DEV Community: Clarisse

Post-hackathon: The E-learning App Built With Video API

Clarisse — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 13:02:41 +0000

Introduction

In our previous post about Vonage Joins Code Chrysalis API Hackathon, we saw how Team Subarashi built an application called CollabSpace using Vonage Video API. CollabSpace makes online team collaboration more interactive and simple, connecting with others and editing documents in real-time. That was all, right? Of course not.

Within a few weeks following the hackathon, this group of Bootcamp students used the Video API to build another innovative project, an e-learning web application called Senpai, for their Bootcamp Demo Day. In Japanese, the word Senpai refers to a teacher or master.

What Did They Build?

Senpai is an e-learning web application that connects programming mentors and mentees. The website allows users interested in learning programming skills to find experienced front-end developers for one-on-one tutoring. It could also provide tutors with an opportunity to earn money as freelancers.

Built with:

MongoDB
Express
React
Nodejs
Docker
Vonage Video API

You can check out their Application and see their code on GitHub. You can also view their demo and presentation.

What Makes It So Special?

The idea behind Senpai was to create a platform for programmers to provide one-on-one tutorial services for people wanting to learn frontend technologies. The app was designed so that users would not have to constantly switch between multiple apps throughout the process, including those for scheduling, video chat, and screen sharing.

Conclusion

I thought their project was a brilliant idea! I was impressed by what they have created using the Video API. Within a short time, they mastered the API and came up with a solution that streamlined the process of scheduling appointments, connecting people through video chat, screen sharing, and collaborating with one another all in one place. I can almost see how it can also be used in virtual classrooms or tuition centers, and for distance learning in international schools.

Want To Know More?

You can learn more about our Video API and how the video platform works. Now it is your turn to get started building a project, or to try out the Video Express to create a multiparty video conferencing web application, without video expertise.

Show Us What You Are Working On

We are always interested in sharing your stories and new ways to use the Vonage APIs with the developer community. If you’ve built something with our APIs and think you’re ready to write about it, submit your article through our Developer Spotlight Program.

Vonage Joins Code Chrysalis API Night Hackathon

Clarisse — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 02:31:27 +0000

Introduction

On the 14th of September, Vonage and Code Chrysalis teamed up for a special API Night Hackathon. The API Hackathon is designed to challenge the software engineering Bootcamp students to innovate and build brand new apps using Vonage APIs in only four days!

The hackathon began on Tuesday with an amazing presentation from Amanda Cavallaro that explained what the Vonage APIs are and how to use them. The session also offered a few inspiring ideas that encouraged the participants to begin their projects.

Amanda Cavallaro and Dwane Hemmings from our Developer Relations team offered support to the participants, answered questions, and provided guidance whenever required.

Later that day, the students decided on the applications they wanted to build, their features, designs, and colour schemes. They also formed teams and chose the roles they wanted to take on, such as Tech Lead, Front-end, and Back-end.

The Vonage API Challenge

Team: Subarashi

Project Name: CollabSpace - Making remote team collaboration simple!

Problem:

Given the state of the world’s advancements in technologies, remote communication has been widely used, but it has also created many issues that people have to face daily. With many people using different applications for communication and collaboration, it can become increasingly challenging to manage team communication across many different platforms. There is a disconnect between working on the same document, interacting, and collaborating at the same time. It happens naturally when we are in person, but online communication causes individuals to shift their attention between managing work on a document, listening to calls, looking at slides, and seeing people's faces and facial expressions to maintain connection and teamwork.

Solution:

CollabSpace is a convenient solution to video chat with collaborators while working together on files stored in Google Drive. It is designed for a remote learning/working environment. It establishes user-created “workspaces” that can hold files, such as Google docs/slides, that are then brought to the collaboration room to be worked on by multiple users.

The application makes online team collaboration more interactive and provides a simple, easy-to-use format for connecting with peers and editing documents in real-time.

Features:

Join a new room or a currently ongoing room
Create a new room
Give access to a web camera, microphone, and voice chat to other participants in the room
Workspace controls to edit documents, share documents and turn on the camera so they can see each other

Built with:

React
Redux
Express
Nodejs
Postgres
Material UI
Knex
Postgres
Vonage Video API
Heroku

The Application is available on Heroku, and you can check out their code on GitHub. You can also watch their demo and presentation.

Conclusion

The event was a great success, and we are glad to have been able to support the API Hackathon hosted by Code Chrysalis. The students did fantastic work building a full-stack application and deploying it on the web in only four days with our Video API! We thoroughly enjoyed the time together, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge with the students and developer communities in the future to inspire, collaborate, and learn from one another.

“We enjoy being able to work on and implement these cool features such as the video chat. It was definitely a great learning experience for all of us. We hope to stay in touch as we go along in our career as a developer, and continue working together since personally, I know that Vonage will be my first thought whenever I have a communication need or project,” said Stephen Batman, tech lead for Team Subarashi at Code Chrysalis.

My Journey in Tech

Clarisse — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 08:58:22 +0000

My Story/How I Got Here

I got into tech by pure coincidence. I live in Singapore, a sunny island, or some say “the little red dot” in Asia. My route into tech was unconventional because I graduated with a degree in Business from Nanyang Technological University majoring in Marketing and was never a techie person. However, an opportunity came for me to start my first job as a marketing communications specialist and it was with a network infrastructure telecommunications company. During this time, I learned about routers, networking solutions and hardware stuff. It was really difficult to comprehend and much more challenging to write a promotion article to pitch to the media about the product. I picked up my tech understanding along the way from technical specialists to partner sales experts trying my best to understand how different aspects of the business work for the customers. Soon enough, I was able to try several marketing ideas and achieve the results I wanted.

Then midway through my career, I was given the opportunity to work in a reputable software company, to build the developer and IT professional community in Singapore. That is where I encountered the software technologies, which greatly influenced me, and I was inspired by all the things you could do with them that could help people. I started being involved in startup weekends, hackathons, and organising tech talks and hands-on labs sessions for the developer community. I enjoyed my time planning activities for the community as I get to put my marketing skills and experience into good use. I was also involved in a champions program, through which I organised several local activities to identify and recognise professionals in the community for their efforts to support similar-minded people to learn technologies better in Southeast Asia. My passion in community development grew, and I moved on to build the startup community through a Singapore investment firm backed by the government subsidiary and later on in the events industry.

The Biggest Challenge I Faced Was…

Getting to this point was not easy, there were challenges at work, loss of loved ones, and other moments in my life where I had difficulty staying strong and positive. It was the constant struggle of getting stuff done, making sure I remain creative, relevant, and giving meaning to my work, while staying on top of everything else going on in my life, including my role as a daughter, sister, friend, etc. I learned that managing these roles while not becoming burned out is not easy. There can be pandemic, politics, organisational changes, loss of loved ones and situations that sometimes cannot be avoided, to stay strong mentally, and taking care of our health is the most important.

What I’m up to Now

Fast forward to now, I am a Developer Community Manager at Vonage, managing to continue my passion for community building within tech developer communities. I enjoyed working with the communities most when I supported their ideas and solutions they are passionate about, especially in areas of sustainability, disaster relief, eldercare, and education for children. On the technical front, I've started learning how to code recently and have used the Vonage APIs to create simple solutions. I also got to use Zapier and Airtable for some integrations between apps for our team. It’s definitely fun and satisfying and I’m looking forward to doing more with codes. I'll be working on a champions program this year, and building more connections with the developer communities in Asia.

My Message for Others…

While you are actively pursuing your career and doing your best in different aspects of life, it is okay to be not okay and you don’t need to be perfect in everything. You don’t have to go through it alone. I’ve been most supported by my family, friends and colleagues who understood what I was going through and gave me the support I needed. Care for your mental health and well-being is the only thing you could do for yourself so you can do even more for others.