Project Overview
Rent.com, a leading online rental marketplace, underwent a significant transformation during my tenure. The project’s focus was on transitioning from a Ruby on Rails backend to a React-based frontend. This rewrite was a strategic move to enhance the site’s performance and user experience.
Role: Senior Engineer
As a Senior Engineer, I played a key role in this transition. My responsibilities included developing high-quality React components, integrating them with existing systems, and deploying them incrementally. My team and I also worked very closely with product to explore and implement variations of the site to optimze conversions .
Technologies Used
- React and TypeScript for the frontend
- Advanced feature flagging for controlled feature releases and A/B testing
- Node/Express server delivering a GraphQL BFF API
Challenges & Solutions
- Incremental Deployment: We utilized an industry approach known as “strangler fig pattern” or “incremental rewrite,” where the new system gradually replaces parts of the old.
- Feature Management: Heavily relied on feature flags to manage and test new features, ensuring seamless integration and user experience.
- Backend for Frontend: The team owned and developed their own GraphQL API to encapsulate microservices, at times needing to develop entirely new featuresets with disparate data
- A/B Testing: Implemented A/B testing to optimize features and improve SEO and web performance.
Team Dynamics
The project was executed by a team of high-caliber engineers, each contributing to the meticulous rewrite process. The environment demanded a high degree of self-motivation and independent problem-solving, with a strong focus on maintaining the pace and quality of development.
Impact on Rent.com
This extensive rewrite significantly improved the site’s performance and scalability, ensuring Rent.com’s competitiveness in the online rental marketplace. The introduction of a modern frontend framework and efficient feature deployment strategies enhanced user experience and site reliability.
Conclusion
My experience at Rent.com as a Senior Engineer highlights my ability to adapt to evolving technological landscapes and contribute effectively to large-scale platform modernizations. The successful transition to a React frontend underlines my commitment to high-quality development and staying at the forefront of web technologies.