~/work / educom
Educom
Lead engineer · M64
A UAE university admissions platform: five apps on one API, in English and Arabic, with AI that reads applicants' documents. I led product, design, engineering and launch.
- Year
- 2026, launched November 2026
- Role
- Lead engineer. I led product, design, engineering and launch, and wrote most of the backend plus the applicant, university and admin apps.
- Built at
- M64
- Stack
- Next.js · TypeScript · Node.js / Express · Supabase (PostgreSQL) · AWS Bedrock (Claude Haiku 4.5) · Azure · Capacitor (Android)
- Live
- educom.com ↗
- apps on one API, in English and Arabic
- 5
- UAE universities in the catalogue
- 26
- automated tests at launch
- 1,600+
- from first commit to go-live
- 8 mo
Overview
Applying to university in the UAE means matching transcripts from 29 different curricula and 14 grading scales against each program's entry rules. Educom puts the whole process on one platform. Students discover universities, programs and scholarships, build a profile, upload documents and apply. Universities manage their programs and review applications, and school counselors follow their students.
One API serves all five apps, and applicants also get an Android app. The platform went live in November 2026.
Highlights
- 01
AI document reading
Claude Haiku 4.5 on AWS Bedrock reads transcripts and certificates (IGCSE, A Levels, IB, French Bac, IELTS, SAT, EmSAT and more) straight from the uploaded file, with no separate OCR step. What the model reads is only a suggestion: the student confirms it and a reviewer verifies it. Identity documents such as passports are stored only and never sent to the model.
- 02
Tested before it's switched on
Each document type is defined in a database registry. A definition only goes live after it passes tests against the real model, using real samples, a known-wrong replay and negative controls. At launch, all 13 reading definitions passed every test.
- 03
An explainable admissions engine
Grades from 29 curricula and 14 grading scales are normalized against each program's requirements and the UAE Ministry of Education's equivalency rules. Rules are versioned and previewed against existing students before they're published. Every verdict cites the bar, the grade and the document it came from.
- 04
Secure by default, launched with a rehearsal
Row-level security on every table, one API behind every app, and a review workflow that runs through to offer letters. It shipped in 8 months with 1,600+ automated tests, a 125-issue pre-launch audit and two rehearsed launches, including a rollback drill. Go-live took under 2 hours.
Apps
- Public site
- educom.com ↗Discover universities, programs and scholarships
- Applicants
- apply.educom.com ↗Profile, documents and applications, on web and Android
- Universities
- portal.educom.com ↗Programs, entry requirements and application review
- Schools
- schools.educom.com ↗Counselors manage and follow their students
- Admin
- Internal consoleDocument types, country rules, curricula and onboarding