Mission Employed

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AI coach and Character
Application Tracker
Resume Critique
Question Generator

Inspiration

We built this because we lived through the struggle ourselves. This recruiting cycle was brutal: applying to hundreds of positions without hearing back, not knowing if our resumes were even getting past the initial screening. We realized most students have no idea why they're getting rejected. Is it the resume format? The content? Their interview answers? Professional career coaches charge $200+ per hour, which most students can't afford. We wanted to level the playing field so anyone could get quality feedback regardless of their budget or network.

What it does

ResuBlocks is an AI-powered resume builder and interview prep platform designed specifically for students and recent graduates. The core concept is giving everyone access to professional-level career coaching for free. You can build resumes using a unique block-based drag-and-drop editor, get AI feedback on how your resume matches job descriptions, practice interview questions tailored to your experience, and chat with an AI career coach, all in one place.

How we built it

AI/ML: OpenAI GPT-4o-mini Cloud: Railway, Firebase (Auth, Firestore, Storage) Build: Vite, TypeScript, ESLint UI: Radix UI, Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion File Processing: pdf-parse, pdfjs-dist, react-pdf HTTP: Axios, Express, CORS Data: Firestore, Multer Utilities: UUID, dotenv, various React utilities Deployment: Railway with Nixpacks/Railpack Frontend: React, Typescript, TailwindCSS, JS Backend: NextJS, ExpressJS

Challenges we ran into

We learned a ton about production deployment, managing environment variables, and Railway's internal networking. API design became clearer, especially centralizing URL management and proper error handling. Express 5 has differences from v4 that caught us off guard. Integrating OpenAI taught us about structured prompts and cost optimization with GPT-4o-mini. PDF processing is way harder than expected - detecting sections and parsing them correctly is challenging. We dove deep into Firebase for auth, Firestore, and Storage. Error handling in production needs helpful user messages while still being debuggable. Working as a team taught us about version control, code organization, and deployment workflows.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We actually got the whole thing deployed and working in production - both frontend and backend live on Railway. The AI integration works really well with four distinct features all providing useful feedback. The block-based editor is unique and makes editing way more intuitive than traditional resume builders. Our error handling is solid with clear messages instead of cryptic errors. TypeScript throughout caught tons of bugs early. The UX turned out great with smooth animations and responsive design. PDF parsing can handle pretty much any resume and convert it to editable blocks automatically.

What we learned

What's next for Mission Employed

We want to add more resume templates with AI suggestions, better ATS scoring, and industry-specific analysis. Planning to expand the job database with market trends and skill demand insights. Multiple export formats (PDF, Word, LaTeX) and resume versioning are on the list. Collaboration features like sharing resumes for feedback and peer review would be huge. Analytics to track applications and interview success rates. Mobile app is definitely happening with native iOS and Android. Considering enterprise features like university partnerships and career center integration. The AI could get smarter with personalized career recommendations and interview simulations. Eventually want to build a community with a resume sharing platform and success stories.