Find developers like me with profile similarity

[sajeetharan]

Problem

DevGlobe already supports semantic/vector search, but discovering peers still requires the visitor to invent a search query. Developers do not have a one-click way to find people with a similar technical profile, which limits the product's value for networking and collaboration.

Proposed solution

Add a Developers like me experience for a signed-in or selected developer. Return nearby developer profiles from the existing vector index and explain the strongest visible similarities.

Acceptance criteria

• Add a Developers like me action on the authenticated user's profile and a Similar developers action on any developer detail view
• Query nearest profiles using the selected developer's stored embedding and exclude that developer from results
• Show a bounded similarity indicator plus human-readable reasons such as shared top language, repository topics, or location
• Render results as selectable developers and highlight their locations on the globe
• Support a shareable URL for the selected developer's peer neighborhood without exposing raw embeddings
• Provide clear empty/error states when an embedding is missing or vector search is unavailable
• Add API tests for self-exclusion, result limits, stable ordering, and missing embeddings

Technical notes

• app/api/search/route.js already uses Cosmos DB VectorDistance; add a profile-to-profile query that accepts a developer identity rather than embedding a free-text query.
• The embedding text currently includes profile, location, language, and repository signals. Similarity should be described as profile similarity, not a quality score or rank.
• Avoid presenting a precise percentage unless the distance is calibrated against the dataset; a label such as Very similar is safer initially.

Related issues

• Claim your profile via GitHub OAuth #21 provides GitHub authentication and claimed profiles.
• Shareable developer profile URLs with OpenGraph meta tags #20 and Feature: Public shareable developer profiles #50 cover public/shareable profile pages, but not peer discovery.
• Compare developers side-by-side #23 covers head-to-head comparison, which is complementary to discovery.