Hey everyone! Two weeks ago, my friend Priyabrata Mondal and I launched la-resume, an open-source, ATS-friendly resume builder to help job seekers create professional resumes without the hassle. Weāve been blown away by the response so farā100+ signups in just 14 days! š± Hereās a quick rundown of whatās been happening:
- ā 100+ signups (still canāt believe it!)
- š 730+ unique visitors
- š 2,200+ page views
- ā 25+ GitHub stars in just 14 days
As solo developers, we built this side project together for fun and to help out, and the traction has been incredible. I wanted to share our journey, the tech behind it, and some of the challenges weāve faced along the way.
Why We Built la-resume
It all started when we were creating our resume on OverLeaf. We noticed that most resume builders out there either werenāt ATS-friendly (a must for beating those applicant tracking systems) or charged crazy fees for basic stuff like PDF exports or writing LateX isn't easy for everyone. So, we teamed up to create la-resume an easy-to-use tool optimised for ATS, letting users craft stunning resumes in minutes.
Our goal? Help people land their dream jobs with resumes that look pro and pass those ATS filters with flying colors.
The Tech Behind It
If youāre curious about the tech we used to bring la-resume to life, hereās the stack we worked with:
- Frontend: Next.js 15 + Tailwind CSS (keeps things fast and pretty!)
- Backend: MongoDB (We started with NeonDB PostgreSQL but switched due to free-tier limitsālesson learned!)
- Auth: Clerk for super smooth authentication
- Hosting: Vercel (makes deployment a breeze)
- Microservices: Python-based microservices, containerized and hosted on AWS
This setup has been awesomeāitās fast, scalable, and lets us iterate on new features without too much stress.
How It Works
Using la-resume is super straightforward:
- You fill out a form with your info.
- That data gets plugged into a LaTeX template behind the scenes.
- Boomāa polished, ATS-friendly PDF is generated for you!
Itās all about making the process painless while ensuring your resume looks great and works for those ATS scans.
The Journey: Challenges & What Weāve Learned
1ļøā£ Getting Those First Users
Getting people to check out la-resume was a big hurdle at first. Most of our traffic came from X (shubhamku044 & prybruhta), Reddit, and some posts on LinkedIn (shubhamku044 & prybruhta). Hereās what worked for us:
- Posting on communities like Reddit, Twitter, and Indie Hackers.
- Sharing updates on LinkedIn and Dev.to to keep the momentum going.
- Chatting with people in relevant groups to get feedback and spread the word.
The community support has been a huge boost!
2ļøā£ Listening to Feedback
The feedback from users has been amazing. People shared great ideas, like improving the UI or adding more template customization options. Weāve been quick to iterate and make those changes based on what real users need.
3ļøā£ Keeping It Simple
One lesson we learned early: donāt overcomplicate things! We focused on keeping the MVP simple and functional, which let us launch faster and figure out what users actually want before diving into bigger features.
Community Love & Recognition
Weāve been so humbled by the support:
- The folks behind RenderCV and ppResume liked and starred our project on GitHub (la-resume, huge shoutout to them!
- Weāve already hit 25+ stars in just 14 days!
- Weāre starting to see interest from open-source contributors, which is super exciting.
Itās awesome to see people rallying behind what weāve built together.
Whatās Next for la-resume?
Weāve got big plans to keep improving la-resume, and weāre pumped about whatās coming:
- š LaTeX exports for even better formatting.
- š More template customization options to fit everyoneās style.
- š” A freemium model with some premium features for power users.
The support so far has been incredible, and we canāt wait to see where this journey takes us!
Want to Check It Out?
If youāre on the hunt for an ATS-friendly resume builder, weād love for you to give la-resume a try! You can find it here: la-resume.tech
- š GitHub Repository: shubhamku044 & PriyabrataMo
- š¢ Follow us on Twitter: shubhamku044 & prybruhta
- š Join our LinkedIn network: shubhamku044 & prybruhta
Weāre also open to opportunitiesāwhether itās collaboration, job offers, or partnerships. As full-stack developers passionate about building scalable apps with React, TypeScript, and Go, weād love to explore new projects or roles where we can contribute and grow. Feel free to reach out! Weād also love to hear your thoughts, feature ideas, or just say hi. Letās keep building something awesome together! š
Top comments (2)
Very Interesting and helpful
Thanks you
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