Case Study: InternIskolar - Empowering Students with a Feature-Rich OJT Portal

The Challenge: A Fragmented and Inefficient Internship Process

A university in the Philippines was grappling with a manual, decentralized, and inefficient On-the-Job Training (OJT) application process. Students struggled to discover relevant internship opportunities, found it difficult to monitor the progress of their applications, and lacked the tools to craft professional resumes that would stand out to employers. For the administration, tracking student progress and managing partner companies was a cumbersome task involving spreadsheets and endless paperwork. The university recognized the urgent need for a centralized, user-friendly digital platform to streamline the entire process and better support its students' transition into the professional world.

My Role as a Freelance Web Developer

As the sole freelance web developer for this project, I was responsible for the end-to-end design, development, and deployment of InternIskolar. My key contributions involved creating a comprehensive suite of features that catered to the distinct needs of both students and university administrators.

For Students: A Centralized Hub for Career Growth

• Smart Internship Matching and Tracking: I designed a searchable and filterable database of internships, allowing students to find opportunities relevant to their course. They could then track their application status in real-time on a personal dashboard—from 'Interested' to 'Applied' to 'Offer Received'.
• Intuitive Resume Builder with Live Preview: I developed a powerful yet easy-to-use resume builder. Students could input their information into a simple form, choose from multiple professional templates, and see a live preview of their resume as they typed. The final resume could be exported as a high-quality PDF.
• Streamlined Company Communication: An "Email Company" feature was integrated, which would open a pre-written Gmail draft, automatically filling in the company's contact details and attaching a link to the student's resume, simplifying and standardizing the application process.
• Centralized Document Access: A dedicated section allows students to download all necessary OJT templates and forms directly from the portal, eliminating confusion and repetitive inquiries.

For Administrators: A Powerful Management Toolkit

• Partner Company and MOA Management: A comprehensive dashboard allows admins to manage the list of partner companies and track the expiration dates of their Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), with automated alerts for upcoming renewals.
• Insightful Analytics Dashboard: A dashboard provides key insights into student registrations, the number of applications sent, and which companies are the most popular among students, allowing for data-driven program improvements.
• Efficient Request Management: A system was created for handling student feedback and requests for new document templates in an organized and efficient manner.

The Technology Stack: Built for Performance and User Experience

To create a robust, secure, and user-friendly platform capable of handling hundreds of students, I selected a modern and reliable technology stack:

• Frontend: React.js for building a dynamic, interactive, and responsive user interface.
• Backend-as-a-Service: Firebase was used for its comprehensive suite of tools, including secure user Authentication, a real-time Firestore database, and file Storage for resumes and documents.
• PDF Generation: The powerful jsPDF library was integrated to handle the client-side generation and export of professional PDF resumes.
• Deployment: Vercel was chosen for its seamless deployment, automatic scaling, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline.

This project is a strong example of my full-stack development services for educational institutions and businesses that require complex, data-driven web applications.