Title: How I Built Engineer Astra: A Platform to Help Students Explore Top Colleges in India
Introduction
Hello my name is Vishal Tiwari.As a B.Tech student in CSE (AI & ML), I’ve always been passionate about education and technology. During my college journey, I noticed that many students struggle to find relevant information about colleges, courses, and admission processes. This inspired me to create Engineer Astra, a web application that simplifies the college search and helps students make informed decisions about their future.
In this post, I’ll walk you through my journey of building Engineer Astra, the tech stack I used, key features of the platform, and how it can benefit students across India.
The Problem I Wanted to Solve
When I was preparing for my engineering entrance exams, I found it challenging to gather all the necessary information about colleges, courses, and eligibility criteria. Most students either rely on outdated websites or spend hours browsing through multiple portals to compare options. This lack of a centralized platform motivated me to create a solution that brings all relevant data into one place, while also offering additional educational resources.
What is Engineer Astra?
Engineer Astra is an educational platform designed to assist students in exploring and gaining admission to top colleges across India. It provides the following key features:
- Find Colleges Based on Rank and Percentages: Students can search for colleges based on their entrance exam rank or school percentage.
- Explore Courses and Get Certifications: Users can enroll in courses, complete video lessons, and receive certificates upon completion.
- B.Tech Subject Notes: A collection of subject notes tailored for engineering students, helping them with exam preparation.
- AI-Powered Helpdesk: An AI helpdesk that answers student queries related to admissions, colleges, and more.
- List of All Colleges in India: A comprehensive list of colleges in India, categorized by location, rank, and course offerings.
Tech Stack
I wanted Engineer Astra to be scalable, fast, and user-friendly. After some consideration, I opted for the following tech stack:
- Frontend: React.js – To build a responsive and dynamic user interface.
- Backend: Node.js and Express – To handle API requests and serve data.
- Database: MongoDB – To store college information, user data, and course progress.
- Hosting: Vercel – To deploy and manage the application online.
- AI: Integrated AI-powered tools for the helpdesk functionality, which I developed using Python and machine learning models.
Challenges and Solutions
Building a Dynamic College Search Feature
One of the most challenging parts was designing the search functionality that allows users to filter colleges based on their rank and other criteria. I implemented a flexible search algorithm using MongoDB’s query capabilities and React’s state management to ensure the results are fast and accurate.Course Tracking and Certificate Generation
Another interesting challenge was tracking users’ course progress. I built a system where each user’s completed video lessons are tracked in acompletedVideosarray. Once all videos in a course are completed, the course is marked asisCompleted: true, making them eligible for a certificate.Optimizing SEO
As my platform aims to help students find relevant information, optimizing the SEO for the website was essential. I ensured that the root homepage included relevant keywords like “top engineering colleges,” “admission process,” and “college search India,” which improved search visibility.
What’s Next for Engineer Astra?
I have big plans for Engineer Astra moving forward. Here are a few updates I’m working on:
- Mobile App Development: I plan to expand the platform into a mobile app for better accessibility.
- More Educational Resources: Adding more course material, notes, and exam preparation content.
- AI-Powered College Recommendations: Integrating machine learning algorithms to provide personalized college recommendations to students based on their preferences and academic background.
Final Thoughts
Building Engineer Astra has been a rewarding experience, and I’m excited to see how it can help students in their educational journey. If you’re interested in trying it out or know someone who could benefit from it, feel free to check out the website at Engineer Astra.
I’d love to hear your feedback or answer any questions about the development process! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Tags: #webdev #react #node #education #ai #students
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