Launching today
Road Mates
A transformation network for people grinding alone
13 followers
A transformation network for people grinding alone
13 followers
The biggest difference from other social platforms is our phase-matching. We don't throw everyone in one room. Take a developer road in Road Mates vs. a developer subreddit: we divide the journey into phases, and people within each phase match together — you don't even see content from people 10 levels ahead of you. Think of it as Duolingo's structure meeting Reddit's community — but phase-matched.
The phase matching concept is genuinely fresh, especially for learning-focused communities. One thing that would make this really stick for me is a way to mark when you've graduated to the next phase and optionally stick around as a mentor for people just entering it, kind of like a soft alumni mode. That way the community doesn't lose the knowledge people built up as they advance, and new people get someone who's recently walked the same path instead of someone ten steps ahead who has forgotten what actually tripped them up.
@tekelioglu84719 You just described the Guide role almost exactly — that's already built in.
Road Mates splits people into two roles: Companions (same phase as you, right now) and Guides (people who recently passed the phase you're in — exactly the "recently walked the same path" idea, not someone ten steps ahead who's forgotten the details). You can message either one directly whenever you want, or hit a "random connect" button that just pairs you with one instantly — that second option exists specifically to kill the overthinking/procrastination of picking "the right person to ask."
There's also optional proofs — people can show evidence of what they actually did to pass a phase — so when you're choosing a guide or companion, you're not picking blind, you can see who's credible.
Nice to hear it independently — means the instinct behind it is landing the way it was meant to.
the phase matching idea is genuinely cool, feels way less intimidating than joining a giant sub where everyone seems to already know everything. one thing that would make it even better is letting people manually peek into the next phase occasionally, kind of like a preview, so you can see what skills to aim for without it cluttering your main feed by default. would help with motivation honestly
@saniye824360 That's actually already there — you can activate or deactivate phases on your own road freely, so peeking ahead is fully your choice, not something we hide from you.
Skills-wise, there's also the Backpack — it collects what you earn as you go, and it surfaces people whose skills complement yours (their strengths fill your gaps, and vice versa) without needing to be on the same road at all. Might scratch that "what should I aim for" itch you're describing, just from a different angle.
Appreciate you thinking about the motivation side of it — that's exactly the kind of feedback that matters most right now.
The phase-matching idea is genuinely interesting, especially for learning-focused communities. One thing I'd love to see is a "phase review" feature where you can opt in to peek at content from one phase ahead once you've hit a certain milestone, kind of a teaser that keeps the journey feeling forward-moving without breaking the whole structure.
@kadriyeirvowna This is close to something already built in — you can freely activate or deactivate any phase on your road yourself, so peeking ahead isn't locked behind a milestone, it's just your call whenever you want it.
The "teaser, not full unlock" instinct is a cool one though — a lighter preview mode instead of fully activating a phase. Appreciate you thinking about it.
finally tried the phase matching thing and it actually felt less overwhelming than jumping into a general subreddit. weirdly motivating to only see people a step or two ahead
@asiyeergvev7sj That's exactly the effect we were going for — a step or two ahead feels reachable, ten steps ahead just feels like noise. Glad it actually landed that way for you, not just in theory. Thanks for trying it out.
The phase matching idea really clicked when I tried it. Joining the "first repo" phase and not getting buried in senior dev advice felt way less intimidating than r/learnprogramming.
@turanvatan83pf That's the exact contrast we built this against — r/learnprogramming has incredible people in it, but a first-repo question and a 10-years-in answer are just talking past each other. Glad "first repo" felt like your actual room, not a corner of someone else's. Thanks for trying it.
the phase matching idea actually clicked for me when i joined the dev road and only saw people at the same stage, it felt way less intimidating than scrolling past posts i cant relate to yet.
@nuranasilsoy That intimidation you're describing — scrolling past stuff you're not there yet — is the exact thing we built this to remove. Really glad it worked the way it was meant to, not just as an idea on paper. Thanks for actually trying it and telling me.