How I Built EduConnect Hub – My First Full Stack Project Using React and Node.js
How I Built EduConnect – A Platform to Bridge the Gap Between Students and Faculty
The Idea
The concept for EduConnect was quite straightforward: I aimed to close the communication gap between faculty and students while helping students team up with the right partners for hackathons.
A lot of students find it hard to reach out to faculty when they’re facing challenges, especially when they’re learning a new language or framework. Plus, they usually form hackathon teams based on who they know rather than skills, which can lead to subpar results.
To tackle this issue, I started creating EduConnect – a web app that allows:
- Students to chat with their classmates and professors.
- Faculty to be filtered by their expertise (such as Python, Java, etc.).
- Students to connect with team members who actually understand the tech stack they need – not just friends who are free.
The project is still a work in progress, and I’m building it with scalability in mind. That’s why I opted for the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js).
How I Connected Frontend & Backend
For the tech stack, I’ve used:
- Frontend: React.js
- Backend: Node.js + Express.js
- Database: MongoDB Atlas (cloud-based)
- Email Verification: Brevo – offering 300 free emails/day
- Real-time Communication: WebSockets
All API requests are linked through REST endpoints, with the frontend communicating with the backend via Axios.
What Was Hard?
Authentication has definitely been one of the most challenging aspects for me so far. I’m still working on implementing it and facing some real-world hurdles like:
- Managing tokens
- Securing API routes
- Handling user sessions
However, each bug or issue has taught me something valuable — and that’s truly the best part.
GitHub Repository
Here’s the GitHub repository for EduConnect:
https://github.com/manishhsuthar/Edu-connect
If you have a moment to check it out or share some suggestions, I’d really love your feedback!
UI Screenshot
What I’ve Learned So Far
I used to think building full-stack apps would be a breeze — but now I’ve learned that it’s not that simple.
This project has taught me:
- How to structure and scale a MERN application
- The actual communication flow between backend and frontend
- User authentication is not as easy as it seems!
- Most importantly: simply starting is the greatest victory
I’m dedicated to completing and enhancing EduConnect, and I’m looking forward to launching a functional version soon. This marks my first full-stack project, and I’m proud of the progress I’ve made.
Thanks for reading!
I’m Manish Suthar, a student and developer bringing real-world ideas to life through code.
Feel free to connect with me on GitHub or leave a comment below!
