The Bench — Full-Stack Canadian U Sports Fantasy Platform.

Experience

My very first full-stack project turned startup where I am leading the technical development of both the website and the entire data prediction pipeline. It feels like a lot considering there is always work that needs to be done. Using the other task as a break from the current task is probably not sustainable. However, I have really enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone and taking on a role of leadership that I would have stayed away from in high school.

Motivation

During second summer of university, I was preparing for my internship at InterPro Steel when a stranger approached me on LinkedIn with the idea of The Bench. As someone who has loved being part of sports communities, I have always wondered why sports in Canadian universities or even high schools are nowhere close to that of in the United States. On top of that, I kept hearing about how helpful building full-stack projects is for learning. Combining that with wanting to learn machine learning, this was the perfect project for me to combine my interests in sports, full-stack, and machine learning into one.

Learned

This project has maybe taught me the most out of everything. As my first ever full-stack project, I had to essentially learn everything from scratch. From technical components like TypeScript, React, Supabase, Vercel, Next.js, PostgreSQL, networking fundamentals, system design, to machine learning concepts like regression, regularization, random forests, boosting, and LightGBM. Even now I am learning how to properly structure my website so that it can be scalable for the future. Beyond these, I have learned valuable skills in communicating my ideas with less-technical personnel, leading weekly meetings, and balancing an intensive startup alongside a full course load or internships.