Blog: Announcing “Jobs Pathway” – a fully fledghed application built with WordPress (More Posts)
Adapted from a post I wrote on Substack:
It’s a Monday Morning. And today I’m releasing my latest project to the world.
“Job’s Pathway” is an app that allows you to easily organise and track your journey path to your next job or maybe even your first job as you go through the process
You can sign in with a free account and use a simple form to fill in the details of your job applications as you make them and easily tick off your progress as you go.
This is how I did it
Built into the WordPress framework, the tracking data is unique to each user; users are anonymous, and onboarding is as easy as a username and password with the security of an authentication system built into the most used Content Management System on the internet.
I mapped out the idea as a wireframe, had a rough idea of the colour scheme; it all just came together nicely in terms of the interface. A nice, clean and organised interface with a simple colour scheme.
And then I started to build it with AI. That’s how I built all the major features, which use PHP, WordPress, JavaScript and AJAX for real-time updates to the database. It all began as an idea for Ruby on Rails, but for me, that was too big a learning curve for such a big idea. The design is completely my own. The functionality was aided by AI.
But why did I make it?
I hope it might be of help or interest to others. But I didn’t make it for me. I don’t want to talk much more about how I did it. I want to talk about why.
When I came up with the idea, I hesitated at first because it was a bit close to the bone for my personal situation right now.
I’m self-employed. And I enjoy being self-employed. But it’s more than just enjoyment. Self-employment in Web Design and development is what I do. When it comes to the world of work, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, realistically.
Which is fine on its own, but I’m also on health-related welfare. And I have been for the last couple of years. I have Autism and suspected ADHD and executive dysfunction. There is a lot of discussion in politics about the nature of the welfare system.
So looking for work is second nature for most people. Not so much for me. We all have to work in this life, if we can. And usually, the welfare system for many countries is centred around the need to look for work for the money the state pays you. So I’ve been living with that contradiction for a little while.
These issues are never far from my mind. And I’m a web designer. So that’s where this idea came from, and when it was formed in my head, I couldn’t resist the urge to build it.
So with all that in mind, my recent life journey, the interface came to life in my head; it just seemed right to put this out to the world.
Although I’ve used AI to build the code, I remain immensely proud of what I’ve created. I do still consider it a creation of mine. The design is mine, even if most of the code isn’t.
Because even if you use AI to code, you still have to have an understanding of coding patterns, development practices and coding so you can scrutinise the code that you generate
In Summary…
“Jobs Pathway” is the most complete app I’ve ever created, and I’m very excited to release it this week. It’s taken several weeks, many iterations and changes of direction. (You can read about this in my repository (up to v2.0.11). Having lovingly created it, I hope you enjoy it and it proves useful to you.
If you have any feedback about it for me at all, I’d love to hear it. As with all my projects, I will be making iterative improvements as time goes on.
Links:
Jobs Pathway: https://projects.jonniegrieve.co.uk/jobs_pathway
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/jg-digital-media/jgdm_jobs_pathway?tab=readme-ov-file#211
My Portfolio: https://portfolio.jonniegrieve.co.uk
My Website: https://www.jonniegrieve.co.uk