Ascend is a student productivity and placement management platform built to solve a problem I experienced during placement season at IIIT Kota.
Instead of preparing for interviews, I found myself constantly switching between spreadsheets, browser tabs, notes, reminders, and messaging apps just to keep track of applications, study plans, and deadlines. Existing tools solved individual problems, but none brought the entire placement journey together.
Ascend is my attempt to build a single workspace where students can manage placement preparation from one dashboard.
Placement preparation isn't just solving DSA.
Students simultaneously manage:
- Company applications
- OA schedules
- Interview preparation
- Study plans
- Progress tracking
- Deadlines
Most of this lives across multiple disconnected tools, making it easy to lose track of priorities.
The current version focuses on validating the core product experience through an interactive frontend prototype.
- Student Dashboard
- Placement Application Tracker
- AI-assisted Study Planner (prototype)
- Personal Analytics Dashboard
- Responsive UI built with reusable components
While building Ascend, I tried to follow a few simple principles:
- One workspace instead of five different apps
- Reduce cognitive load instead of adding more features
- Prioritize clarity over feature count
- Build the MVP first, expand later
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Lucide React Icons
Ascend is currently an MVP focused on validating user workflows and product structure.
The backend and AI capabilities are intentionally still under development while I continue refining the product experience.
- Backend integration
- Authentication
- AI-generated study plans
- Calendar integration
- Progress streaks
- Mobile responsiveness
- Peer collaboration
This project wasn't created as a college assignment.
I built it because I wanted a tool that I would actually use during placements—and couldn't find one.
Author
Nishika Roy