Strive AI Assistant
Client
Personal Project
Role
Project Lead, UX Designer, Full-Stack Developer
Duration
3 months
Year
2025
"Sometimes the best way forward is to tear everything down and start fresh with what you've learned."
About the Client
A rebuild of my 2023 university dissertation project. The original was a basic career guidance chatbot - this version leverages modern AI capabilities to provide genuinely helpful career and wellbeing guidance with context-aware conversations.
The Project
Rebuilt my university career guidance chatbot with Next.js 15 and GPT-4 to deliver personalised career advice and wellbeing support that actually fits each person's situation.
Case Study
The Challenge
Finding good career advice and wellbeing support online is overwhelming. There's too much information to sort through, and generic advice rarely fits your specific situation. Most people don't have access to personal career coaches or counsellors due to cost or availability.
When I built the original Strive in 2023 for my university dissertation, AI chatbots were still pretty basic. They could answer questions, but they didn't really understand context or remember what you'd talked about. With the explosion in AI capabilities since then, I saw an opportunity to create something much better.
The Solution
I rebuilt Strive from the ground up using modern tools that wouldn't have been possible with the original 2023 version.
Core Experience
- Natural conversations powered by GPT-4
- Context-aware responses that remember your situation
- Career assessments to help understand your path
- Wellbeing tools including guided breathing exercises
- Learning resources tailored to your goals
- Job opportunity connections
Technical Implementation
- Next.js 15 with App Router
- React 19 with modern hooks
- OpenAI GPT-4 integration
- Framer Motion for smooth animations
- Tailwind CSS for responsive design
- Session storage for privacy-first data handling
Interface Features
- Friendly onboarding that captures context
- Light and dark mode support
- Mobile-responsive design
- Clean, accessible UI throughout
The Results
The rebuilt Strive transforms how people get career and wellbeing guidance. Instead of generic blog post answers, users get personalised advice based on their specific situation.
The biggest improvement over the 2023 original? Context. The new version builds understanding over time. That one change transforms the entire experience.
This project also demonstrated the value of rebuilding with fresh eyes. Looking at old work with new knowledge revealed shortcuts taken, features that weren't clever, and opportunities missed. Sometimes the best way forward is to tear everything down and start fresh with what you've learned.
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