Homebound

This hackathon project, which won the grand prize, was created using React, Firebase, and the Twilio API in just three weeks by a team of five. The project was particularly challenging not because of the tight deadline or the technology stack, but because I took on the dual role of both team lead and lead developer. Balancing these responsibilities while ensuring the project’s success pushed me to grow both technically and as a leader.

In April 2020, as COVID-19 spread rapidly across the globe, the pandemic reached Croatia in February, and we were already working from home. During the lockdown, I was constantly on the lookout for projects and activities to keep myself engaged. When DEV.to announced a hackathon competition in collaboration with Twilio, I was determined to dive in right away. A few of my colleagues from work shared my enthusiasm, and together, we went all in—working on the project after our regular office hours, sometimes late into the night.

We decided to use our default development stack alongside the Twilio API, which was a requirement for the competition:

React with TypeScript
Redux
Firebase
PostCSS
Twilio API – SMS and Chatbot

The first step was to come up with an idea. With COVID-19 being a new and growing threat, we wanted to create an app that would leverage Twilio’s communications and bot API while also being both helpful and enjoyable to use. We landed on the concept of an app that motivates users to engage in regular, healthy daily activities through gamification, helps them keep track of their close contacts, and features an information bot to provide real-time updates.

App features and design — App features a delightful and colorful design with vibrant colors, clean layout and streamlined user flow.

I decided that the best approach was to focus solely on optimizing the mobile experience, making it as polished and refined as possible to meet the deadline. This turned out to be a huge success. We managed to finish the project a few days before the deadline, and the extra polish and attention to detail gave us an edge over our competitors, even though the app was mobile-only. This focus on quality over quantity made a significant difference in the final product.

Tracking close contacts functionality — Tracking close contacts was an important feature of the app, as it allowed to quickly view and alert recent close contacts if the user had tested positive on COVID-19.

I wrote the project document and submitted it a day or two before the deadline. A week later, the results were announced, and we were both surprised and excited to learn that we were declared the grand-prize winners in the COVID-19 communications category.

This project taught me how to streamline features so that the app still feels complete and polished, even with some features missing. It also highlighted my ability to successfully take on both a project lead and team lead role.

Counchy the chatbot — Couchy is a chatbot that uses Twilio API to inform users how to keep their close contacts informed if they tested positive for COVID-19 and how to approach the topic.

HomeBound (COVID-19 Communications Winner)

The HomeBound project was developed by a team of 5 and aims to improve your life in self-isolation through a mix of functionality. It offers a gamified activity tracker to encourage you to stick to the activities and goals you set for yourself, and a chat bot powered by Programmable Chat and Twilio Autopilot to get answers to common questions. Finally, they added a voluntary close contact tracker. You can use it to keep track of when you saw people last, and reach out to them directly from within the app using Programmable SMS.
Twilio Blog post
(Congratulations to the winners of the Twilio x DEV hackathon)

Twilio team also did a livestream where they showcased the winning projects and we were delighted to be featured. They talked about Homebound, the idea behind it, and what they liked about it the most.

The week after, Twilio reached out and asked me for an interview in their Twilio developers spotlight, so I was featured as a developer for a week.

A few weeks later, I received a swag pack from Twilio along with the cash prize. Additionally, I was invited to Twilio’s SIGNAL conference, which was held online in October 2020.

Twilio swag pack - charger, blanket and t-shirt