Professional Update October 2020

Hello everyone, this is a professional update giving a bit of background to what I've been involved with recently.

Feel free to get in touch if this is of any interest.

JAM Stack React and NextJS

JAM stands for JavaScript, APIs, Markup. It is a way of delivering websites which focus on simple HTML files which are enhanced by JavaScript and an API within the browser. I've been working in this format for a few years now, starting at Seccl Technology and then working at Nationwide with an enterprise CMS (Sitecore), Nextjs and the Uniform product.

There are a few key reasons why this architecture is gaining awareness

Better performance: because website pages are built prior to them being requested by a user on your website, they can be served immediately. This reduces the time to first byte and provides a much faster experience.

Higher Security: there are many attack vectors which are just gone when the primary delivery of HTML pages comes from a set of pre-rendered static files.

Easier Scaling: the primary method for scaling static files is by using a CDN which will scale with demand without needing complicated cacheing or autoscaling mechanisms.

Cheaper: fewer resources are needed to be constantly online, ready to serve a user's request. This translates into cost savings across your stack.

Greener, less energy: this technology can help towards sustainability goals for a company. Fewer resources will mean less energy is required making it easier and more feasible to power your application from green energy sources.

If you are considering moving your existing CMS infrastructure towards this kind of architecture. Get in touch and we can explore your options.

Mentoring

During my time with Nationwide I was involved in mentoring a number of the developers. Helping them with pair programming and learning sessions. It was great to see a few of them graduate from the grad program into a developer position.

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source system for automating application deployment and scaling. It allows you to connect together separate services, describe how they work together and scale in different environments. All this through code based configuration.

The project I have been working with Nationwide on for the past year is deployed on their own Kubernetes platform using Open Shift. They have a website connecting to a GraphQL API and a number of microservices. All these are configured using Google Skaffold to deploy into their Kubernetes cluster.

It would be great to hear from you If you are considering migrating an application to Kubernetes or have decided to deploy a new project onto a Kubernetes cluster and you would like help.