CNM Students Win Prestigious Mobile App Contest

John Johnson-Rodgers and Tim Beck have had a good month. After graduating from Deep Dive Coding’s Fullstack Web Development Bootcamp last December, they both went on to land developer jobs this January with the State of New Mexico. Then, last Friday, they won the UNM & CNM's Mobile App Contest and walked away with $5,000 in prize money.

“These last 30 days have been tremendous,” Tim says.

It gets better. Not only have the duo found success, but the app they created has the potential to create a real difference in the local community. You can find the app at abqveterans.com and it’s built to be a resource hub for military veterans in and around Albuquerque. John and Tim—who both have family members who’ve served—met with the local Department of Veteran Affairs and then compiled resources they tracked down on their own to create one spot where veterans can get information on everything from health care to education to employment.

In addition to being a resource landing page, their app is also interactive. Veterans can like any listing on the app they found useful and those likes will prompt the app to move those resources to the top so that other veterans can find them more easily. Veterans who have used services they liked that are not listed on the app can also upload those services as a way to grow the resource.

“We wanted to put everything that veterans might need into one, easily-accessible place,” John says.

It took lots of coding to create a site that was clean and user-friendly, and that could optimize its presentation based on likes. So that other communities in New Mexico and around the country don’t have to reinvent the same wheel, John and Tim decided to share their code with anyone interested and created plenty of documentation to show how they put it together. They also hope that once the app becomes more robust, it will become a regular tool for case workers helping veterans.

“The more people who use the app, the more powerful it becomes,” John says.

Beyond developing the app, both are excited about their current jobs as well. They’ve been hired by the New Mexico Administrative Office of the District Attorneys to create an app that alerts law enforcement officers, victims, and the general public if the court status and/or criminal status changes in any case they want to follow. Those alerts will go out via text, email, or phone call.

Both John and Tim credit the Deep Dive Coding Bootcamp, which is operated by CNM Ingenuity, for helping them land their jobs and then win the app content.

“If it wasn’t for CNM and Deep Dive, I know I wouldn’t be here,” says John.

“I keep telling everyone that Deep Dive is the single most productive thing I’ve invested my time into,” Tim says.