Inspiration
Suprisingly, 1 in 4 Americans lack access to the internet, yet 97% of Americans own a cell phone.
This highlights 2 clear problems:
The internet plays a crucial role in the job application process. BUT, those without the internet are unable to apply for most jobs (especially high-paying jobs like those in tech).
The internet contains a wealth of information in the form of youtube tutorials, courses, or other online resources that can help you learn virtually anything, including new job skills. BUT, people without internet access rarely get to learn marketable skills (like coding) so they are unqualified to compete for high-paying jobs that require those skills.
What it does
PlatyPortal seeks to avoid using an internet connection, and instead rely on chatbots and callbots to teach people marketable skills like coding, help them build a profile to present those skills, and connect them with job opportunities. It provides a service like LinkedIn + Coursera - All without access to the internet!
Who it's for
Let’s use Jay as an example persona who would find value in PlatyPortal. Jay lives in a very rural town & the closest wifi to him is 40minutes away. He wants to apply to jobs that are high-paying, but he can't go to the library everyday to check LinkedIn, much less try learning new skills like coding.
So, our Education hub’s chatbot texts him code & visuals in lesson-form as part of courses like “Intro to Python”. As he reads, the voicebot calls Jay to explain what he sees on the screen, exactly as a teacher could. It even quizzes him, prompting him to text answers or code. He can text questions to another chatbot and practice by texting code to the IDE chatbot.
Upon finishing the courses, skillbadges are added to the resume he made in the Profile Hub. Eventually, he’s able to apply for jobs like this one that the Job Board recommends for him.
How we built it
We used VSCode are our editor. Watson Assistant for our chatbot + voicebot, bootstrap 5/JS for our front end.
Challenges we ran into
Implementing the Watson Assistant to our website. It would work on the console but not on our web application. We also weren't able to use the Watson Discovery tool as we planned due to them no longer offering free trials.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
After much struggle, we finally got the Watson Assistant to work on the website. That way we could make everything available via web interface OR phone, while still providing a great UX for users. We were also were able to work on our project while having a lot of fun.
What we learned
We learn more about implementing Watson assistant and working better as a team
What's next for PlatyPortal
We hope we can go back and redo the project and implement more features and better performance.
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