Easy API Development for Engineering Students

API development might seem daunting for students venturing into the tech world, but with the right tools, it’s an incredibly rewarding skill to master.

Enter Blackbird, the API development platform designed to simplify the process. Whether you're working on a class project, a hackathon, or a personal side hustle, Blackbird equips you with everything you need to create, test, and refine APIs—all in one place.

Blackbird has generated a lot of engagement from the education sector for higher-ed professionals and students alike (no, it’s not going to just do your coding assignments for you!). This interest spurred us to think about some of the use cases Blackbird would excel at in an education environment. I covered a few of the main ones below, but really as it relates to Blackbird, there are endless possibilities for students including:

• Course Projects: Impress your professors by building robust APIs for web and mobile applications with Blackbird.
• Portfolio Building: Create and showcase functional APIs to boost your job or internship applications.
• Learning OpenAPI and Swagger: Blackbird integrates with these common standards, giving you hands-on experience with standards that are used by all industry professionals.
• Side Hustles: Turn your ideas into reality by building and testing APIs for personal apps or startups.

Use Case 1: Familiarization with OAS and the Mocking Workflow

OpenAPI specifications are the widely-accepted industry standard for creating new APIs; and if you don’t know that already, it’s time to start learning. They allow you to design an API and create a “blueprint” for it so that you know what you need to develop when the time comes. Specifications are also used to create Mocks. Mocks allow you to send requests to an endpoint and receive dummy data that represents what the eventual API response will look like. Mocks tend to be locally hosted and can be a pain to set up.

Blackbird is built to help in both of these areas. Blackbird uses AI to help you generate an Open API specification (OAS file) instantly with a chat prompt. You can ask it for an API that tracks prices of items from your favorite shopping sites or paste in previously created code and prompt it to convert it into a specification file. This can familiarize you with the YAML language used for OAS files but also shift your mindset from the dusty code-first mentality to the design-first mentality that is prevalent in today's enterprises.

Blackbird will then take that OAS file and create a publicly accessible mock instance. You don’t have to struggle with setting up a local mock server that only works while your computer is on, and you can have multiple of these set up at any time.

Blackbird was created to simplify and unite both sides of the development process. The ideal workflow for developing an API needs to include all stakeholders at the beginning and both the front-end and back-end during the development. The ideal workflow allows the front-end and back-end to design and use an API specification as a contract to develop.

Use case 2: Generate Enterprise-Level API Boilerplate Code

What is the most boring (but arguably the most important) part of every project or coding homework assignment? I would say it's creating a standardized file structure and typing the boilerplate code. Yes, you can usually find a template that reduces some of this headache, but for the most part, it's a tedious and time-consuming task. Not to mention, how do you know what a good file structure looks like?

Blackbird enables you to type in a prompt to the AI specification generator (or upload your own Open API specification) and generate all of the file structure and boilerplate code for your entire project. In one command, you can have an enterprise-level project directory that just needs business logic for each of your endpoints.

Boilerplate code often involves repetitive, tedious setups that can be frustrating for beginners. By automating these tasks, students can jump straight into building features and experimenting with functionality, making the learning process more engaging and hands-on.

Use Case 3: Coding Group Projects

Blackbird provides a publicly accessible mock for your API so that anyone can validate their code against it. This allows you to design an API specification together with your fellow engineering classmates and then work in parallel to develop both the frontend and backend. You can then test the actual code by intercepting traffic to that mock server with a code run, debug and even deploy it (so that the code will run independently of your local machine).

Blackbird will take care of all of the details to set up the environment, URLs, and authentication so that you only have to think about developing your project. By centralizing the mocking and testing processes, your groupmates can iterate faster and avoid the common “it works on my machine” frustrations.

Plus, Blackbird’s hosted environment provides a safe playground for experimenting. Students can try out API designs, test integrations, and learn by doing—all without worrying about breaking live systems or dealing with complex infrastructure setups.

*Note: Code Run/Debug and Deployments are available on the Blackbird Platform plan and above, but we offer a major student discount if you want to hit us up and indicate that you are a student.*

Whether you're working on a class project, a hackathon, or a personal side hustle, Blackbird equips you with everything you need to create, test, and refine APIs—all in one place. Mastering API development with Blackbird not only enhances your skills but also prepares you for a tech-driven world. Blackbird makes API development manageable for students by providing tools to streamline the learning process, automate tedious tasks, and foster collaboration. Your homework isn’t just done—it’s done better.

Luckily, we offer major student discounts on our Developer and Platform plan if your free trial runs out. Contact us to learn more about how to unlock 70% off for students.