May 30, 2025

Overview

ApolloApp is an AI-powered education platform designed to help students generate test plans, grade assignments, and create quizzes and flashcards. I joined the project in August 2024 as a freelance backend developer and later transitioned into a broader coordination role—overseeing architecture, deployments, and developer workflows. The platform required a secure, scalable backend to support AI-driven features and user interactions. My initial focus was implementing a robust authentication system using NextAuth (Auth.js), followed by deeper involvement in infrastructure, monitoring, and team coordination.

Role & Timeline

• Aug 2024 – Dec 2024: Freelance backend developer; implemented authentication and core backend logic.
• Jan 2025 – May 2025: Development coordinator; led architectural decisions, reviewed code, and maintained deployments.

Key Contributions

• Authentication System: Built a secure, extensible login flow using NextAuth with support for multiple providers and session management.
• Infrastructure Ownership: Set up and maintained Redis, PostgreSQL, and monitoring tools like Grafana and Prometheus.
• CI/CD & Deployments: Configured GitHub Actions for automated testing and deployment workflows.
• Code Reviews & Coordination: Took over project coordination, reviewed backend PRs, and ensured architectural consistency across modules.

Technologies Used

• Core Stack: Node.js, TypeScript, Next.js
• Database & Caching: PostgreSQL, Redis
• Monitoring & Observability: Grafana, Prometheus
• DevOps: GitHub Actions, Docker

Challenges and Learnings

Building a backend for AI-driven workflows meant handling asynchronous tasks, user-generated content, and performance-sensitive endpoints. Implementing secure authentication with extensibility in mind was a key early challenge. Later, coordinating across developers taught me the importance of architectural clarity, consistent code review practices, and proactive monitoring.

Outcome

ApolloApp launched with a stable backend that supports dynamic AI features and user workflows. My contributions ensured secure access, reliable infrastructure, and maintainable code—while my coordination role helped streamline development and deployment across the team.