Building through a transition: The Offer Lab
I’m in a career transition right now—I chose to take a severance package and leave my company.
One thing I didn’t fully expect: when your calendar suddenly clears up, you get these huge open blocks of time… and they can fade away fast if you don’t manage them intentionally. Days blur. Motivation dips. You mean to prep… and then it’s time to pick up the kids.
So I vibe-coded something I needed myself: The Offer Lab — a lightweight hub for planning your interview prep + tracking your job applications in one place.
👉 https://the-offer-lab.vercel.app
👉 https://github.com/jqchen24-new/the_offer_lab
The goal is simple: turn an overwhelming day into small, doable chunks—so you can stay productive and protect your energy.
Here’s what it helps with:
✅ Plan your day: suggested study sessions based on what you’ve practiced the least, plus your scheduled tasks
✅ Break work into chunks: log sessions by title, duration, date/time, and tags (SQL / ML / Stats / Python / Behavioral, etc.)
✅ Stay motivated with visibility: a dashboard view of upcoming sessions + progress at a glance (total time, weekly time, streak)
✅ Track applications without chaos: record company/role/status/date/notes/next step, filter by status, and automatically keep a history when statuses change
✅ See what’s actually moving the needle: time-by-tag breakdown so you can spot gaps and rebalance
If you’re in the job search grind and this kind of structure would help, I’d love for you to try it and share feedback. And if you’re navigating a layoff or career transition right now: I’m genuinely rooting for you. You’re not alone.
Drop a comment or DM me if you have thoughts. Every bit of feedback helps make it better.
👉 https://the-offer-lab.vercel.app
#jobsearch #interviewprep #careers #layoffs #productivity #buildinpublic #datascience