Gengo is a translation service that connects clients with a network of over 8,000 translators through an automated web API, enabling a scalable workflow for language translation across multiple languages. The document outlines the engineering and operational structure of Gengo, including their infrastructure, workflow processes, and future scalability plans. Key features include a friendly testing environment, clear documentation, and a focus on performance monitoring to ensure efficient translations.

2. Who we are
Andrea Belvedere
VP of Engineering
Derek Szydlowski
Lead Operations
Engineer
Yosuke Tomita
Backend and Ops
Engineer

3. Communicate freely.
Connect to people-powered
translation at scale.
Gengo engineering
12 engineers, 9+ languages spoken

4. What is Gengo
Submit your
translation via Website
or API
8000 translators
and counting
Language pairs
and counting
54Web API

5. The Order Flow

6. Order
translation
Translator
gets job
Receive your
translation
1 2 3

7. Order
translation
Translator
gets job
Receive your
translation
1 2 3

8. Order
translation
Translator
gets job
Receive your
translation
1 2 3

9. The API
Fully automated
workflow, no project
management, plug into
8,000 translators
A direct connection
Client libraries, developer
support and a friendly
testing environment
Quick to start
Documented REST API
makes integrating straight
forward
Clean and easy

10. Simple?

11. Complex Job Flow
T
T
T
T
C C C
C C C
C C C
C C C
C
C
C
Receive Translate Deliver

12. Scaling Concerns
Translators Engineering
Translator
Ops
Finance and
Business
API and
Retail
Customers
Integrations
& Projects

13. Scaling for Customers

14. In the beginning…

16. Single Instance

17. Web Instances
Single DB Instance
Elastic Load Balancer

18. Going Global

19. Web Instances
Single DB Instance
Elastic Load Balancer
CloudFront

20. Where are we going to keep it all?
Enter S3.

21. Web Instances
Single DB Instance
Elastic Load Balancer
CloudFront
S3

23. Web Instances
Single DB Instance
Elastic Load Balancer
CloudFront
S3 Redis Instances

24. Asynchronous Jobs Processing

25. Web Instances
Single DB Instance
Elastic Load Balancer
CloudFront
S3 Redis Instances
Processor Instances

26. Scaling for Translators

27. More space!

28. Growth
-
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
60,000,000
70,000,000
80,000,000
90,000,000
100,000,000
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Units
Units Translated

29. Complex Workflows

30. 100% CPU 

31. Web Instances
Single R/W
DB Instance
Elastic Load Balancer
CloudFront
S3 Redis Instances
Processor Instances
Multiple Read
DB Instance

32. Read Only Slaves 

33. Web Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
S3 Redis Instances Processor InstancesDB Instances
API Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
Segregating
concerns

34. Caching!

35. Scaling for Operations

36. Growing up

37. Dedicated Ops DB Slave

38. Translator Operations

39. Search for Operations

40. Breaking it out further…

41. Web Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
S3 Redis Instances Processor InstancesDB Instances
API Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
Admin Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
Retail Instances
Elastic Load Balancer

43. Lessons Learned
+
Future

44. Web Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
S3 ElastiCache Processor InstancesRDS DB Instances
API Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
Admin Instances
Elastic Load Balancer
Retail Instances
Elastic Load Balancer

45. Measure Your Application
…not just your servers!

46. Give Your Applications a Voice

47. Monitor Everything

48. Wow
Such thanks.