There’s an old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention” and technology has taken that adage to heart.
In the age of COVID-19 and global quarantine orders, several tech innovators have uncovered new ways for us to work, live, and socialize — all from home.
One of those innovators is Tiago — a Udacity alumnus — who has developed an app that can make working from home (WFH) easier for those of us who are new to it.
Udacity Grad and App Developer Finds a Way to Make WFH Easier
Tiago, who lives in Singapore with his wife and two kids, is a Udacity React Nanodegree program graduate.
After finishing his program, Tiago started to think about how he could build on the technical skills that he had learned. Then, he set a goal to design and build two web applications in 2020. But, he had no idea about what to do and where to start.
“At the same time, the world was engulfed in this crazy pandemic and everyone was caught by surprise — businesses were told to close doors, aircraft were grounded and companies told their staff to work from home. This was totally unexpected,” he said.
Tiago decided to create a web app, crushingwfh.com, with all the relevant tools for project management, design, collaboration, video conferencing, time tracking, and more.
Currently, the app lists more than 82 such tools like Asana, Figma, Dropbox, Slack, Zoom, Trello and more.
“I decided to create a simple web app with all the tools that can enable work from home. In parallel, I am also trying to participate in other open-source projects that could help people and communities affected by this pandemic. For example, I’m looking for projects within the US digital response initiative.”
What Makes CrushingWFH Work?
Crushingwfh.com is PWA (Progressive Web Application) where you can find a curated collection of apps with a brief description and basic information.
For example, if you are looking for a project management tool that can help your team plan projects together then you can just go crushingWFH.com and choose from an array of tools that it lists along with a brief description for each one.
You can also share the apps that you love and get them added to the database for others to discover.
As Tiago says, there are two main challenges that he is trying to solve with crushingwfh.com: “The first is to build a centralized repository of tools that help teams perform better whilst not being in the same physical space.
“The second reason … is to push this topic of working from home and the future of work a little bit further in the corporate world. I believe employees should always have the option to work remotely and we shouldn’t need a pandemic to change the relationship that we have with work.”
Tiago Inspired by Udacity Training to Launch New App
“The program started five months ago. Back then, I would never have thought I could build such a tool in only four days.”
He’s striving for a minimum viable product, but the feedback he’s getting will help him to fine-tune and improve the app quickly over time.
“The Udacity React Nanodegree gave me the confidence to think and tackle technical problems as well as the ability to read and understand technical documentation on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and React. I learned almost everything by doing, and the program deepened my belief that this really is the best way to learn.”
Want to Contribute to Crushing WFH?
The web app, built with Gatsby and Airtable, is open-sourced and anyone can find it on Tiago’s Github.
“Feel free to fork (and star) the project; however, be aware that I will be making changes and improving the app as we go along,” said Tiago.
“I’d also like to encourage anyone to reach out if you have any feedback around user interface and experience, new apps, and tools that you would like to see there and, any suggestions to improve or partner with crushingwfh.com. Oh, and don’t forget to join crushingwfh.com mailing list if you want to keep updated with the latest and greatest new tools out there.”
Kudos to Tiago for his problem-solving mindset and quick thinking in times of emergency.
In our next story, we will feature two ex-lawyers from Hungary who are using Deep Learning to create easy-to-use datasets and tools for data analysts and healthcare professionals working to fight COVID-19.
If you’re a Udacity student working on similar projects and would like to get featured on our blog then fill in the details here. In the next few student stories, we will feature some of these COVID-19-related projects that our students are working on.
Till then, keep learning and keep safe!
