Project

Email Distribution & Survey Systems

Links:

TalentOperatorOS.io

github.com/brownmd/ta-pulse

Talent Acquisition intelligence research system, built with AI.

I had a goal: conduct original Talent Acquisition intelligence research, and for this project I wanted to create a survey to pulse TA leaders and practitioners. I could have used an existing platform, such as Beehiiv, Substack, or Medium, to create content and use their distribution platform. But given AI is the future, why not build the system myself with AI myself and learn first hand about the Technology?

Through vibe coding with Claude Code and GitHub Copilot, I was able to troubleshoot and prompt my way through building a fully self hosted survey platform.

Overview

A self hosted survey and email distribution stack built for Talent Acquisition research. Contact list sourced from 1st connections on LinkedIn, with 2nd and 3rd connections enriched via Apollo.

Core Components

Platform components
Survey builder
Formbricks
Self hosted survey collection
Email campaigns
Listmonk
Newsletter and campaign orchestration
File storage
MinIO
Object storage for project assets
Database
PostgreSQL
Primary application data store
Email delivery
Amazon SES
Outbound email infrastructure
Infrastructure
Hetzner VPS
Self hosted deployment environment

Stack

Software stack
Survey
Formbricks self hosted survey builder
local
Email
Listmonk self hosted campaign engine
local
Storage
MinIO object storage for files and assets
local
Database
PostgreSQL application data and state
local
Delivery
Amazon SES outbound email sending
cloud
DNS
Cloudflare DNS and edge routing
cloud
Hosting
Hetzner VPS self hosted runtime environment
local

Outcomes

Conduct Pulse Surveys and publish Talent Acquisition insights