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The challenge
The 4D engineering method
Skills evaluated through evidence
How you are assessed
Your portfolio outcome
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Jr SDE Portfolio Sprint
Program Cost: INR 0.00 (includes GST)
Junior SDE · Applied portfolio project
Don't just write code.
Don't just write code.
Defend what you build.
Design, develop, deploy and defend HostelFlow—a real Django hostel management application. Turn a product requirements document into a live, interview-ready engineering portfolio.
Python + DjangoApplied DSAHTML / CSS / JavaScriptDjango ORMGitHub ActionsRender
AI-assisted implementation with ChatGPT or Claude · Human-led design, validation and engineering decisions
4Engineering stages
4Milestone commits
32Assessed subskills
1Live project
Meet HostelFlow
Hostel administrators need to allocate rooms without overbooking, keep student records accurate, and understand occupancy instantly. You'll build a compact product with real engineering decisions—not just a CRUD demo.
Rooms & capacity
Create hostel rooms, set capacity, and calculate available beds.
Student allocation
Register students, assign and release rooms, prevent duplicate active allocations.
Search & insight
Search students and review available rooms, occupancy, and vacancies.
Four stages. Four meaningful commits.
Each stage ends with an evidence-backed Git milestone. Expand any stage to see exactly what you'll learn and submit.
01DESIGN Plan the UI, architecture and database from the PRD
Start from requirements and make the important design decisions before generating code.
1.1 · PRD & requirementsIdentify actors, business rules, scope and acceptance criteria.
1.2 · UI designWireframe the dashboard, room list and allocation flow.
1.3 · System designDraw Django request flow, models, relationships and constraints.
Commit 1: README, PRD, UI and system/database design documents. No application code.
02DEVELOP Build the Django app, then improve DSA, frontend, backend and DB
Understand the Django boilerplate, then use an AI coding assistant to implement code you can explain, test and improve.
2.1 · Django architectureURLs, views, models, services, templates and settings.
2.2 · Working MVPStudent registration, rooms, allocation and dashboard.
2.3 · Applied DSABest-fit room selection and time-complexity analysis.
2.4 · FrontendResponsive forms, validation and live availability feedback.
2.5 · BackendBusiness validation, transactions and overbooking protection.
2.6 · DatabaseORM aggregation, query optimization and measured evidence.
Commit 2: Functional Django app, tests, engineering improvements and updated README.
03DEPLOY Automate tests and publish a working Render web service
Learn how code moves from your laptop to a live, persistent public application.
3.1 · GitHub ActionsAutomated checks and tests on new changes.
3.2 · Production readinessEnvironment variables, secrets, PostgreSQL and static files.
3.3 · Render deploymentBuild, publish and verify the public application.
Commit 3: CI workflow, deployment configuration, verified live URL and updated README.
Render handles the hosting infrastructure. A Django web-service deployment still uses an application server such as Gunicorn; no manual Nginx configuration is taught.
04DEFEND Explain design decisions, performance, costs and changes
Review what was built, why the implementation changed, what the code costs, and how you know it works.
4.1 · Commit reviewExplain each milestone and the reasoning behind it.
4.2 · Engineering trade-offsBig-O, database queries, security and running costs.
4.3 · HandoverWrite test evidence, limitations, operating notes and interview answers.
Commit 4: Engineering decisions, performance analysis, test report and documented handover.
What Junior SDE skills will you prove?
8 job-skill groups · 32 subskills. Expand each category to view the specific engineering capabilities that will be assessed.
01 · Requirements Engineering
- PRD interpretation
- User stories and acceptance criteria
- Task decomposition
- Constraints and prioritization
02 · Frontend Engineering
- UI wireframing
- HTML semantics
- CSS and responsive design
- JavaScript and DOM interaction
03 · Software Architecture
- Django architecture
- Separation of concerns
- Relational data modeling
- API and request-flow understanding
04 · Programming & DSA
- Control flow and data structures
- Filtering and searching algorithms
- Time and space complexity
- Algorithm correctness and edge cases
05 · Backend Engineering
- Django models, views and services
- Business rule validation
- Transactions and concurrency
- Authentication and authorization
06 · Database Engineering
- Relational constraints
- Django ORM queries
- Aggregation and query optimization
- Indexing and performance reasoning
07 · DevOps & Deployment
- Git and commit discipline
- GitHub Actions CI
- Environment and secrets management
- Render deployment and verification
08 · Software Quality & Communication
- Automated testing
- Error handling and reliability
- Technical documentation
- Engineering trade-offs and interview defense
Prove it through working evidence.
Three experiential exercises build understanding. Four milestone submissions demonstrate practical skill through code, Git history, tests and documentation.
EA 01
Design Reasoning Lab
Explain your PRD interpretation, UI decisions and data model.
EA 02
Engineering Improvement Lab
Compare algorithms, backend validation and database query approaches.
EA 03
Production Readiness Lab
Review CI/CD configuration, risks, security checks and trade-offs.
Portfolio evaluation weights
20%
40%
20%
20%
A written explanation alone does not prove implementation proficiency. Evidence from the repository, tests and live application matters.
What will you show an interviewer?
Portfolio deliverables
- Public GitHub repository with four reviewable milestone commits
- PRD, wireframes and system/database design
- Functional Django app with automated tests
- Applied DSA and ORM optimization evidence
- GitHub Actions CI and live Render deployment
- Decision log, performance report and handover
- Evidence-backed interview answers
Example final repository
hostelflow/ ├── .github/workflows/ci.yml ├── config/ ├── hostel/ │ ├── models.py │ ├── views.py │ ├── services.py │ ├── selectors.py │ └── tests/ ├── templates/ and static/ ├── docs/ │ ├── PRD.md │ ├── SYSTEM_DESIGN.md │ ├── PERFORMANCE.md │ ├── ENGINEERING_DECISIONS.md │ └── HANDOVER.md ├── requirements.txt └── README.md
Design · Develop · Deploy · Defend
Make your GitHub portfolio interview-ready.
Show the requirements you understood, the system you designed, the code you improved, the app you deployed and the decisions you can defend.
Explore the sprint roadmap ↑Free Preview Lessons
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Syllabus and Module Index
Explore modules and expand each card to view lessons.
Lessons ▾
Lesson 1.1 — Understanding a Product Requirements Document
Free
Lesson 1.2 — Designing the User Interface
Free
Lesson 1.3 — System Architecture and Database Design
Free
Lesson 1.4 — Initializing the Portfolio Repository
Free