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CapCheck

Made by JSON Wick

Putting the fun in fungi

CapCheck is a foraging companion app designed to help you find and identify mushrooms across the UK. The app features a map that utilises current weather data, Geo-location and historical mushroom occurrence data to help assist users with their search. Users can share photos of mushrooms they have discovered with the community, which will be displayed in their account and archived into a checklist to keep track of their progress. We came up with the idea for our app because we wanted to build something unique, with features that were a bit more complex and challenging to pull off. There aren’t many foraging apps out there that combine weather tracking, comprehensive mushroom info, safety tips, and a social element all in one. So we thought – why not try building it ourselves? It gave us the chance to learn, push ourselves, and create something that’s actually useful and encourages people to get outdoors.

The Team

Joe Ashworth

Joe Ashworth

I’m a former military personnel who’s turned a long-term

passion for gaming and tech into a new career in software development. After leaving the forces and being told by friends in the tech industry, I decided to pursue a career in tech and found coding to be the perfect mix of creativity and problem-solving. Now, I’m focused on building clean, functional, and engaging software, and I’m always looking for opportunities to grow, learn, and take on new challenges as a developer.

Gabe Payne

Gabe Payne

I’m a former manual labourer and roofer with a background

in electrical installation, now pursuing a career in software development. My passion for gaming and technology sparked a deep interest in the creative and problem-solving aspects of coding. Driven by curiosity and a desire to build, I’ve transitioned into tech to create solutions and experiences that combine logic, innovation, and imagination.

Isaac Albiston

Isaac Albiston

I’m a computer science graduate, seeking to apply and grow

my knowledge by contributing to intriguing and creative real-world projects. Drawn to the creative aspects of software development, designing and building solutions.

Jason Zuidijk

Jason Zuidijk

I’m a former chef transitioning into software development

because technology has always played a major role in my life, and its rapid evolution fascinates me. I enjoy the process of learning new things, solving problems, and expressing my creativity which is why I believe this industry is a perfect fit for me.

Yan Bulavintsev

Yan Bulavintsev

Junior Software Engineer Curious, creative, and genuinely

excited by the power of code, I’ve recently completed an intensive Full Stack JavaScript Bootcamp, and I finally feel like I’ve found work that genuinely energises me. I’ve built real-world applications using React, Node.js, and SQL, and I love the challenge of solving problems and turning ideas into something tangible. I’m now seeking a Junior Developer role where I can keep growing, contribute to meaningful projects, and be part of a supportive, collaborative team. With a background in strategic roles across EMEA markets and fluency in English, Italian, and Russian, I bring strong communication skills and a global perspective to everything I do.

Tommy Pearson

Tommy Pearson

The variety and breadth of my work so far has led me to

become ever more interested in developing the technical skills required to work across industries. That’s why I’ve chosen to undertake a bootcamp with Northcoders, to develop and grow my techincal skills, to grow my work as a writer, artist and designer. These experiences have enabled me to learn and cultivate a diverse range of skills, honed in roles within the arts, publishing and marketing. I bring a dynamism and energy to any role that tasks me to collaborate with others, think critically, pioritise and manage changing, tight deadlines. I am an adaptable, intuitive and passionate person with a diverse range of interests and my natural curiousity, innovativity, and analytical skill set means that I thrive in dynamic roles that demand learning and growth.

Tech Stack

Tech Stack for this group

We used Python, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, Typescript, React Native We chose to use React Native for our frontend as we wanted to create a mobile app because our project is best suited to being used on mobile. We chose to use Typescript as it makes debugging large projects easier. For backend we chose to use python with FastAPI to challenge ourselves to learn a new and powerful tool yet made simple due to online community and good documentation. FastAPI also came with SQLAlchemy and pytest built in which made testing and accessing our PSQL database simple and clean.

Challenges Faced

We faced the challenge of using mostly new technologies, which we managed by mobbing and spiking together before splitting into pairs to work through the project.