MentorBridge

homepage
sign up page
sign up as a mentee
sign up as a mentor
mentee discover page
direct messaging mock example
mentor discover page

Inspiration

As women in a male-dominated field, first-gen college students, and members of underrepresented groups, we understand the struggles of making meaningful career connections. As a younger generation, we know how slow it can be to make connections through methods like LinkedIn and networking events as this can often be time-consuming and with little success. This is why we came up with the idea of MentorBridge.

What it does

MentorBridge is a mentorship-matching platform designed for first-generation students, beginners, and early-career individuals who lack professional networks. Unlike job-swiping apps, MentorBridge focuses on human-centered guidance, helping users build real skills, confidence, and career readiness through tailored mentorship.

The gamified approach allows you to expand your network quickly and the smart mentorship matching allows you to recieve meaningful advice tailored to YOU.

How we built it

We first started by planning the application, deciding key features and targeting this to our audience. We decided on all the aspects of the application before then starting to develop it.

To build this web application we used the Next.js framework, with tailwind CSS, and deployed it using Vercel, integrated with GitHub. With the help of AI, we learnt how to implement the backend database using PostgreSQL.

Challenges we ran into

This was our first hackathon, so we weren't really sure what to expect. When we knew we were making a web application, we first had to overcome the hurdle of researching how we were going to implement this. We decided on the next.js framework because it is versatile, easy to use and integrate with a backend database.

This was our first time using next.js so the next hurdle was trying to get started with next.js on our computers and install all the necessary dependencies. This was particularly hard using the command line interface on a Mac, but after many attempts and errors, we installed home-brew and pnpm and finally created the next.js app.

We also faced many other challenges for example integrating the backend database was particularly hard, and we also faced many errors in deployment.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud of implementing the first prototype of our app. Even though not everything is perfect yet, we are excited to continue improving it.

We are particularly proud of implementing the swiping function as this is the layout that we envisioned and it is clear, clean and concise. We are also proud of implementing the sign up and login features. This was more complicated than we expected because we had to create two separate routes for mentors and mentees. We are also very proud of finally being able to deploy our project.

What we learned

We learnt how to plan and execute a full-stack web application. Learning how to use the next.js framework and integrate this with a backend database was a very valuable experience. The technique of vibe-coding and using 'smart' prompts was also very valuable. We also learnt how to deploy a web application.

What's next for MentorBridge

Our current version of the web app is a prototype, for example, the direct messaging is currently just a mock, sample version. We are very keen to continue developing this and help more students like us!

Additional planned improvements:

AI matching: Machine learning matches mentees and mentors according to sectors, roles and common interests.

Real time direct messaging Mentors and mentees can communicate in real time.

Mentor Ratings: Mentees can rate their experience to maintain quality and trust.

Report button: Allows mentees and mentors to report inappropriate behaviour so that the company can take action.

Verified Mentors: Mentors are verified according to their professional email address.

AI Assistant: Helps mentees by: Summarising chats Highlighting key advice Suggesting next steps Professional communication: Features a selecion of phrases which can be used in professional settings to help mentees with networking skills.

Availability: Mentors cannot take on too many mentees at once, ensuring high-quality guidance.