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ThumbsUp App
Inspiration
We created ThumbsUp over coffee and the question, “Which freeway in Houston do you hate the most?” We’re developers and designers who saw the need for affordable and easy transportation around the city while we wait for our public transportation miracle to happen here in Houston.
What It Will Do
It will give Houston metro area commuters a safe way to find source rides around the city without having to wait for hours for public transport or use long distance cabs. Also, drivers will be able to use the HOV lanes for free and alieviate some traffic congestion.
How we built it
We used Bootstrap, MongoDB, and Vue. Heidi wire-framed the design and UI, as well as created a logo and wrote copy for the site. Terrence and Justin tackled the bulk of the front-end coding, and Terrence set up the back-end. Heidi also helped on front-end coding.
Challenges we ran into
We all had to shift our group roles early afternoon first day of the project when one of our experienced developers had to leave for an emergency. With one experienced developer and two students, this meant we needed to rethink how much functionality we could feasibly build. The 3 of us helped each other as we went with the front-end coding and using node.js and Vue.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Remembering to be flexible when our project changes or things happen out of our control. Terrence rocked it as our project manager/teacher and kept us focused. We have a project we'll love to complete and add to our portfolios. And it can potentially help someone keep a job, spend someone they love, etc. Heidi and Justin learned A LOT of technical skills quickly in a short amount of time which will benefit them for many years to come.
What we learned
Heidi learned to trust her self-taught designer instincts and make quicker decisions. Terrence learned a lot about mentoring people with less technical experience, delegation of tasks using non-technical terms, Windows based installs, and had to learn quite a lot more of how Vue.js works. Justin learned a ton on the front-end technologies, like using HTML/CSS in Vue. Justin and Heidi also expanded on their knowledge of using Git in a team environment.
What's next for houston-hackathon-rideshare-2019
Get it updated to full functionality - Riders and Drivers will be able to store long-term schedules. We will also build a mobile app and safety alert feature. Eventually, we plan to sell ad space to businesses who list within the app as start/drop-off locations, and we want to set up the ability for riders and drivers to share the cost of gas. We'll also add the ability to connect with social media accounts later on.
(Presentation link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VE-VXXhIF0HlsOF_Qih-mucp9pLBOvG4NqT5w-6jRxY/edit?usp=sharing)
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