- Inspiration
- What it does
- How we built it
- Challenges we ran into
- Accomplishments that we're proud of
- What we learned
- Installation
- Usage
- Viewing on the Web
- Developers
As frequent participants in hackathons, we've often found it challenging to assemble the perfect team to bring our innovative ideas to life. We've experienced the frustration of searching for teammates with the right skills, enthusiasm, and experience to complement our own. To address this common issue in the hackathon community, we created Hacker Match, a platform designed to simplify the process of finding and connecting with like-minded hackers, thereby forming dream teams for hackathons.
Hacker Match is a social media platform that streamlines the team-building process for hackathons. The platform begins by allowing users to create profiles where they can showcase their skills, display their hackathon experience, and indicate the hackathons they are currently attending or planning to attend. Once registered and signed in, users can browse and connect with other hackers based on shared interests, complementary skills, or personal preferences.
Our tech stack included JavaScript and TypeScript for programming, TailwindCSS for a sleek and responsive user interface, NextJS to provide seamless and efficient routing within the platform, Firebase to utilize its database and authentication services, and Vercel to deploy it onto the web and make it accessible to the hackathon community.
Developing Hacker Match was not without its share of challenges. One significant hurdle we encountered was the need to work asynchronously. We were having a tough time coordinating tasks, maintaining communication, and ensuring that every team member's contribution was aligned and efficient were ongoing challenges. We were having issues with designing how the data is stored and structured in the database. We also had issues where a user could set up more than one direct message channel with another user. Nonetheless, we managed to overcome these obstacles through effective project management and frequent check-ins.
Throughout this hackathon, we achieved several milestones that we are particularly proud of. First and foremost, we successfully adopted and integrated new technologies within a tight timeframe. This required rapid learning and adaptation, which we embraced wholeheartedly. We were also able to deliver a functional minimum viable product on schedule, ensuring that our platform met its core objectives and was ready for user testing.
Our journey in building Hacker Match was not only about creating a practical solution but also about personal and professional growth. We learned how to effectively utilize Firebase for managing user data and authentication. Combining design and development to create an engaging user experience was another valuable skill we acquired. We also got hands-on experience with NextJS, understanding its benefits in simplifying the development process and improving performance.
In the future, we plan to introduce several enhancements to elevate the platform's utility and user experience.
These improvements may include:
- Integration of real-time communication tools for team collaboration
- More comprehensive project management system
- User-friendly features for organizing hackathons
- A machine learning algorithm to help you find your best hacker match each and every time
We want Hacker Match to not only be a matchmaker for hackathon teams but also serve as a community hub where hackers can interact, share their progress, collaborate on projects, and receive updates on upcoming hackathons. Whether you're a seasoned hacker or a first-timer, Hacker Match helps you build the perfect team and enhance your hackathon experience.
Here are the steps to install and set up this project on your local machine:
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/TheGhostCoder0/hackermatch-sachacks5.git
# Navigate to the project directory
cd hackermatch-sachacks5.git
# Install npm packages for frontend
npm install
# Create a .env.local file and set up your Firebase keys
The frontend of the application is developed in React.js while the backend uses Flask. Here's a brief on how to use it:
# To run
npm run devThe application is hosted on Vercel, a platform that enables developers to host websites and web services that deploy instantly, scale automatically, and require no supervision, all with no configuration. You can view the live application by visiting the following URL:
https://hackermatch-sachacks5.vercel.app
This project was made with love by the following developers: