From Communications to Code: How Jayen Built a Dental Booking App That Solves a Real-World Problem
Sigma School
29th June 2025
Meet Jayen Manhan — a 25-year-old with a mouthful of a name and a story that’s just as full of determination. Before stepping into tech, Jayen was working in the communications industry. But something didn’t feel right. His career lacked direction, and the more he thought about his future, the clearer it became: it was time for a change.
That’s when Jayen discovered Sigma School, drawn in by their structured curriculum and bold money-back guarantee. For someone seeking clarity and commitment, it felt like the right place to rebuild his career — this time, in tech.
When choosing a capstone project, Jayen wasn’t just picking something for show. He wanted to build something practical, purposeful, and real. That’s how he landed on Bright Smile Dental, a full-stack booking app for a fictional dental clinic.
Why a booking app?
Because real-world organizations — from clinics to coworking spaces — all rely on efficient appointment systems. Jayen wanted to create a solution that could one day power such businesses, helping them reduce admin work and improve customer experience. In his words, it was “the simplest project that allowed me to apply everything I had learned — and yet incredibly relevant.”
Jayen’s project wasn’t just a pretty front end — it was a fully functional CRUD application that lets users create, view, edit, and delete appointments.
Here’s a breakdown of the tech stack behind the build:
Users can sign in with Google, upload a profile picture, and manage their dental appointments all in one place. And yes, even the email reminders work — Jayen demoed them live, showing real notifications sent straight to his phone.
Despite how smooth the demo looked, Jayen’s journey wasn’t without hiccups.
One of the biggest challenges? Testing backend email functionality while using localhost. Since some features like reminder emails are time-triggered, debugging became tricky without deploying the app.
But instead of giving up or skipping features, Jayen went the extra mile — testing email functionality on his phone, ensuring that reminders were sent properly even if the frontend wasn’t hosted yet. It’s this kind of scrappy resourcefulness that defines a great developer.
He also had to integrate multiple systems — from Firebase to PostgreSQL — which required him to connect multiple moving parts securely and reliably. A puzzle he solved one issue at a time.
Jayen’s capstone project is more than just a booking app — it’s proof of how far someone can go with the right mindset and a supportive bootcamp behind them.
In just a few months, he went from zero tech background to building a real-world app with full-stack functionality. The same way he turned confusion into clarity, he’s now equipped to help businesses turn messy processes into simple, elegant solutions.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in a career that’s going nowhere — Jayen’s story is your sign. Tech is a powerful reset button. And like Jayen, you don’t need to have all the answers. Just the courage to begin.