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I built a waiting room for developers. 45 people showed up in 12 hours.

#webdev #javascript #opensource #career

Yesterday I launched available.dev on Reddit.

The idea: a public waiting room where developers who are available for work just... sit. Visible. No resumes, no applications, no "open to work" badges. Just a room.

You sign in with GitHub, write a one-liner about yourself, and wait. Employers browse freely. When you find work, you leave.

That's it. That's the product.

Why I built this

Job hunting feels broken.

You send 50 applications into the void. Maybe 3 respond. LinkedIn is a game of who can post the most "thrilled to announce" updates. Recruiters spam everyone with "exciting opportunities" that turn out to be 6-month contracts in a city you don't live in.

I wanted something stupidly simple. If you're available, be visible. If you're hiring, look.

What happened

I posted on r/webdev's Showoff Saturday.

Within 12 hours:

  • 2,100+ visitors
  • 102 GitHub signups
  • 45 developers entered the room
  • 364 upvotes

Fair. I built it in roughly a day. It broke twice during launch. Someone found an infinite API loop. The site went down during the traffic spike.

Classic.

But 45 people still joined. React devs, Python engineers, DevOps folks. Seniors with 15 years experience. Juniors looking for their first role. All sitting in a public room, waiting.

How it works

  1. Click "Enter the Room"
  2. Sign in with GitHub (extracts your avatar, username, account age)
  3. Write a one-liner (140 chars max)
  4. Pick your skills
  5. You're in the room

No resume. No cover letter. No profile optimization. Just availability.

The room updates in realtime. Watch people join, leave, or disappear when they find work.

What's missing

Honestly? Employers.

Right now it's 45 developers staring at each other. The Reddit traffic was 99% devs. Which makes sense — that's who's on r/webdev.

So this is my ask:

If you're hiring — take 2 minutes to browse the room. No signup needed. Just look. You might find someone.

If you're available — join. Worst case, you sit in a room with other devs who get it.

What's next

Based on Reddit feedback (the constructive parts):

  • Adding "last active" timestamps so employers know who's fresh
  • Adding location/seniority fields
  • Open-sourcing the codebase

The goal isn't to replace LinkedIn. It's to be the place you check when you have a role to fill. "Let me see who's in the waiting room."

Simple. Direct. No bullshit.

Stack (for the curious): Next.js 16, Supabase, Tailwind, shadcn/ui, Vercel.

👉 available.dev

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