Zalando is a fast-growing fashion and technology company with the vision to become the go-to platform for fashion. I joined Zalando to contribute to their ambitious plans and worked in a cross-functional team responsible for Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions and gateways that power the entire ecosystem. As the company was fully microservices oriented, I was able to write code for multiple purposes, with different architectures and languages.

One of the major challenges we faced was load balancing and API gateway management. As the company was expanding, we had to ensure that the requests were evenly distributed across the various services and APIs. Also, there was a need to have a centralized access management solution that was scalable and flexible enough to handle the rapid growth of the platform. We needed to develop a solution that could support multiple authentication protocols and ensure that the platform's security remained uncompromised.

To address these challenges, I led the development of a robust and scalable solution using Golang (based on skipper). We implemented a load-balancing solution that could handle the increased traffic and ensure that requests were evenly distributed. We also created a centralized API gateway to manage and secure the platform's various APIs. To enhance security, we implemented Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions to ensure that only authorized users could access the system. We worked closely with the cross-functional teams to ensure that the solution we developed aligned with the company's vision and could support its continued growth.

The solution we developed was a success, and it was instrumental in supporting the company's rapid growth. The centralized API gateway and IAM solution enabled us to manage and secure the entire platform's various APIs and services. The load-balancing solution we implemented helped distribute requests evenly across the various services, ensuring that the system could handle the increased traffic. As a result, Zalando could continue to deliver an outstanding user experience, and the company could focus on its core vision of becoming the go-to platform for fashion.