🚀 SkillRise

Full-Stack Learning, Career & Community Platform

SkillRise is a full-stack learning and career platform designed to help users build skills, discover career opportunities, participate in live learning cohorts, and connect with a community of learners and professionals.

The platform combines personalized learning experiences, job discovery, cohort-based education, community features, and AI-assisted functionality into a unified web application.

Built with Next.js, React, and TypeScript, SkillRise is structured as a production-oriented web application with deployment support for AWS App Runner.

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✨ Features

🎓 Personalized Learning

• Personalized learning experiences based on user goals and interests
• Skill development workflows designed around career progression
• Learning resources and structured educational experiences
• User-focused progress and skill-building experiences

💼 Career & Job Discovery

• Job discovery functionality for users exploring career opportunities
• Career-oriented learning experiences
• Connects skill development with real-world employment opportunities
• Helps users identify opportunities aligned with their skills and interests

👥 Live Cohorts

• Cohort-based learning experiences
• Supports structured learning with groups of participants
• Designed for collaborative and community-driven education
• Provides a foundation for live educational programs and workshops

🤝 Community

• Community-driven skill development
• User interaction and collaborative learning experiences
• Designed to connect learners with peers and professional opportunities

🤖 AI-Assisted Features

• AI-assisted functionality integrated into the learning experience
• Designed to provide more personalized and intelligent user interactions
• Supports users throughout their learning and career-development journey

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🏗️ Application Architecture

                    ┌─────────────────────────┐
                    │      SkillRise Web      │
                    │                         │
                    │     Next.js + React     │
                    │      TypeScript         │
                    └────────────┬────────────┘
                                 │
                                 ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────────┐
                    │    Application Logic    │
                    │                         │
                    │ Learning                │
                    │ Career / Jobs           │
                    │ Cohorts                 │
                    │ Community               │
                    │ AI-Assisted Features   │
                    └────────────┬────────────┘
                                 │
                                 ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────────┐
                    │    External Services    │
                    │                         │
                    │ APIs / AI Services      │
                    │ Career Data             │
                    │ Platform Integrations    │
                    └─────────────────────────┘

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🛠️ Technology Stack

Category	Technologies
Framework	Next.js
Frontend	React
Language	TypeScript
Runtime / Tooling	Node.js, npm
Cloud Deployment	AWS App Runner
Architecture	Full-Stack Web Application
Configuration	Environment Variables

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📂 Project Structure

skillrise-platform/
│
├── web/
│   ├── app/                 # Next.js application
│   ├── components/          # Reusable UI components
│   ├── public/              # Static assets
│   ├── ...
│   │
│   ├── .env.example         # Environment configuration template
│   ├── apprunner.yaml       # AWS App Runner configuration
│   └── DEPLOYMENT.md        # Deployment documentation
│
└── README.md

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed:

• Node.js
• npm
• Git

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Samkwibe/skillrise-platform.git
cd skillrise-platform

2. Navigate to the web application

cd web

3. Install dependencies

npm install

4. Configure environment variables

Copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env.local

Configure the required environment variables in .env.local.

Never commit secrets or production credentials to the repository.

5. Start the development server

npm run dev

Open:

http://localhost:3000

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☁️ AWS Deployment

SkillRise is configured for deployment using AWS App Runner.

The application uses the web directory as the source directory for the Next.js application.

AWS App Runner Configuration

Repository
    │
    ▼
skillrise-platform/
    │
    └── web/
         │
         ├── Next.js Application
         ├── package.json
         └── apprunner.yaml
                  │
                  ▼
             AWS App Runner
                  │
                  ▼
             Production App

For Git-based AWS App Runner deployment:

1. Connect the GitHub repository to AWS App Runner.
2. Set the source directory to:

web

3. Configure App Runner to use the repository's:

apprunner.yaml

4. Configure the required production environment variables.
5. Deploy the application.

See web/DEPLOYMENT.md for detailed deployment instructions.

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🔐 Environment Configuration

SkillRise uses environment variables for configuration and external service integrations.

Example:

# Example configuration
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000

# Add project-specific variables here
# API_KEY=your_api_key
# DATABASE_URL=your_database_url

The exact variables required by the application should be configured using:

web/.env.example

Never commit .env.local or production secrets to GitHub.

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🧩 Core Platform Areas

SkillRise is organized around several major product areas:

SkillRise
│
├── 🎓 Learning
│   └── Personalized Skill Development
│
├── 💼 Career
│   └── Job & Opportunity Discovery
│
├── 👥 Cohorts
│   └── Live & Collaborative Learning
│
├── 🤝 Community
│   └── Peer-Based Skill Building
│
└── 🤖 AI
    └── AI-Assisted Experiences

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🎯 Engineering Focus

SkillRise demonstrates experience building a modern full-stack web platform with an emphasis on:

• Full-stack application development
• Next.js development
• React component architecture
• TypeScript development
• Responsive web application design
• Environment-based configuration
• Production deployment
• AWS cloud deployment
• Monorepo application structure
• AI-assisted application features
• Career and education technology

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🔮 Future Improvements

Potential areas for continued development include:

• Expanded AI-powered learning recommendations
• Personalized career roadmaps
• Advanced skill assessments
• Real-time cohort collaboration
• Messaging and notifications
• More advanced community functionality
• Learning progress analytics
• Additional career and job integrations
• Expanded cloud infrastructure and observability

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👨‍💻 Author

Samuel Raymond Kwibe

Computer Science | Software Engineering | AI | Cloud Engineering

GitHub: @Samkwibe

LinkedIn: Samuel Kwibe

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