Case Study · 2.5 min read

Fit Pals

Synchronized Remote Workout Companion

FitPals enables users to work out together remotely by synchronizing workout video playback and integrating real-time partner video chat using React, TypeScript, Convex, and Twilio Video.

Project Overview:

FitPals is a web application designed to combat the isolation of remote workouts by creating a shared, interactive fitness experience. Built with React, TypeScript, and Convex for backend/state management, it allows two users to watch instructor led workout videos simultaneously while interacting via integrated real time video chat, powered by Twilio Video. This project demonstrates expertise in building real time, collaborative applications, managing complex state synchronization, and integrating third party video communication APIs.

Goals & Objectives:

The primary goal was to enable friends or workout partners to exercise together remotely, mimicking the experience of being in the same room. Key technical objectives included: implementing robust synchronization logic to ensure workout videos play concurrently across different clients, integrating Twilio Video for seamless peer to peer video chat, utilizing Convex for real time database updates and backend functions to manage session state, and building an intuitive user interface with React and TypeScript for controlling video playback and managing the chat interface.

Approach & Process:

  1. Requirements & Design (Concept & Architecture): Identified the need for a shared remote workout experience. Defined core features: synchronized video playback and integrated video chat. Architected the application using React/TypeScript for the frontend and Convex for the real time backend and state synchronization. Planned the integration points for Twilio Video SDK. Designed the UI flow for session creation, joining, and the in workout experience.
  2. Development (Real time Implementation): Focused on implementing the core real time features. Developed the video synchronization mechanism using Convex's real time capabilities to manage playback state (play, pause, seek) across connected users. Integrated the Twilio Video SDK to establish peer to peer video connections and display partner video streams within the React UI. Built frontend components for video player control and chat interface using React and TypeScript.
  3. Testing & Iteration (Synchronization & UX): Conducted thorough testing focused on the reliability of video synchronization under various network conditions. Tested the video chat quality and stability. Gathered user feedback on the overall experience, particularly the ease of starting and participating in a shared workout session. Iterated on the synchronization logic and UI based on testing results.
  4. Launch & Maintenance (Deployment): Deployed the application to a suitable hosting platform (e.g., Vercel, Netlify). Manage ongoing maintenance, potentially including dependency updates and monitoring API usage for Twilio and Convex.

Outcome & Impact:

FitPals successfully demonstrates the ability to build complex, real time applications addressing a unique user need. It showcases proficiency in modern frontend technologies (React, TypeScript), real time backend/database solutions (Convex), and third party API integration (Twilio Video). The project serves as a strong portfolio piece highlighting skills in synchronization logic, state management in collaborative environments, and building engaging user experiences, relevant for roles requiring full stack development with a focus on real time features.

FAQ

Questions I get a lot.

Why go back for a CS degree if you were already at $170k?

Because the work had already outrun the paperwork, and I was tired of that gap. I’d walked away from two schools already — Baruch didn’t even offer a CS degree, and by BMCC I was already writing production code, so sitting through intro classes for a piece of paper felt backwards. I enrolled at WGU in 2024, kept the full-time engineering job, and finished the B.S. in August 2026. Third school. First degree, eight years later than the “normal” path. I wanted the foundation, and I wanted to close a loop I’d left open twice.

How did you get hired without a degree?

I showed work. The first scripts were for my dad’s business in 2017, automating the data entry that was eating his week. Columbia’s coding bootcamp gave me three months of full-stack JavaScript and a cohort in 2019 — a program that doesn’t even exist anymore. PLNETWORKS hired me in 2020 on a portfolio, not a diploma. After that, each role was about what I’d already shipped: production bugs, HIPAA software, storefronts. The degree came eight years later. It didn’t open the first door.

What actually moved compensation from $75k to $170k?

Two years of shipping at PLNETWORKS, then a move to Cazton that roughly doubled it, then BrightInsight in 2022 — HIPAA-regulated software at $170k. Same skills, different rooms. The market paid for proof. I treated interviews like case studies of work I’d already done, not like a plea for a first chance.

Where are you from, and where are you now?

I was raised in Jamaica, Queens. First thirteen years in an attic. I live in Hell’s Kitchen now. The city didn’t get bigger. I just moved west of the same story.

How do you actually use Cursor and Claude?

As a tutor and a pair, not as a ghostwriter. I still read the diff. I still throw away the parts that look clever and aren’t. The tools make the boring parts faster so I can spend the hours on the decisions that have to be mine.

What would you tell someone learning to code right now?

Build something your family can use. Put it in public. Don’t wait for a school to bless the start. I dropped out twice, then finished. Both of those were the right call at the time.