Building a Full-Stack Careers Website

Updated: at 03:00 PM

Careers Website Project

Project Overview

This project is a full-stack careers website built with Flask and MySQL, deployed on Azure. The website allows companies to post job openings and candidates to view available positions. This documentation covers the development process, technologies used, and deployment steps. You can view the live demo here: Daniel Obare Careers Website.

Tech Stack

Project Structure

daniel-obare-careers-website/
├── app/
│   ├── static/
│   │   ├── css/
│   │   └── js/
│   ├── templates/
│   │   ├── base.html
│   │   ├── home.html
│   │   └── job_listing.html
│   └── __init__.py
├── database/
│   └── schema.sql
├── requirements.txt
└── app.py

Key Features

Development Process

1. Initial Setup

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/Mac
venv\Scripts\activate     # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install flask mysql-connector-python python-dotenv

2. Database Configuration

# Database connection setup
app.config['MYSQL_HOST'] = 'your-azure-mysql-server.mysql.database.azure.com'
app.config['MYSQL_USER'] = 'your_username'
app.config['MYSQL_PASSWORD'] = 'your_password'
app.config['MYSQL_DB'] = 'careers_db_name'

3. Flask Application Structure

from flask import Flask, jsonify, render_template, request
from sqlalchemy import text
from database import engine
import os

app = Flask(__name__)


def load_jobs_from_db():
    with engine.connect() as conn:
        result = conn.execute(text("SELECT * FROM jobs"))
        jobs = result.all()
        return jobs


@app.route("/")
def home():
    jobs = load_jobs_from_db()
    return render_template('home.html', jobs=jobs, company_name='danielobare')


@app.route("/api/jobs")
def list_jobs():
    return jsonify(load_jobs_from_db())


@app.route("/apply/<int:job_id>", methods=["GET", "POST"])
def apply_to_job(job_id):
    if request.method == "POST":
        name = request.form.get('name')
        email = request.form.get('email')
        phone = request.form.get('phone')
        address = request.form.get('address')
        linkedin_profile = request.form.get('linkedin')
        portfolio_link = request.form.get('portfolio')
        cover_letter = request.form.get('cover_letter')
        resume_file = request.files['resume']

        resume_data = resume_file.read()

        with engine.connect() as conn:
            conn.execute(text("""
                INSERT INTO applications (job_id, name, email, phone, address, linkedin_profile, portfolio_link, cover_letter, resume)
                VALUES (:job_id, :name, :email, :phone, :address, :linkedin_profile, :portfolio_link, :cover_letter, :resume)
            """), {
                'job_id': job_id,
                'name': name,
                'email': email,
                'phone': phone,
                'address': address,
                'linkedin_profile': linkedin_profile,
                'portfolio_link': portfolio_link,
                'cover_letter': cover_letter,
                'resume': resume_data,
            })

        return render_template('thank_you.html', name=name)

    return render_template('apply.html', job_id=job_id)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(host='0.0.0.0', debug=True)

4. Database Schema

CREATE TABLE jobs (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    title VARCHAR(255),
    location VARCHAR(255),
    salary VARCHAR(100),
    requirements TEXT,
    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

Deployment Process.

1. Azure Setup

  1. Create Azure account and resources
  2. Set up Azure MySQL database
  3. Configure Azure App Service

2. Environment Configuration

# Create .env file
MYSQL_HOST=your-server.mysql.database.azure.com
MYSQL_USER=your_username
MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_password
MYSQL_DB=careers_db

3. Deployment Steps

# Prepare for deployment
pip freeze > requirements.txt

# Configure Azure deployment
az webapp up --name daniel-obare-careers --resource-group your-resource-group

Testing

Future Improvements

  1. User authentication system
  2. Job application submission feature
  3. Admin dashboard for job posting
  4. Search and filter functionality
  5. Email notifications system

Lessons Learned

  1. Importance of proper database design
  2. Benefits of cloud deployment
  3. Value of responsive design
  4. Significance of version control
  5. Importance of environment variables

Running Locally

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/danielobare/daniel-obare-careers-website.git

# cd into the folder
cd daniel-obare-careers-website

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your credentials

# Run application
python app.py

# or alternatively
gunicorn app:app

Contributing

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a feature branch
  3. Make your changes
  4. Submit a pull request

Resources