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Design
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Logo
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Database Design
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Team
Inspiration
Has networking ever felt like working? It often feels uncomfortable to not only reach out to a stranger but also feels overwhelming to remember and keep track of everyone you have met. According to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, “nearly 80 percent of professionals consider networking crucial to career success,” but almost half of them find it difficult. (KelloggInsight)
If networking is so important for a career and cannot be avoided, why don’t we make it more easygoing? That’s where NetChill comes in: to make networking less like working and more like chilling.
What it does
We help people who have the same interests and are in close proximity to create more meaningful and personable networks in an ice-breaking manner. Using geolocation sensors, users are notified when there are others with similar interests nearby; they can choose to “chill” with each other, guided by NetChill to make the first steps towards a potential connection. No more worrying about ungenuine introductions, awkwardly attempting to find common interests, or accidentally calling someone by the wrong name - NetChill will help you discover new friends, share contact information automatically, and organize your network of people to maintain long-term connections. Let it be your ultimate wingman of networking!
How we built it
As a team of four, we divided tasks into client side and server side. Two members–Jonathan and Eric–worked on the client side, which includes frontend with Flutter and Dart, and the other two–Terry and Clement–worked on the backend using Node.js with Express.js and PostgreSQL with Prisma ORM. In order to retrieve and use the accurate latitude and longitude location data, we utilized Google Maps API with up to 6 decimal points accuracy, which translates to approximately 0.1 m degree of errors. Additionally, we actively utilized supplementary tools like Figma and Git to design systems in detail and collaborate smoothly so every team member is on the same page throughout the hackathon.
Challenges we ran into
One challenge we faced was developing and testing the backend server and database on two different machines while the client mobile app was connecting from another device. Unexpectedly, we realized that a development network tool called Ngrok did not work on USC’s WiFi, so we had to spend a lot of time deploying the backend and database continuously on AWS EC2 instance with NGINX and Docker configuration.
Also, since only one of our four team members was familiar with the Flutter framework, frontend development was slow. Nonetheless, this provided our team with the opportunity to help each other and engaged us to learn a new framework.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
At the beginning of the hackathon, our team spent a lot of time planning the entire project from ideation, design, and technical specs instead of jumping straight into coding the product, which is a common mistake many engineers make including ourselves in previous hackathons. This way, our team was able to be on the same page and better understand each others’ roles to collaborate smoothly. Also, as visible in our GitHub repository, we were able to develop a comprehensive and functioning product that is launched on a cloud server instance within 36 hours.
Additionally, as a diverse team of students from three different universities that met at this hackathon for the first time, we are proud of how we were able to collaborate effectively with active communication.
What we learned
As our team members just met each other for the first time during this hackathon, we learned to work with new team members and communicate thoroughly with diverse team members regardless of each other’s previous technical experiences. We also learned to identify each others’ strengths and weaknesses to maximize our performance as a team in a short period of time.
What's next for NetChill
Currently, geolocation is the only sensor we are relying on to find nearby users, but our goal is to expand to WiFi localization and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technologies to increase the accuracy and introduce higher dimensional methods of discovering people.
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