📌 About This Project
Around 3 months ago, I visited the official website of my college:
🎓 Chhotanagpur Institute of Information Technology & Management, Dhanbad
And honestly… I was shocked and disappointed. 😓
There were many issues that made the experience really bad for students, parents, and even the admin staff. Here's what I noticed:
❗ Problems I Found
- ❌ The UI was outdated and not user-friendly
- 🐢 The site took a long time to load
- ❌ No online admission process
- ❌ No photo album or gallery feature
- ❌ "Contact Us" page didn't work — Admin couldn’t see submitted messages
- ❌ No way to pay fees online or check fee/admission status
- ❌ Admins couldn’t view proper student or fee data
All these problems made me realize that something needed to change.
And then I thought to myself:
👉 I WILL FIX THIS. I WILL SOLVE A REAL-WORLD PROBLEM.
💡 My Mission
Build a Complete Education Management System that:
- Makes the admission process fully online
- Allows students to upload documents and pay fees securely
- Helps the admin manage student data and fee details
- Creates a better user experience for everyone
🛠️ Tech Stack Used
I chose the MERN Stack to build the project from scratch:
- 🧾 MongoDB
- ⚙️ Express.js
- 🎨 React.js
- 🚀 Node.js
This was my first full-stack project, and I started alone — managing:
- Frontend
- Backend
- UI/UX Design
- REST APIs
- Database
- Deployment
- Authentication ...everything!
😴 The Real Struggle (And Growth)
I had zero idea how to build many features at the beginning.
But I didn’t quit. I spent sleepless days and nights learning new concepts and fixing bugs.
Even when the code broke, even when the features didn’t work, even when nobody was there to help…
I kept going.
This project taught me more than any course ever did. 💯
🌐 Frontend Development Journey (React.js)
- In the beginning, my React codebase was messy.
- I used basic file structure like a beginner.
- But then I started reading professional open-source projects and learned about Atomic Design.
✅ I restructured the entire frontend to make it clean, reusable, and scalable.
🧠 Backend Development Journey (Node.js + Express)
- Initially, I used the MVC pattern
- But as the project grew, the code became hard to maintain
-
So I rebuilt the backend using:
- Modern file structure with
/api/v1/...
routing - Switched from
.js
to.mjs
for ES Module support - Used Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) to organize and simplify logic
- Modern file structure with
✅ The result? A clean, powerful, and easy-to-understand backend structure.
🔍 Continuous Learning
I also realized that JavaScript needed better type-checking.
So I started learning TypeScript, and now I’m slowly migrating the project to TS for more stability and maintainability. 🔐
At the same time, I started learning Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) to improve my problem-solving skills.
This journey has not only been about building a project — it's been about building myself. 🧠
🙌 Collaboration and Open Source ❤️
Eventually, people from around the world started noticing this project:
- Developers joined and contributed to features and UI/UX
- GitHub users forked, starred ⭐, and opened issues
- Contributors helped me fix bugs and improve my code
Even though many left halfway, I never stopped.
Because this project was more than code — it was my mission.
This project became more than mine — it became ours. 🌍
🎯 Key Features of This Project
- ✅ Student online admission system
- ✅ Upload documents and register
- ✅ Admin dashboard to manage student and fee records
- ✅ Online fee payment
- ✅ Check admission status
- ✅ Create photo albums and upload images
- ✅ Fully working “Contact Us” page — messages visible to admin
- ✅ Fully responsive UI
- ✅ Scalable and modular codebase
💬 What I Learned
This project taught me:
- ✅ How to solve real-world problems using code
- ✅ How to lead and manage a full-stack project from scratch
- ✅ How to structure scalable frontend and backend code
- ✅ How to learn new things under pressure
- ✅ How to collaborate with others on open source
- ✅ Most importantly: How to NEVER GIVE UP 💯
💻 Project Links (Open Source)
- 🖥️ Frontend Repository: ciitm-frontend
- 🛠️ Backend Repository: ciitm-backend
- 📄 API Documentation: CIITM API Docs (Notion)
- 🌐 Live Website: https://www.growrichmindset.in/
🤝 Big Thanks to Everyone!
To all the contributors, friends, GitHub supporters, and those who helped me learn:
THANK YOU ❤️🙏
I’ve learned from your code reviews, issues, suggestions, and support.
📢 Want to Contribute?
Are you a developer, designer, student, or tech enthusiast?
This project is open to everyone!
💬 Let's complete this real-world project together.
Contribute ➕ | Learn 📚 | Grow 🌱 | Inspire 💡
✨ Final Words of Motivation
If you're reading this and you're struggling with your own project…
Just remember:
“It doesn’t matter if you're slow. What matters is that you don’t stop.”
“Keep learning. Keep building. Keep believing.”
From nothing to something — you can do it too.
Let’s keep growing. Together. 🚀