How we developed and deployed a full stack app using AWS Amplify Studio in just 4 days.

Introduction

I recently received an email from Hashnode regarding the ongoing AWS Amplify Hackathon. At first, I thought it only pertained to the registration deadline of July 31, 2023, but my colleague David informed me otherwise after I shared the link with him. After a few minutes, he agreed to participate, and we began working on our project.

Throughout the development process, we faced various challenges and constraints, but we persevered using the tools available to us.

In this account, we share our experiences, the lessons we learned, and some potential improvements we could have made with more time.

Motivation

Our team chose to develop a productivity application for the AWS Amplify Hackathon. With so many digital distractions vying for our time and attention, it has become increasingly challenging to stay organized and focused. Our goal is to create a product that can help people make a real-life impact and improve their productivity.

Today, many young people spend a lot of their time mindlessly scrolling through social media and engaging in unproductive activities. We believe that this time could be better spent learning new skills that can enhance their employability and improve their lives. That's why we are committed to developing an application that can help users stay organized and productive.

Overall, we are excited about the potential of our productivity application and look forward to helping people achieve their goals and make the most of their time.

Features

Our platform offers various features to help users stay organized and productive.

• These include task lists, reminders, notes, and the ability to take breaks without worrying about time constraints.

• Additionally, users can integrate their calendars, create events, and easily view them on both our app and Google Calendar.

Limitations

Due to a shortage of timely information, we had less than four days to complete the project and deliver the article.
Despite the time constraints, we were able to successfully accomplish our goal by utilizing AWS Amplify Studio.

We found it to be a straightforward process, thanks to its seamless integration with AWS Amplify and the extensive documentation provided by Amplify Docs.

As a result, we were able to produce a functional and user-friendly output that met all the necessary requirements.

Tools Utilized

• Zustand for store - We opted to use Zustand for state management in our application because of its easy setup and ability to manage application state and actions with minimal boilerplate.

• @aws-amplify/ui-react for UI components - For our UI components, we utilized the amplify UI react package which allowed us to quickly and easily create a UI by integrating pre-built templates provided by Amplify Studio.

• AWS Amplify Studio for auto-generating components from Figma - We found it very convenient to use AWS Amplify Studio for auto-generating components from Figma as it was both simple and easy to understand from the documentation guides, making it accessible even without prior experience.

  Thanks to AWS Amplify Studio and AWS Amplify, the entire process from project initiation to building and deployment was straightforward and efficient.

Lessons

We have acquired the ability to quickly turn our concepts into tangible outcomes, construct and distribute apps that are rich in features using AWS Amplify Studio, and share our know-how on Hashnode, all in less than four days.

We value this experience and the chance to learn and create with fresh resources and technologies.

We aspire to continue advancing and expanding with additional prospects presented to us.

Improvements and Enhancements

If we had more time to work on the project, we plan to make some improvements. These include:

• Dashboard - that will allow users to keep track of completed tasks, tasks in progress, and free time.

• Notifications - that will keep users informed of every activity on their account.

• Site blocking - that allows users to block distracting websites while they work.

• Additionally, we aim to enhance the user experience by designing a more aesthetically pleasing interface.

Appreciations

We want to express our gratitude to AWS Amplify and Hashnode for giving us the chance to bring our ideas to life quickly, develop and release feature-packed, full-stack applications with ease using AWS Amplify, and share our learnings on Hashnode.

Their platform empowers developers and boosts productivity through high-quality tools and innovative technologies. If you're interested, you can watch a video demonstration of our application in the project's README. You can find the Project Repo by following the link below. 👇

Project Repo 👈

#AWSAmplify #AWSAmplifyHackathon