proved problematic, leading to failures in data retrieval. This was addressed by refining the approach to manual search instructions and considering alternative, more robust verification methods for global applicability.

API Credit Limitations: Running out of credits for certain APIs (e.g., Apify, Hunter.io, Tavily) was a recurring challenge, impacting the ability to conduct extensive testing and continuous operation. This necessitated careful management of API usage, optimization of calls, and exploration of cost-effective alternatives or tiered plans. We had to drop the idea of a multi-faceted verification from the design as when we attempted integrating Google Maps for physical presence and Hunter.io for email verification, the response was very slow, executing the workflow on n8n took over 40 minutes to generate a response. This led to having to change the entire design build on short notice.

n8n Expression Errors: Debugging and resolving n8n expression errors was a frequent task, especially when transforming and mapping data between disparate services. This required a thorough understanding of n8n's expression language and iterative testing to ensure data integrity and flow.

GitHub/Railway Deployment Issues: Setting up and maintaining the continuous deployment pipeline from GitHub to Railway.app for the backend encountered initial configuration and deployment issues. These were resolved through meticulous review of deployment logs, environment variable management, and collaboration to ensure a smooth and automated deployment process

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud to have developed a functional and robust system that addresses a critical need in the remote job market. Key accomplishments include:

End-to-End Workflow Orchestration: Successfully designed and implemented an n8n workflow that seamlessly integrates external APIs and services.

Comprehensive Risk Scoring Backend: Anha's development of a sophisticated backend capable of aggregating diverse data points and applying a custom risk-scoring algorithm.

Automated Deployment: Establishing a continuous deployment pipeline ensuring efficient updates and maintenance of the backend.

Tavily for AI-powered web research to provide a holistic legitimacy check.

User-Friendly Interface: Providing an interactive Telegram bot that makes the verification process accessible and easy for job seekers.

What we learned

Developing the FiltroBank tool provided invaluable insights into the complexities of integrating diverse technologies and managing a multi-faceted project. Key lessons included mastering workflow orchestration with n8n, understanding the nuances of API integrations (e.g., handling rate limits, authentication, and data parsing), and the importance of a robust backend for data processing and risk scoring. The project underscored the critical role of automation in addressing real-world problems and the iterative nature of development, especially when combining various external services.

What's next for FiltroBank

The future of FiltroBank is focused on continuous improvement and expansion to further empower remote job seekers. Key next steps include:

Expanding Verification Sources: Integrating additional data sources and APIs to broaden the scope and depth of job legitimacy checks.

Enhancing the Risk-Scoring Algorithm: Continuously refining the proprietary risk-scoring algorithm to improve accuracy and adapt to evolving scam tactics.

Developing a Dedicated Web Interface: Creating a user-friendly web application to provide an alternative, more feature-rich interface for job seekers, complementing the existing Telegram bot.

Exploring New Features: Investigating and implementing innovative features to further assist job seekers in their remote job search, such as personalized alerts, educational resources on scam prevention, and community-driven insights.

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