E-commerce Builder (Payever)

About

This was perhaps one of the most challenging projects I have ever worked on. The company was growing fast and the engineering team was struggling to keep up with the demand for new features. The process to add new features was complex, due to the microfrontend architecture along with a very fast-paced environment. For me, this was my first experience working abroad, living in a new culture, and working in a new city while dealing with things outside work. I learned a lot about communication, collaboration, and it was also my first experience leading some initiatives and presenting them in front of the entire startup.

The project

The project was very interesting: A website builder with which sellers could create their own e-commerce website, with a drag-and-drop interface, and a lot of customization options and checkout integrations. All-in-one for small businesses to create their own online store and start selling their products online.

Challenges

1. Hands-on on day one.
2. Website builder built manually with no external libraries.
3. Leading presentations and initiatives in a fast-paced environment.

1. Hands-on on day one

I needed to split part of the checkout module into a new microfrontend on my first day :) The company was moving really fast, with the CEO close to the team on deciding what needed to be done next. They had some steps to ensure all engineers were aligned and working at the maximum, and throwing really challenging things on the initial days was a way to confirm the team had the highest technical knowledge possible. I passed them and started to make friends with the team, learning a lot from them, learning how the CEO's mind works, how he thinks about the project, mainly considering how he envisioned the future for a startup in the European market, etc. I brought several ideas from my side, on how things worked in South America and this worked pretty well, giving them some insights about what would be nice to change, also thinking about expanding to the South American market in the future.

2. Website builder built manually with no external libraries

The website builder created a canvas for the user to drag and drop components, and customize them. Dealing with this was a challenge, since we had to create each shape and component from scratch, dealing with positioning, sizing, height, width, overflow, the history of the changes to allow users to use Ctrl + Z to undo, or Ctrl + V to paste shapes. The website also allowed dynamic images and everything you think of when you imagine an e-commerce website builder. I remember dealing with several mathematical challenges, along with listeners complexity. At the end of the day, looking at the project working was one of the most satisfying feelings possible.

3. Leading presentations and initiatives in a fast-paced environment

Given the complexity of the project and the fast-paced environment, it is not a surprise that the team changed quite fast. Some folks remained there, but perhaps half of the team changed every two weeks. I quickly became one of the leaders of the project, mainly on the client-side, along with another Russian friend I made there (Hey, Denis).

I remember being the one that presented the weekly reviews on Friday nights (with beer) at the company, showing what we had done during the week and the plans for the next one. This was a great moment at the company to sync on the changes.

Experience working abroad

Working abroad with a team with people from more than 10 different countries was definitely a unique experience. Dealing with bureaucracy, finding a place to live, learning how to adapt to the new culture, putting myself in a new fast-paced environment, in English, and working on such a challenging project was a great experience for me. Was it easy? Not at all! I was far away from my family, girlfriend and friends, but I learned a lot about myself and it helped me to grow as a person and as a professional.

Unfortunately, the pandemic started a couple of months after I started this experience, then I moved back to Brazil, worked remotely a while for them, but then I decided to move forward with another opportunity since moving back to Germany during such a difficult time in our human history was not something I thought would be a good idea to do at that time.

On my last day in the office, the team prepared a special dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and we had a great time together.

As a football fan, I couldn't miss the opportunity to watch a Hamburg SV match at Volksparkstadion.

One of the incredible sunsets from the office.