Overview
SeafarerCircle helps seafarers navigate their next contract with confidence — real company reviews, verified job listings, transparent salary signals, vessel context, and a community for shared experience. I built the product from the ground up: information architecture for Jobs / Companies / Vessels / Community, review and listing flows, and a trust-first homepage that makes the value obvious in seconds.
The Problem
- Seafarers often sign contracts with incomplete information about companies, pay, and conditions.
- Job boards and Facebook groups are noisy, unverified, and hard to trust.
- There was no single place that combined reviews, verified jobs, and peer discussion for maritime careers.
The Solution
- A platform to check companies via real seafarer reviews, ratings, and work-condition signals.
- Verified job listings filterable by rank, vessel type, and salary range.
- Community discussions plus share-experience flows so sailors help the next person make a better decision.
Architecture
- Next.js app with clear product surfaces: Jobs, Companies, Vessels, Community, and authenticated review/posting flows.
- Company and vessel entities as the system of record; jobs and reviews attach to those entities for trust and discovery.
- Recruiter / company claim and posting paths separated from the seafarer experience so supply-side growth doesn't muddy the core UX.
- SEO-friendly public pages so company and job intent can be found from search, not only logged-in browsing.
Engineering Decisions
Lead with confidence, not listings density
The homepage sells informed career decisions — check companies, browse verified jobs, share experience — instead of dumping a raw job feed.
Separate seafarer and company journeys
Recruiters need claim/post tooling; seafarers need trust and clarity. Keeping those paths distinct protects the product from becoming a noisy job spam wall.
Challenges
Trust in a two-sided marketplace
Reviews and jobs are only useful if they're credible. I designed verification and clear company/vessel context into the IA so seafarers can judge quality before they apply or share.
Cold start for niche content
Maritime is specialized. The product had to feel useful early — featured jobs, top companies, and community prompts — even before every entity had deep review density.
Lessons Learned
- In marketplaces, trust mechanics are the product — reviews, verification, and context beat raw inventory.
- Niche platforms win when the IA matches how the industry actually decides (company → vessel → contract).
- Ship the share loop early; community content is what makes reviews compound.
Tech Stack
Frontend
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
Backend
- PostgreSQL
- Supabase
- Auth
- Server Actions
Product
- Reviews
- Job listings
- Community
- Company profiles
Infra
- Vercel
- Edge delivery
Screenshots
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