Sports recruiting MVP & live video platform
Software Engineer (Contract) · Aug–Nov 2023
Scoped and shipped an athlete-to-coach directory and live Agora 1:1 video MVP in two months.
Contract software engineer leading auth, real-time Firestore data flows, Node.js video-call token orchestration, and core Next.js views alongside one frontend engineer.
Shipped on schedule for a sports creator partner (400K+ TikTok audience) to onboard athlete profiles, coach directories, and live 1:1 recruiting calls.
Engineering & product case study
Problem & workflow context
A sports recruiting partner with a 400K+ athlete audience was coordinating coach introductions manually through social DMs and spreadsheets, needing a production web MVP—with searchable prospect profiles and live 1:1 video evaluations—inside a strict two-month launch window.
Decision & rejected alternative
Scoped the 8-week MVP around Next.js/TypeScript, Firebase Auth/Firestore real-time listeners, and Agora RTC SDK backed by a custom Node.js token/session service. Rejected building custom WebRTC signaling/TURN servers and deferred multi-tier billing and async chat threads so a two-engineer team could ship dependable profiles, filtering, and live calls on time.
Failure encountered & diagnosis
Cross-device testing revealed ghost call rooms and duplicate Agora joins when athletes on mobile Safari backgrounded the browser during camera/mic permission prompts or refreshed mid-call. Diagnosed via room-state transition logs across iOS + desktop test sessions and fixed by binding Agora tokens to server-validated call leases with heartbeat expiry and explicit teardown.
Verification, role & current status
Ran end-to-end multi-device call drills (iOS Safari, Android Chrome, desktop Chrome), role-permission checks between athlete and coach accounts, and directory filter latency checks with the client partner prior to launch.
Architecture & reproducible evidence
- Translated partner recruiting workflows into clear athlete onboarding, verified profile cards, and filterable coach/prospect directories.
- Implemented server-minted Agora RTC channel tokens and session-lease cleanup to keep 1:1 video evaluations reliable across mobile browsers.
- Coordinated component contracts and schema boundaries with a second frontend engineer to hit the two-month delivery milestone.
Technology stack
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