GenZcareers — Job Marketing Platform
Job marketing website for international students seeking US jobs. Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS single-page site with Google Apps Script form-to-Sheets backend (serverless CRM).
Role
Full-stack Developer
Team
Solo
Company/Organization
Freelance
The Problem
GenZcareers needed a professional web presence to attract Indian and international students seeking US employment — required fast iteration with...
Contact form needed to capture leads (name, email, phone, message) without running a backend server or database — startup had zero infrastructure...
Site needed custom domain with HTTPS, CDN-like caching, and professional deployment infrastructure — not just a basic GitHub Pages deployment.
Content updates needed to be possible by non-technical team members without code changes or complex deployments.
The Solution
Built a lean, production-grade marketing website optimized for speed and simplicity.
Frontend (Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS)
index.html — Single-page layout with semantic HTML5: navigation, hero section with CTA, services grid, testimonials carousel, pricing tiers,...
styles.css — Custom CSS with CSS variables for theming, responsive breakpoints (mobile-first), smooth scroll behavior, and animated transitions.
script.js — Client-side logic: mobile nav toggle, smooth scrolling, form validation, and Google Apps Script form submission handler with loading...
Backend (Google Apps Script → Google Sheets)
Google Apps Script deployed as Web App receives POST requests from contact form, parses data, appends row to Sheet (timestamp, name, email, phone,...
Google Sheets as CRM — each submission creates a new row with timestamp. Team can filter, sort, and manage leads directly in Sheets.
Deployment (GCP Cloud Run + Load Balancer)
Nginx-based Docker container serving static files with custom caching headers (HTML: no-cache, assets: 1hr, gzip enabled).
GCP Cloud Run with automatic scaling. Cloud Load Balancer with static IP (35.207.239.70) for DNS.
Hostinger DNS — A records for root (@) and www pointing to Load Balancer IP. HTTPS via GCP managed SSL certificates.
Design Decisions
Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS over React/Next.js — no build step, instant page loads, zero framework overhead. Static marketing site doesn't need component...
Google Apps Script + Sheets over a backend API — zero infrastructure cost, no server maintenance, built-in spreadsheet interface for lead management....
GCP Cloud Run over GitHub Pages/Netlify — provides Docker containerization, custom Nginx configuration for caching control, Load Balancer with static...
Nginx reverse proxy over direct serving — enables custom cache headers per file type, gzip compression, and SSL termination. Professional-grade...
Single-page design over multi-page — marketing site with 5 sections doesn't warrant separate pages. Single HTML file with smooth scroll anchors...
Tradeoffs & Constraints
No framework means manual DOM manipulation — form handling, navigation toggle, and scroll effects are vanilla JS. Acceptable for a small site but...
Google Apps Script has execution quotas — free tier allows ~20,000 submissions per day. Sufficient for marketing but would need a real backend at...
No CMS — content updates require editing HTML directly. Faster than CMS overhead for a small team comfortable with code.
Would improve: Add structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO, implement Open Graph meta tags for social sharing, add Google Analytics, implement A/B testing...
Outcome & Impact
Production marketing website on GCP Cloud Run: Docker + Nginx + Cloud Load Balancer with static IP + Hostinger DNS + managed SSL.
Google Sheets CRM via Apps Script — zero backend maintenance, zero infrastructure cost, accessible by entire team.
Sub-second page loads with zero framework overhead — vanilla HTML/CSS/JS served via Nginx with gzip compression.
Responsive single-page design with hero, services, testimonials, pricing, and contact form — mobile-first CSS with smooth scroll navigation.
Tech Stack
Frontend: HTML5 (semantic), CSS3 (Grid, Flexbox, CSS variables), vanilla JavaScript
Backend: Google Apps Script (serverless form handler), Google Sheets (lead storage/CRM)
Server: Nginx (reverse proxy, caching, gzip compression)
Infrastructure: Docker, GCP Cloud Run, Cloud Load Balancer (static IP), Hostinger DNS