From Technical Consultant to Front-End Developer: Jun’s Journey with a Community Social App
Sigma School
20th April 2025
Career transitions are never easy — but for Jun, the leap from technical operations consultant to front-end developer was driven by a passion for building digital solutions that truly matter. After joining a coding bootcamp at Sigma School, Jun embarked on a capstone project that not only showcased his newly acquired skills but also addressed a real-world community need.
For his final project, Jun developed a social platform designed for residential communities. This application enables residents to discuss property management issues, organize community events, and raise concerns openly — especially in areas without formal management software or transparent governance.
Jun noticed a common issue: while some residential areas have internal management software, many public housing estates or older neighborhoods lack such platforms. Even when tools exist, data is often controlled by management, limiting resident participation and feedback effectiveness. His app aims to empower residents by giving them control over discussions and issues within their living spaces.
Jun’s project is built using a solid, modern tech stack:
This full-stack combination allows for efficient CRUD operations, user management, and real-time updates within the app.
As with any meaningful software project, Jun faced several challenges during development:
Data Flow Consistency:
As the app evolved, maintaining a clear, consistent data flow became increasingly difficult. Adding new fields or endpoints risked breaking existing features.
Real-Time Data Updates:
Initially, Jun relied on the useEffect hook to constantly fetch data. This approach, however, caused performance issues due to frequent re-renders.
To tackle the data consistency issue, Jun began mapping out the data requirements for each component and endpoint. This structured approach ensured he could track what data was needed, where, and when — reducing breakage as new features were added.
For the real-time updates, he replaced continuous useEffect polling with state hooks that initialized variables only when necessary. This simple yet effective optimization improved app performance without sacrificing functionality.
One important takeaway for Jun was recognizing the value of front-end-first development. By designing the user interface before finalizing backend APIs, he gained a better understanding of the actual data needs — saving time and minimizing rework later on.
Despite juggling wedding planning alongside his bootcamp, Jun successfully delivered a fully functional full-stack application in just three months. His project reflects not just technical capability, but adaptability, problem-solving, and resilience.
Today, Jun stands ready to start his career as a front-end developer, equipped with modern coding skills and a portfolio project that solves a real community issue.