Why I built my own job application tracker.

While applying for graduate roles, I found it surprisingly difficult to keep track of everything. I had an excel sheet tracking it all and I realised this could be turned into an independant app.

So I started building ApplyTrail.

What I wanted to solve

The main goal was simple: have one place where I could track an application from the moment I found a role through to an offer or rejection.

That meant keeping track of things like:

• the company and role
• the current application stage
• important dates
• notes from interviews or recruiter calls
• documents used for the application

Why build it myself?

There are already tools that do this, but building my own gave me the freedom to design it around the way I actually apply for jobs.

It also gave me a practical project where I could work with authentication, APIs, PostgreSQL, application state and eventually a frontend around a problem I personally understand.

What I learned

The biggest thing I learned was that building software around your own workflow makes product decisions much easier.

Instead of thinking about features in isolation, I could constantly ask one question:

Would this actually make managing my applications easier?