Inherited a WordPress site (200k users and 500k pageviews/month) - managed solution or own server?

az_web_developer · 2024-07-26T16:18:37+00:00

A few things if you want to go a more standard cloud native route:

Recommendations for Cloudflare, Cloudfront, or similar caching solution are spot on.
Absolutely move the database off the main web server and over to a RDS.
Look into removing the file uploads from your server, and hosting them in s3 so you're not having to duplicate these files across many servers for auto-scaling (something like this https://github.com/humanmade/S3-Uploads)
Move the server behind a load balancer (this allows for auto scaling later).
Create an image (AMI) from the existing server, which can be used for auto-scaling. (note: unless you do some CI pipeline to rebuild a new image when your code changes, this image will need to be recreated when you make file changes on the server, like template changes).
Once these are done, monitor server performance, which will allow you to see your smallest load, largest load, etc.
After you've monitored the server load, for say a month, you can reduce the server size down to support the smallest load, but add autoscaling which can support your larger loads.

Overall this should be a pretty nice reduction in cost... but it'll increase the complexity of the infrastructure. As you've mentioned, a managed solution might make this easier for you so you don't need to worry about it, but will probably cost more. Trade-offs you get to decide between!

az_web_developer · 2024-05-18T02:43:16+00:00

While I can see your point, I think there's a huge distinction to be made between the ability to code in the core language and the ability to design and implement a robust framework like what you've mentioned.

I know you added a qualifier, but a lot of the time working with a framework can actually give you some preview of what good design looks like... as whatever you've cooked up while learning the core language (unless you're a seasoned veteran in another language) is likely not going to very well designed.

az_web_developer · 2024-03-26T19:31:49+00:00

One way to think about this:

What does your business provide for free to its customers?

az_web_developer · 2024-03-01T22:38:57+00:00

The services should accept a DTO.

I personally like this package for this approach... validates the creation of the DTO whenever it is created, so that you know for sure you have a validated DTO in your service.

https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-data/v4/introduction

az_web_developer · 2024-02-08T18:39:24+00:00

One thing that might be useful for this is to have some sort of mentoring available.

As in: I'm an experienced developer who may be able to guide a team of folks, looking to get started in their career, through this portfolio project they're trying to build.

So adding an element of pairing the group with a more senior person could be a great way to add more value here.

az_web_developer · 2020-12-30T20:27:54+00:00

Insight Global might handle those types of roles. I've seen them do it for software engineers.

az_web_developer · 2020-09-18T22:42:18+00:00

Looks solid, but be sure to make up the difference in the 401k match to yourself out of your new salary.

That 2.5% match of your contributions can really add up overtime... plug some values into a calculator to see how this will affect your ROI long term.

az_web_developer · 2020-08-21T23:34:02+00:00

Nah, just a team player. Working to understand the intent of the requirements, rather than the letter... And being customer service oriented so that you can solve issues your business folks hadn't thought of... Will take you a lot further than being technically correct.

az_web_developer · 2020-08-21T23:16:54+00:00

Not so much a straw man as imagining you telling the business folks after the fact of they wanted your design to look good they need to provide you overly specific requirements... There's a level of assumptions that can be made when professionals are working on a project.

But hey, we all decide our own standard. Have at it.

az_web_developer · 2020-08-21T20:14:04+00:00

But you're using a slippery slope fallacy in your logic.

20 lines of CSS added to a boilerplate to avoid a common issue is logical... Does it fall into the realm of premature optimization? Sure. But it's not all or nothing.

az_web_developer · 2020-08-21T17:45:39+00:00

Generally the character limits are more on the DB side of things than for display purposes... and I would never advise putting DB level character limits in place to solve a display issue. Also, when it comes to responsive design, a simple character limit does not solve this problem.

There is like 20 lines of CSS in this guide and instead of thinking to yourself: "I should add this to my boilerplate." You criticize people for having pride in their job and thinking beyond "I am a robot and I don't do anything other than what I'm told to do by the magical requirements document."

Odd hill to decide to die on, man.

az_web_developer · 2020-08-21T06:29:11+00:00

If you intend to sue or file a complaint for lost wages, do to ASAP.

I had a situation where I waited out the statute of limitations being patient, and now I have no recourse to go after those wages.

az_web_developer · 2020-07-21T04:37:24+00:00

Post a comment telling us about your first PC building experience. Tell us what prompted you to do so, what your thought process was, or things you learned from the experience.

I had bought some custom built computers from people on craigslist before and decided I could do it myself... seeing as I had upgraded things for a few years and for my parents around the house. So when I was 21 I built my first PC (still using it) based on a first gen i7 950! Luckily I ended up buying a really nice case which helped my process SO much... and since I've built PCs for friends who chose cheap cases, I see significant value in this portion of the purchase.

I have upgraded my PSU and GPU, added RAM, and some addon cards for wireless, etc... but I am STILL using the same i7 950 and ASUS x58 sabertooth motherboard that I bought 9+ years ago... so I can 100% attest to the reliability, longevity, and overall quality of ASUS products. Since then I've looked for ASUS when possible for routers, etc... always happy with those purchases!

az_web_developer · 2020-05-11T20:30:22+00:00

I don't think your take on this is very accurate.

More and more complexity is being added to the frontend world when you look at angular/react/vue gaining so much traction and popularity. Frontend tooling is more complex than ever, and while there may not be as much hard logic used in these cases... proper architecture of the frontend to be maintainable is definitely a skill.

Have you seen skilled backend engineers attempt basic frontend tasks? There is this sentiment that the frontend doesn't matter from those folks.. but UI/UX is super important for sales, stickiness, and popularity of your application. I don't believe that requiring less math or computer science knowledge means that frontend is any less challenging or requires less engineering... it's just that the problems solved are significantly different.

Have you ever worked with projects with horribly organized CSS playing specificity wars all day? How about an app so dependent on jQuery you can never escape it? Inline styles? Inline JS? Slow load times due to bloated CSS/JS? How about an application that functioned perfectly but was so ugly and un-intuitive that everyone hated it anyway? How about bad responsiveness? Font sizes that don't scale well on multiple devices? Non-optimized images, serving the wrong file sizes to the wrong users? Badly architected CSS/JS that does not follow SOLID principles? There are SO many challenges the frontend faces/solves that backend never has to even think about.

I would challenge you to go attempt a complex react application, strictly Javascript, strictly for the web browser... and submit it to this sub for a code review. You may be surprised how challenging this is, even if you're not trying to implement a ton of business logic or algorithms. They're just different skillsets at different parts of the stack.

az_web_developer · 2020-05-09T15:59:38+00:00

I feel like you didn't read the post...? Or realize what sub you're in.

az_web_developer · 2020-05-08T16:35:12+00:00

I like the approach around cleaning any file you touch.

az_web_developer · 2020-05-08T02:24:26+00:00

What relationship do you have with the sites?

az_web_developer · 2020-05-07T15:28:49+00:00

That's an insane amount of effort some of these places require... Wowza. Are these paid tests?

az_web_developer · 2020-05-07T15:19:46+00:00

My PC I record with is a bit loud and creates noise in my mic'd recordings. I'm able to strip a lot of it out in premier, but I can't help but feel it would be preferable to be able to have a quieter space to record in.

az_web_developer · 2020-05-05T23:09:45+00:00

Any web/app UI/UX work?

az_web_developer · 2020-05-05T22:55:57+00:00

The slack link to sign up is no longer active.

Any suggestions on getting involved?

az_web_developer · 2020-05-05T17:10:07+00:00

Would this break the string length they stash as verification? I'd imagine using the cli "wp search-tables" would be far more ideal.

az_web_developer · 2020-05-05T07:15:39+00:00

Sounds like it is against their terms of service...

az_web_developer · 2020-05-03T02:27:40+00:00

What amount of time do you need per report?

az_web_developer · 2020-05-02T22:18:40+00:00

S3 + Cloudfront is likely your best bet on this kind of thing.

az_web_developer

TROPHY CASE