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Selected work / Full-Stack Developer & Product Designer (Solo)

Aside

Product DesignFull-Stack DevelopmentAPI ArchitectureDatabase Design

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01The project, in one breath

Role: Full-Stack Developer & Product Designer (Solo)
Client: Ironhack · Solo final project
Year: 2026

Open Live App Frontend Repository Backend Repository

The main engineering challenge was applying private or cohort visibility consistently across resource lists, search results, and lineage views. I built a shared visibility filter and combined it with each read query so the API returns resources within the viewer's permitted…

A private app for bootcamp cohorts to share discussions, organize learning resources, and build on each other's work through traceable copies. I designed and built Aside solo with React, Node.js, Express, and MongoDB as my Ironhack final project. Selected as the best final project in my cohort.

02 / Project film

Aside Library with a search field, category and tag filters, and resource cards. — Browse the shared Library

Organize a personal resource shelf

Aside lineage view connecting an original resource to a fork on Ali Saad's shelf. — Trace a resource back to its origin

Aside People directory with a search field and member profiles. — Find people in the cohort

Aside resource reading view with formatted text, a JavaScript code block, and an attached document. — Keep code and files with the resource

Browse the shared LibraryOrganize a personal resource shelfTrace a resource back to its originFind people in the cohortKeep code and files with the resourceScroll / cut

03The build, reduced to what mattered

Three decisions shaped the final experience.

THE LIBRARY

Resource Forking & Lineage

I built a resource model that lets a cohort member copy a shared resource onto their own shelf while keeping a reference to its origin. The lineage view follows these relationships so…

ACCESS CONTROL

Query-Level Authorization

I implemented a shared visibility filter for private and cohort resources. It is combined with read queries for lists, details, search, folder contents, profile shelves, fork sources,…

Search with Visibility Filters

The resource search combines MongoDB text matching and the viewer's visibility filter with $and. Keeping both conditions in the query ensures that text matching uses the same access rules…

OutcomeWhat remained after the build

Aside was selected as the best final project in my Ironhack cohort and qualified to be presented at the Ironhack hackathon. I delivered a deployed MERN application with cohort discussions, resource publishing, personal folders, resource forking, and a lineage view. The React frontend is hosted on Vercel and the Express API on Render. The repositories explain the authorization model, data relationships, and deletion rules. They also document current limitations: denormalized counters, cleanup outside a transaction,…Aside was selected as the best final project in my Ironhack cohort and qualified to be presented at the Ironhack hackathon. I delivered a deployed MERN application with cohort discussions, resource publishing, personal folders, resource forking, and a lineage view. The React frontend is hosted on Vercel and the Express API on Render. The repositories explain the authorization model, data relationships, and deletion rules. They also document current limitations: denormalized counters, cleanup outside a transaction,…

Best final project in the cohortRecognition

7 Mongoose models, forks as a self-referencing graphData Model

Private or cohort, enforced inside every queryAccess Model