DEV Community: DevToolKit

I Built a Free Tool to Check If You're Underpaid – Here's How It Works

DevToolKit — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 05:29:52 +0000

The Problem 💭

Ever asked yourself: "Am I being paid fairly?"

I have. And finding an answer was surprisingly frustrating:

Most salary tools require sign-up or email
Data is often US-only or outdated
Simple calculators ignore skills, company size & experience

Studies show that loyal employees often earn 10-15% less than those who switch jobs because internal raises don't keep pace with market rates. Yet most people don't negotiate because they don't have data to back it up.

So I built something to fix that.

Introducing FairPayCheck 🚀

FairPayCheck is a free, anonymous salary fairness assessment tool.

🔗 Try it: fairpaycheck.com

How It Works

Enter Your Details – Job title, country, industry, experience & skills
Get Analyzed – Algorithm compares your pay against market benchmarks
See Your Score – Receive a fairness score (0-100), fair salary range, and reasons

Key Features ✨

Feature	Description
🔒 100% Anonymous	No login, no registration, no data stored
⚡ 60-Second Assessment	Quick, multi-step form
🌍 6 Countries Supported	US, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, India
📊 Skills-Based Analysis	Considers in-demand skills, not just job title
🏢 Company Size Factor	Adjusts for startup vs. enterprise pay differences
📈 Confidence Levels	Shows reliability of each assessment

What Makes It Different?

Most salary tools just ask for your job title and location. FairPayCheck digs deeper:

✅ Skills Premium – High-demand skills like Machine Learning or Cloud increase your market value

✅ Company Size – Enterprise vs. startup pay differences

✅ Tenure Impact – Long tenure without raises often means underpayment

✅ Country Normalization – Salaries adjusted for regional purchasing power

Sample Output

After filling the form, you get:

Fairness Score: 72/100
Verdict: "Slightly Underpaid"
Fair Salary Range: $95,000 - $115,000
Reasons:
- "Your skills (Python, AWS) command a premium in the current market"
- "3+ years in the same role without promotion typically leads to below-market pay"

Why I Built This

I've been in tech for years and seen friends underpaid by 20-30% simply because they didn't know their market value. Salary negotiation is hard when you don't have data.

FairPayCheck is my way of democratizing that information – for free, without the friction of signups or paywalls.

Try It Out 👇

🔗 fairpaycheck.com

I'd love your feedback:

Is the scoring accurate for your field?
What features would make it more useful?
Any bugs or UX issues?

Drop a comment below! 💬

What's Next? 🔮

[ ] Better-paying job recommendations based on your profile
[ ] More countries
[ ] Historical salary trend data

Star the project if you find it useful, and share it with someone who might be underpaid! 🙌

Stop Fixing Trailing Commas Manually. I Built a Better JSON Tool.

DevToolKit — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 10:46:35 +0000

I deal with messy JSON all day—logs, API dumps, and especially Python dictionaries that I try to pass off as JSON. I got frustrated that most online tools just scream "INVALID SYNTAX" at the first sight of a trailing comma or a single quote.

So I built a tool to scratch my own itch: JSON Formatters Pro.

It’s built on the Monaco Editor (VS Code engine) and is designed to fix the stuff that usually breaks parsers:

Auto-Fixes Errors: It automatically removes trailing commas [1, 2,] and converts single quotes 'key': 'value' to valid JSON.
Python Compatible: Pasting a Python dict? It actively converts True/False/None to true/false/null.
Privacy First: This was a big one for me. Everything runs 100% client-side. Your data/API keys never leave your browser (you can disconnect your internet and test it).

- Large Files:Since it’s using Monaco locally, it handles 10MB+ files without crashing the tab.

It’s completely free, no signup, and no ads. Just a tool I wanted to exist better than what I found.

Would love to hear what you think or if there are other specific "auto-fixes" I should add!

Json Formatters Pro

Stop Waiting for Backend APIs: Build a Free Mock API Generator

DevToolKit — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:34:16 +0000

The Problem Every Frontend Developer Knows

You've designed the UI. Your components are ready. The state management is set up. Everything is perfect — except for one thing:

The backend API isn't ready yet.

Sound familiar?

This is one of the most common bottlenecks in modern web development. Frontend and backend teams often work in parallel, but the frontend almost always needs data to test and validate its implementation.

The traditional solutions have their own problems:

Hardcoded JSON files: Tedious to manage and doesn't simulate real HTTP behavior
JSON Server: Requires setup, installation, and running a local server
Postman Mock Servers: Great, but comes with limitations on the free tier
Building a quick Express server: Overkill for simple testing scenarios

A Simpler Approach: Browser-Based Mock APIs

I built a free Mock API Generator that solves this problem with zero setup. It runs entirely in your browser and creates instant API endpoints for any JSON structure you define.

How It Works

Define your expected response — paste or type the JSON your API should return
Configure options — set status codes, delays, or error responses
Get your endpoint — receive an instant URL you can fetch from
Build your frontend — no waiting, no dependencies, no limitations

Key Features

Feature	Description
Instant Endpoints	Get a working API URL in seconds
Custom Responses	Define any JSON structure you need
HTTP Status Codes	Simulate success (200), errors (400, 500), or redirects
Response Delays	Test loading states with configurable latency
No Authentication	No signup, no API keys, no rate limits
Browser-Based	No installation, works everywhere

Use Cases

1. Frontend Development Without Backend

The most obvious use case. When your backend team is still working on the API, you can:

// Define your expected user response
const mockUserEndpoint = '[https://yoursite.com/mock/abc123'](https://yoursite.com/mock/abc123');

// Fetch it exactly like a real API
const response = await fetch(mockUserEndpoint);
const user = await response.json();

// Continue building your UI
renderUserProfile(user);

2. Prototyping and Proof of Concepts
When you're exploring an idea and need to move fast, spending time on backend setup is counterproductive. Mock APIs let you:

Validate your UI/UX assumptions
Demo to stakeholders quickly
Test component behavior with realistic data

3. Testing Edge Cases
Real APIs don't always return perfect data. With mock APIs, you can simulate:

Empty arrays for "no results" states
Malformed data to test error boundaries
Slow responses to verify loading indicators
Error codes to validate error handling

// Test how your app handles a 500 error
const errorEndpoint = '[https://yoursite.com/mock/error-500'](https://yoursite.com/mock/error-500');

try {
  const response = await fetch(errorEndpoint);
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error('Server Error');
} catch (error) {
  showErrorMessage(error); // ✓ This path is now testable
}

4. Learning and Teaching
If you're learning frontend development or teaching others, mock APIs remove the complexity of setting up a backend. Students can focus on:

Understanding fetch() and the Fetch API
Working with Promises and async/await
Parsing JSON responses
Building real-world UI patterns

Best Practices

Match your real API structure — Define mocks that mirror your actual API schema to minimize refactoring later
Test unhappy paths — Don't just mock success responses; simulate errors, timeouts, and edge cases
Document your mocks — Keep track of what endpoints you've created and their purposes
Transition smoothly — When the real API is ready, switching should be as simple as changing the base URL

👉 https://jsonformatterspro.com/mock-api/