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From a simple job tracker to jobboardai
Before jobboardai existed, the entire vision lived inside a personal spreadsheet. This is how that tracker turned a chaotic job search into a system—and ultimately into the product you use today.
Before jobboardai existed, I was juggling applications, LinkedIn conversations, resumes, and notes across countless tabs. I was doing the work, but I was missing the system.
The product you see today began as a personal job application tracker designed to bring order to a chaotic search. That tracker became the blueprint for jobboardai.
The moment effort wasn’t the issue
One evening I tried to follow up with a recruiter. After digging through email, LinkedIn, notes, and browser history, I realized I had already messaged someone else at the same company a week earlier and never followed up.
Motivation wasn’t the problem—structure was. I needed a system that tracked everything for me.
Tracker architecture
Building the first job application tracker
Version one was a practical spreadsheet built to answer “What have I done, and what do I do next?” Over time it evolved into four core modules.
App Tracker
The hub that logged every application so nothing lived only in my memory.
- Job title, company, and source
- Date applied and current status
- Next steps with target follow-up dates
The search became visible and measurable, which lowered anxiety and restored control.
Data Tab
A pivot-style sheet that turned the tracker into a dashboard for my own behavior and the market.
- Applications per week or month
- Industries and companies that responded fastest
- Stages where opportunities tended to stall
Extending the horizon was as easy as copying columns, so strategy became data-driven instead of emotional.
Lessons the tracker taught me
- You can’t improve what you don’t track. Without a clear view of applications and conversations, optimization is impossible.
- Linkedin doesn't have all the jobs. LinkedIn was more forcused on networking over job search, so I needed a separate system.
- Data exposes bottlenecks that memory hides. Feelings of “nothing is working” change once you see where momentum actually lives.
From personal tool to product vision
Friends started using the tracker and said the same thing: it made the job search clearer and less overwhelming. Most platforms focus on showing listings, not running the process after “Apply.” My tracker quietly handled:
- Tracking applications
- Managing outreach and follow-ups
- Organizing communication
- Learning from the data you create
It was helping me run the job search as a system, which became the foundation of jobboardai.
From spreadsheet to jobboardai
When it was time to build a product, I decided the tracker wouldn’t be optional, it would be the core. You can still see that DNA inside jobboardai today:
- The App Tracker evolved into a built-in tracker that centralizes every application.
- Job Listings Listings to source opportunities complement the tracker.
- Awareness Data insights help you understand what’s working and what isn’t.
We didn’t strap a tracker onto a job board, we built a job board around the tracker.
Turn your job search into a system
If you’re looking for a role, the issue is rarely effort, it’s structure. The tracker gave me that system. jobboardai exists to provide a more powerful version of the same idea:
- Centralize your applications in a single tracker.
- Find your next role amongst our 400+ tracked companies
- Use the market data to make better decisions.
If you’re ready to run your search like a system, explore the tracker inside jobboardai and manage your next set of applications with confidence.