| Hey HN community! As a software engineer who took an unconventional path (bootcamp graduate in late 2021), I've spent the last 3 years in the 9-5 grind, constantly dreaming of building something meaningful. After watching my brother struggle with interview anxiety, I built Acedit: an AI interview coach. What it does: - Provides real-time, personalised prompts during online interviews - Parses job listings for targeted practice questions and answers (from popular job listing websites LinkedIn, indeed, etc…) - Offers mock interview simulations Tech stack: NX Monorepo, Express, React, Playwright (e2e testing), Supabase (auth/DB) What sets it apart: - Chrome extension format (less intrusive than a PWA) - Ability to seamlessly parse info from the users active tab (allowing for quick and easy extraction of listing information) - Free tier with unlimited live interviews (uses gpt-4o mini) Biggest challenges: - Balancing helpfulness with ethical use (it's a coach, not a cheat sheet) - Optimising AI response time for real-time use - Building accurate "Question Detection" using NLP I'd love your feedback on: - Ethical considerations - how to ensure proper use? - Performance optimisation ideas - Potential expansions (e.g., LinkedIn lead generation, more in-depth practice modes) Thanks HN! Excited to hear your thoughts and answer any questions. |
Quick backstory: I jumped from odd jobs (lifeguard, travel agent, tax officer) to software engineering via bootcamp. Acedit was born when I watched my brother, a seasoned PR professional, freeze up during mock interviews for a career change. It really drove home how universal interview anxiety is, regardless of experience.
Building this while working full-time has been a wild ride. Lots of late nights, but totally worth it.
Happy to dive into tech details, startup struggles, or anything else. Fire away!