Building a Kanban-Style Job Tracker

I built Job Tracker as a way to organize my job applications more effectively. I wanted a tool that would give me the visual clarity of a kanban board, with job cards that could move through different stages such as “Wish List”, “Applied”, “Rejected”, and “Offered”. Each card stores all the details of a job application, from links and requirements to important dates, which makes it much easier to stay organized during the job search.

The application was built with Next.js, React, and TypeScript, styled with TailwindCSS, and enhanced with ShadCN components. I used Xata.io as the database and Formik for managing form validation and submission. One of the most rewarding parts of the build was implementing drag-and-drop functionality with dnd-core, which made the kanban board feel intuitive and dynamic.

Along the way, I had to refine my approach to state management. I learned to update arrays with the spread operator in React and used UserContext to manage global authentication state. These technical challenges deepened my understanding of React’s state handling and user interaction.

This project represents both a practical solution to a real-life problem and a valuable learning experience in building interactive web applications.