I’ve always felt that government exam aspirants in India don’t have a clean, focused, supportive space online. Everything is scattered across Telegram groups, WhatsApp broadcasts, random PDFs, and noisy job websites.
So I decided to fix it.
I forked the Forem platform and built a dedicated community for government exam preparation and current government job holders to learn, discuss, and guide each other.
What started as a simple idea slowly turned into a full 3-month build — late nights, weekends, and deep dives into the Forem codebase.
Web App: careerpolitics.com
What Makes This Community Different?
It’s built for real people, not algorithms.
Aspirants can ask doubts, share notes, discuss strategies, and get guidance directly from job holders who’ve already cleared the exams. No spam, no clutter — just meaningful interactions.
Clean, exam-focused sections.
RRB, SSC, Banking, State PSC, Group D — everything is neatly organized with tags and categories that follow the real study flow.
Daily practice and active discussions.
Members solve daily questions, join study threads, and break down explanations together. The goal is to reduce the loneliness of exam prep.
Genuine stories from job holders.
Government employees share insights about their roles, work culture, and preparation strategies.
Trustworthy job notifications.
No clickbait or misleading posts — only verified updates with the details that matter.
A dedicated space for both aspirants and job holders.
Aspirants get mentorship.
Job holders get a meaningful way to give back.
What I Personally Customized (Beyond Default Forem)
Over the last 90 days, I built features Forem doesn’t include by default:
A full Job Post system
Including:
- Job post model
- Admin approval flow
- Priority/position ordering
- Clean list and detail UI
Android app support
Optimized API endpoints + UI adjustments for smoother mobile use.
App: CareerPolitics
Kubernetes deployment on DigitalOcean
Heroku became costlier, so I moved to DigitalOcean and deployed via:
- Containerized Forem fork
- Kubernetes (DOKS)
- PostgreSQL + Redis with persistent volumes
- Cloudinary + AWS S3 for media storage
- Automated deploys, liveness/readiness probes
This took almost an entire month by itself.
Community integrations
Smooth onboarding between website, app, and WhatsApp:
WhatsApp community:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/Jtw5oVYb0sG1JZfRqQFOGD
The Journey (Last 3 Months)
- Studying the Forem architecture: 2–3 weeks
- Building the job-post module: ~3 weeks
- Reworking categories + UI: 1.5–2 weeks
- Android integration: ~2 weeks
- Kubernetes deployment + debugging: ~3 weeks
- Continuous polishing: ongoing
Every line of code, every config file, and every deployment was a solo effort.
Why I Built This
Because exam prep feels less stressful when people share the journey.
Because mentorship from someone who has already cleared the exam is priceless.
Because community matters more than scattered Telegram PDFs and random notifications.
And because students deserve a space built for them, not for ads.
If anyone wants to explore the CareerPolitics fork, job module code, or Kubernetes setup, I’m happy to share.
And I’d genuinely appreciate ideas from the dev.to community on how to grow this — features, scaling patterns, community design, or anything you think could make this stronger.
We’re just getting started.
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