This is a submission for the DEV Weekend Challenge: Community
The Community
Pathfinder is built for students and early-career individuals who constantly struggle to discover relevant opportunities — internships, fellowships, hackathons, conferences, and fully funded programs.
These opportunities exist, but they’re scattered across platforms, posts, and websites. There’s no central place that personalises them or helps users understand what suits them best.
This project is built for that community — students who feel overwhelmed, unsure where to apply, and tired of missing deadlines.
What I Built
Pathfinder is an AI-powered opportunity discovery platform.
It allows users to:
- Complete a short onboarding profile (interests, skills, goals)
- View a curated feed of 45+ opportunities
- Get AI-ranked recommendations based on their profile
- Bookmark opportunities and track deadlines
The goal is simple:
Make opportunity discovery smarter and less overwhelming.
Demo
🌍 Live Demo: https://pathfinder-beryl-chi.vercel.app
💻 GitHub: https://github.com/Vanshita519/pathfinder-github
Code
The full source code is available here:
https://github.com/Vanshita519/pathfinder-github
The project uses:
- React (Vite)
- Tailwind CSS
- Gemini API (for ranking logic)
- Vercel Serverless Functions
- Custom fallback ranking algorithm
- LocalStorage for bookmarks
How I Built It
Frontend
- React (Vite)
- Modular component structure
- Tailwind CSS for styling
- Dark mode support
- LocalStorage for saving bookmarks
AI Integration
Gemini API is used to intelligently rank opportunities based on user profile data.
To ensure security and prevent API key exposure:
- All AI logic was moved to a Vercel serverless function (
/api/gemini) - The API key is stored securely in environment variables
- The frontend communicates only with
/api/gemini - No direct Gemini API calls are made from the browser
Fallback Matching
If AI is unavailable, a custom scoring algorithm ranks opportunities based on skills, interests, and goals.
Pathfinder aims to make discovering opportunities easier, more personalised, and less overwhelming for students.
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