DevConnect — University FYP Showcase & Recruitment Platform

DevConnect bridges the gap between final-year university students and top tech companies. Students showcase their Final Year Projects (FYPs) while companies discover talent, post job openings, and recruit directly from the platform.

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🌟 Features Overview

🎓 Student Features

• Registration & Authentication — Secure signup with .edu email validation, bcrypt password hashing, JWT sessions
• Profile Management — University info, skills, keywords, LinkedIn/GitHub links, avatar upload
• FYP Submission — Upload projects with GitHub repo, demo video, static HTML demo page, poster, tags (5-10), and collaborator emails
• Multiple Projects — Students can submit multiple FYPs
• Browse Companies — View company profiles, open positions, and contact info
• Browse & Search Jobs — Filter by title, company, type; view detailed job descriptions
• Apply to Jobs — One-click application with duplicate prevention
• Real-time Messaging — Send messages to companies, view conversation history
• Dashboard — Live stats (project count, views, conversations)

🏢 Company Features

• Company Registration — Register with company name (unique), industry, and contact email
• Profile Completion — Description, location, website, industry, size — enforced before access
• Post Multiple Jobs — Full job posting form with salary range, requirements, type, location
• View Applicants — See who applied to each job with their profile details
• Browse Talent — Search students by name, skills, keywords, or expertise
• Browse FYPs — Search projects by tags, category, department
• Messaging — Direct messaging with students
• Dashboard — Live stats (jobs posted, total applicants, conversations)

🛡️ Admin Features

• Admin Dashboard — Platform-wide statistics (total students, companies, projects, pending reviews)
• User Management — View, activate/deactivate, change roles
• Project Moderation — Approve or reject submitted FYPs
• Full Access — Access to all platform sections

🔒 Security Features

• bcrypt Password Hashing — Passwords hashed with 12 salt rounds before storage
• JWT Authentication — Secure token-based sessions with expiry
• Role-Based Access Control — student, company, admin roles enforced at route and middleware level
• Input Sanitization — express-mongo-sanitize and xss-clean middleware
• Rate Limiting — API rate limiting via express-rate-limit
• Helmet — Security headers with helmet
• Cookie-based Tokens — HTTP-only cookies for session management

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 18, Vite, TailwindCSS, Framer Motion
Backend	Node.js, Express.js
Database	MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
Authentication	JWT + bcrypt
File Upload	Multer + Cloudinary
State Management	React Context + TanStack React Query
Form Validation	Zod + React Hook Form (client), Express validators (server)
Icons	Lucide React
Notifications	React Hot Toast

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📁 Project Structure

project/
├── backend/
│   ├── config/          # Database configuration
│   ├── controllers/     # Route handlers (auth, project, job, message, student, company, admin)
│   ├── middleware/       # Auth, upload, error handling
│   ├── models/          # Mongoose schemas (User, Project, Job, Message, StudentProfile, CompanyProfile)
│   ├── public/demos/    # Static HTML demo pages for seeded FYPs
│   ├── routes/          # Express route definitions
│   ├── utils/           # Email utilities
│   ├── seed.js          # Database seeder (10 students, 10 companies, 3 FYPs, 25 jobs)
│   └── server.js        # Express app entry point
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/  # Reusable components (Layout, Navbar, Footer, ProtectedRoute)
│   │   ├── context/     # AuthContext with JWT management
│   │   ├── pages/       # 18 page components
│   │   └── App.jsx      # React Router configuration
│   └── index.html
└── README.md

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+
• MongoDB (local or Atlas)
• npm

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Tabarak-Cheema/devconnect.git
cd devconnect

2. Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install

Create a .env file in backend/:

PORT=5000
MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/devconnect
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret_key_here
JWT_EXPIRE=30d
NODE_ENV=development
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173
CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret

3. Seed the Database

node seed.js

This creates: 1 admin, 10 students, 10 companies, 3 FYPs (with static HTML demos), and 25 diverse job listings.

4. Start Backend

node server.js

Server runs on http://localhost:5000

5. Frontend Setup

cd ../frontend
npm install
npm run dev

App runs on http://localhost:5173

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🔑 Test Credentials

Role	Email	Password
Admin	admin@devconnect.com	Admin123!
Student 1	student1@uet.edu.pk	Password123!
Student 2	student2@uet.edu.pk	Password123!
Company (NexGen)	hr@nexgensolutions.com	Password123!
Company (CloudSync)	hr@cloudsynctechnologies.com	Password123!

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📊 Seed Data Details

Students (10)

• Ahmed Hassan, Sara Khan, Bilal Raza, Fatima Ali, Usman Tariq, Ayesha Noor, Hamza Sheikh, Zainab Malik, Omar Farooq, Hira Javed
• Each with unique skills (React, Python, IoT, Blockchain, etc.) and keywords

Companies (10)

• NexGen Solutions, CloudSync Technologies, DataPulse AI, FinEdge Systems, MedTech Innovations, EduSpark Labs, CyberShield Corp, GreenWave Energy, PixelForge Studios, AgriSmart Tech

FYPs (3)

1. Smart Farm Automation System — IoT + React + Arduino
2. AI Vision Accessibility Tool — Computer Vision + TensorFlow + Chrome Extension
3. Decentralized Academic Credentials — Blockchain + Solidity + IPFS

Jobs (25)

Frontend Developer, Backend Engineer, Data Scientist, DevOps Engineer, Mobile App Developer, ML Engineer, UI/UX Designer, Blockchain Developer, Cybersecurity Analyst, Game Developer, and 15 more across all 10 companies.

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🎨 Design Highlights

• Modern glassmorphism and gradient backgrounds
• Micro-animations with Framer Motion (page transitions, card hover effects)
• Responsive design — works on desktop, tablet, and mobile
• Dark/light consistent palette — Indigo-purple-slate color scheme
• Dynamic navigation — Navbar changes based on user role
• Real-time stats — Dashboard loads live data from API

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📋 API Endpoints

Auth

• POST /api/auth/register — Register new user
• POST /api/auth/login — Login and get JWT
• GET /api/auth/me — Get current user
• POST /api/auth/logout — Logout

Projects

• GET /api/projects — List all approved projects (public)
• GET /api/projects/:id — Get project detail (public)
• POST /api/projects — Submit new FYP (student)
• GET /api/projects/mine — My projects (student)

Jobs

• GET /api/jobs — List all active jobs
• GET /api/jobs/:id — Job detail with applicants
• POST /api/jobs — Post new job (company)
• POST /api/jobs/:id/apply — Apply to job (student)

Students

• GET /api/students — Browse students (company/admin)
• GET /api/students/me — My profile (student)
• PUT /api/students/me — Update profile (student)

Companies

• GET /api/companies — List all companies (public)
• GET /api/companies/:id — Company detail (public)
• GET /api/companies/me — My profile (company)
• PUT /api/companies/me — Update profile (company)

Messages

• GET /api/messages/conversations — My conversations
• GET /api/messages/:otherUserId — Conversation messages
• POST /api/messages — Send message

Admin

• GET /api/admin/stats — Platform statistics
• GET /api/admin/users — All users
• PUT /api/projects/:id/approve — Approve project
• PUT /api/projects/:id/reject — Reject project

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👥 Team

• Muhammad Tabarak Cheema (23i-0665)
• Mohammad Rayaan Raza (23i-0535)

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📜 License

This project was built as a Final Year Project for the BS Computer Science program at UET Lahore, 2025-2026.