Built an AI CV tool in 6 weeks, $100 budget, zero coding background — here’s what I learned

I’m not an engineer. I don’t know how to code. But I had a problem I understood better than most developers ever could. It’s my work experience.

Coming from Recruitment background reviewing hundreds of CVs, I kept seeing the same structural mistakes costing genuinely qualified people interviews.

So I built RiseHired — a CV tool that structures resumes using real recruiter logic, not generic AI text — using Bolt instead of hiring a developer I just couldn’t afford.

Some honest numbers: 6 weeks start to finish, $100 total budget, solo the entire time, built around a full-time.

What I learned:

Resilience.

I built this while working a demanding job just to get by — resilience wasn’t optional.

Not knowing how to code isn’t the blocker it used to be — knowing the problem deeply mattered more than technical skill.

The hardest part wasn’t building it. Honestly, It’s been figuring out distribution as a complete unknown with zero existing audience.

It’s live at risehired.org if anyone wants to check it out or has feedback on the funnel — genuinely looking for honest opinion, not just traffic.

Happy to answer anything about the build process, the no-code tooling, or the “zero technical background” side of this if it’s useful to anyone else in the same boat.