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compleatcake366
compleatcake366

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ShowDev: I Built Two Salary Transparency Sites for Public Education – UmichSalary & EduSalary

Over the past few months, I built two websites that make it easier to explore public salary data for educators, staff, and administrators in the U.S.

🔗 UmichSalary.com – Focused on University of Michigan salaries
🔗 EduSalary.com– A broader salary explorer for public education employees (K–12 and universities)

How I Built Them

Both sites are powered by:

Frontend: Next.js + Tailwind CSS

Backend:

UmichSalary: Local SQL database

EduSalary: Firebase/GCP for scale and flexibility

I wanted to build fast, clean, and searchable interfaces for the public to access this data without digging through clunky PDFs or government portals. Everything is sourced from publicly available salary datasets via FOIA and state transparency sites.

Why I Made This

As a student and someone interested in open data, I found it surprisingly hard to explore salary info without friction. These tools are meant to help:

  • Students see how staff are paid at their institutions
  • Teachers and professors benchmark pay
  • Journalists and researchers use real, structured salary data

What's Next

I'd love feedback from the community!

Would you want filtering by year, role, or city?

Is it worth integrating charts or data visualizations directly?

If anyone's built something similar or has tips on improving usability or visibility, I’d be grateful to connect.

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