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David Henner highlights some of the major improvements Zendesk has achieved using straightforward #Ruby techniques to get even better performance out of Rails, including data which illustrates how they saved thousands of years of processing time annually, leading to increased customer satisfaction and cost-effectiveness, as reflected in their AWS bills. #railsatscale #rails #scaling Thank you Shopify for sponsoring the editing and post-production of these videos. Check out insights from the Engineering team at: https://shopify.engineering/ Stay tuned: all 2024 Rails World videos will be subtitled in Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese soon thanks to our sponsor Happy Scribe, a transcription service built on Rails. https://www.happyscribe.com/
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In this video titled "Level Up Performance With Simple Coding Changes," David Henner discusses how Zendesk significantly enhanced its application performance through straightforward Ruby on Rails techniques. He emphasizes that despite the complexity and challenges faced in application scaling, many performance gains can be achieved with small, targeted improvements. Key points covered include: - **Historical Context**: Henner provides an overview of Zendesk's 15-year journey, noting that for 12 years there was no dedicated performance team, which left a lot of potential for optimization. - **Sharding and Archiving**: He stresses the importance of having a data management strategy to prevent bloating of databases, suggesting that unnecessary historical data should be archived or removed periodically. - **Cost Reductions**: The performance enhancements led to significant reductions in infrastructure costs, potentially saving Zendesk tens of millions annually. - **Adding Observability**: The introduction of Datadog for tracking performance marked a turning point, allowing the team to identify performance bottlenecks effectively. - **SQL Query Management**: Henner highlights the need to monitor SQL queries and uses specific syntax to ensure efficiency in database interactions. - **Focus on Mundane Features**: He argues that optimizing commonly used endpoints, even by milliseconds, can lead to massively cumulative performance improvements. - **Caching Strategies**: The application of effective caching methods was a recurring theme, where Henner explained how to strategically cache user objects to reduce redundant database queries. - **Handling Edge Cases**: He provided insights into managing unexpected data inputs, such as formatting anomalies in email tickets, which can drastically influence processing times. - **Continuous Evaluation**: The importance of revisiting and adjusting forced indexes as application needs evolve is underscored, suggesting that it's critical to adapt strategies over time for continued performance. In conclusion, David Henner encourages developers to consistently evaluate their code performance, share insights about the implemented strategies, and understand that many of these optimizations arise from small changes rather than major overhauls. His detailed methodology offers practical advice for those looking to enhance their Ruby on Rails applications.
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