PocketMentor: An Open-Source Workplace Conversation Simulator Built for My Junior Batchmate

A developer built PocketMentor, an open-source mobile simulator that lets early-career engineers and junior managers roleplay high-stakes workplace conversations against an adaptive AI persona and receive feedback on communication tactics. The project, created for a batchmate anxious about defending an overscoped sprint plan, is available on GitHub with an Expo-based mobile app and a RevenueCat-powered paywall. A tester said rehearsing the exact back-and-forth and having the model challenge their excuses helped them restructure their actual talking points for sprint planning.

This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge: Build for a Friend https://dev.to/challenges/hacktoberfest-weekend-2026-10-01 Starting out as a software engineer or junior manager is rarely bottlenecked by syntax or code—it's bottlenecked by uncomfortable conversations: My batchmate and friend was recently dealing with severe anxiety around their upcoming sprint planning meeting. They knew their team's deliverables were overscoped, but they didn't know how to defend the engineering reality without sounding confrontational. I built PocketMentor for them: a mobile simulator that lets early-career engineers and managers roleplay high-stakes workplace dialogues against an adaptive AI persona and receive actionable feedback on communication tactics. Live Demo / Preview: https://github.com/dipanshurdev/pocket-mentor https://github.com/dipanshurdev/pocket-mentor Walkthrough video: The source code is open and accessible on GitHub: PocketMentor is a mobile simulator designed for early-career software engineers and junior managers to practice high-stakes workplace conversations scope pushback, upward feedback, tech-debt defense . pro services/revenuecat.ts components/PaywallModal.tsx App.tsx npm install npx expo start -c w to run web preview or scan QR with Expo Go. PocketMentor is designed around structured simulation loops powered by open-source AI: I handed PocketMentor to my friend to rehearse a real upcoming scenario: defending a sprint delay due to foundational database refactoring. "Most career advice tells you 'just be diplomatic,' which is useless in the moment. Rehearsing the exact back-and-forth and having the model challenge my excuses helped me restructure my actual talking points for sprint planning."