📝 What is a Case Study?
A case study is a professional write-up that documents your engineering project from start to finish. It showcases your technical decision-making, architecture choices, and problem-solving skills to potential employers and mentors.Why Write Case Studies? They’re like a portfolio for engineers - 10x more impressive than just having code on GitHub. Recruiters and hiring managers LOVE candidates who can articulate their technical decisions clearly.
🚀 Quick Start
Use this section to craft professional case studies after completing your capstone or mentor projects. Start with the guide, duplicate the template, and ship a polished write‑up.📖 Case Study Guide
What to include, structure, and scoring rubric. Start here!
📄 Template (copy/paste)
A complete MDX template you can fill in immediately.
🌟 Example Case Study
Learn by example! This reference shows what a great case study looks like:Multi‑Vendor E‑commerce Platform
A full MERN marketplace with:
- Multi-role system (Buyer, Seller, Admin)
- Real-time messaging with Socket.io
- Stripe payments integration
- Complete architecture diagrams
✅ Case Study Checklist
Before submitting, make sure you have:| Section | Required | Tips |
|---|---|---|
| Overview & Links | ✅ | One-liner + GitHub + Demo URL |
| Goals | ✅ | 3-5 bullet points, include non-goals |
| Tech Stack Table | ✅ | Layer, Technology, Why you chose it |
| Architecture Diagram | ✅ | Use Mermaid for clean diagrams |
| Key Features | ✅ | Group by domain (auth, payments, etc.) |
| API Endpoints | ✅ | Group by domain, show request/response |
| Database Schema | ✅ | ERD diagram + relationships |
| Challenges & Solutions | ✅ | 5-10 specific problems + how you solved |
| Best Practices | ✅ | Security, performance, DX choices |
| Conclusion | ✅ | Metrics, learnings, next steps |
💡 Pro Tips
Keep it Concise
Keep it Concise
4-8 pages is the sweet spot. Link out to code rather than pasting large snippets.
Show Trade-offs
Show Trade-offs
Don’t just say what you did - explain WHY and what alternatives you considered.
Include Metrics
Include Metrics
Numbers make your case study credible: latency, throughput, error rates, team size, timeline.
Use Diagrams
Use Diagrams
Architecture diagrams and ERDs are worth 1000 words. Use Mermaid for consistency.