How I Built Professor Doom - A Spooky Resume Roaster Using Kiro

Ever wanted a resume critique that's brutally honest with a side of dark humor? That's the genius behind Professor Doom, built by a developer with "vibes and determination" using Kiro, an AI coding assistant. The project started as a fun entry for the Kiroween Hackathon, and evolved into a surprisingly useful tool. The core idea? Upload your resume and get roasted by a spooky professor who provides actionable advice, not just generic corporate jargon.

The journey involved several key steps, each showcasing Kiro's capabilities. First, the basic upload functionality was established using an Express server and the `pdf-parse` library. Then came the AI analysis, powered by Google's Gemini API. The challenge was to nail the "spooky professor" persona, requiring careful prompt engineering ("Be brutally honest but ultimately helpful"). A chat interface was added, allowing users to ask follow-up questions and get specific advice. To enhance the user experience, lots of spooky details were added, including floating skulls, a custom skull cursor, and a video background generated with Google's Veo 3.1. The "Confession Booth" feature was also added to address "resume sins", while the "Summary Room" even featured voice synthesis with ElevenLabs (later switched to Murf AI due to API credit issues).

To make Professor Doom truly useful, the developer integrated Exa.ai for web searches. This enabled the "Learning Crypt" to find relevant courses and tutorials based on skill gaps, and the "Trends Chamber" to identify in-demand skills in various industries. The developer emphasized the importance of iterative building, Kiro's understanding of context, and graceful error handling. Ultimately, Professor Doom demonstrates the power of AI-assisted coding for developers of all skill levels. The biggest lesson? "Pick a dumb idea. Build it. You'll learn more from one finished project than from a hundred tutorials."

📰 Original article: https://dev.to/shuvodip99/how-i-built-professor-doom-a-spooky-resume-roaster-using-kiro-1li

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