Parity

Building Parity: brainstorming, coding, and deploying
The team

Inspiration

The tech industry often asks people to “show their work,” but women in tech still face bias, unsolicited judgment, and safety concerns when they share portfolios, resumes, or ideas online. Our team wanted to flip the dynamic: let the work speak first and keep identity private until the creator chooses to reveal it.

What it does

Parity is a safer, web-based platform where women in tech can: 1. Post resumes, projects, or ideas with manual identity masking and per-post visibility (Anonymous, Alias, Real-name). 2. Get structured, actionable feedback from verified professionals using chips like Clarity, Impact, Feasibility, Scope, and UX. 3. See insights built from feedback — percentages, themes, and feedback of posts. 4. Companies can post women-focused opportunities — internships, jobs, or private challenges designed to give women a fair entry point into the industry.

How we built it

We built Parity as a React + TypeScript web app with Supabase powering authentication, database, file storage, and real-time updates. We added custom masking tools to let users hide personal info and built a safe feedback system where “Could be improved” posts require structured chips and actionable suggestions — ensuring creators get valuable, usable feedback instead of vague comments.

Challenges we ran into

One teammate worked on Mac while the others used Windows, which caused Node package conflicts and unexpected build errors. We solved this by improving our .gitignore and setting up two independent local environments, so each developer could work smoothly without breaking the shared codebase.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built Parity from scratch with a strong focus on safety, privacy, and trust. We created an identity-controlled posting system, structured feedback that guarantees actionable suggestions, and an opportunity bridge to help women land real internships and jobs.

What we learned

We learned that building for safety and trust must start from day one — anonymity, consent, and moderation can’t be added later. Requiring structured, actionable feedback dramatically improves review quality compared to open-ended comments.