You can view the project at: https://oscar-rebooted.github.io/ExpertConnect/
ExpertConnect is a demo web application I built to address a specific pain point identified at BCG. It features a React frontend with dummy data and is designed to showcase the potential for streamlining the process of booking and managing expert calls.
As part of a commercial due diligence, junior team members typically spend 30-50% of their time coordinating expert calls, often through time-consuming email exchanges with expert networks. This project was my initiative to demonstrate how a web app could simplify and enhance this process.
The Managing Director appreciated the concept and encouraged me to explore further development. While I paused work on the project after learning my company had allocated significant resources to a similar tool, this experience was invaluable for learning about frontend development.
Beyond the relevance for my day job, I also decided to pursue this as a learning opportunity and for the enjoyment of turning an idea into a working product.
This was my first project in React, so was really a steep curve. Topics I learnt about:
- Setting up and configuring Webpack.
- Designing reusable React components to build modular and maintainable UIs.
- Managing state with React hooks like useState and useEffect.
- Implementing routing with React Router for seamless navigation.
- Applying CSS styling using both traditional CSS and modern utility frameworks like Tailwind CSS.
- Building and validating forms, and integrating controlled components.
- Using UI libraries to speed up development and create polished designs.
- Deploying the application to GitHub Pages for easy sharing.
- Backend: Adding a database and backend to handle real data
- Enhanced Usability: Introducing features like expert categorisation, bookmarking, and tagging for better organisation.
- Scalable Design: Standardising and modularising the AddConnectionDialog, and maintaining state persistence after the dialog is closed.