I had my 4 years anniverary at ahrefs this past week and I wanted to take a moment to reflect (and share, in case anyone else finds it interesting).
Remote / ICFP / events
I have been working at ahrefs for the past three and a half years and it truly feels like I've found my dream job.
While the concept of a dream job seems idealistic and silly, for me, far from a perfect job, it's an environment where I can collaborate with intelligent, empathetic colleagues, tackle challenging and fascinating problems, and work with minimal ceremonies or meetings.
This is exactly what I want to share in this blog post, my experience working at ahrefs.
ahrefs (ahrefs.com) has carved out a niche as a leader in the software industry, gaining global acclaim as the best SEO tool available.
What sets ahrefs apart is our sophisticated crawler—a powerful robot that meticulously indexes extensive data from across the internet, rivaling the capabilities of tech giants like Google and Bing. Our SEO services are trusted by over 50,000 clients worldwide, including prestigious names such as Facebook, NIKE, Adobe, IBM, and Pinterest. Significantly, 44% of S&P 500 companies rely on ahrefs as their primary SEO tool, underscoring our impact and reputation in a competitive field. Despite a relatively small team, ahrefs continues to punch above its weight, driven by a focus on backend innovation and a commitment to excellence.
At ahrefs, our culture is heavily tech-focused, allowing us to remain responsive to changes (?). We embrace an asynchronous work style that prioritizes clarity and efficiency over endless meeting marathons.
This culture fosters a direct, no-nonsense approach that avoids unnecessary complications, enabling us to focus purely on problem-solving and innovation.
In my role, I've had the pleasure of overcoming various technical challenges. One primary responsibility has been maintaining ahrefs' design system, ensuring it is robust and scales seamlessly across multiple platforms. I've supported type-safe interpolation in styled-ppx, a project I'm particularly passionate about, which allows us to integrate styling more securely and efficiently in our codebases.
On the frontend, I've contributed to improving Server-Side Rendering (SSR) by creating server-reason-react, facilitating a shift that moves frontend code to the backend, which enhances performance and scalability. Additionally, I have worked on migrating all CSS to styled-ppx, creating styled-ppx.native for native CSS support, and driving the migration from BuckleScript to Melange, which includes maintaining reason-react.
Being part of the open-source community is integral to my role. A notable highlight was attending and presenting at conferences such as ICFP 22/23/24, React Alicante, and fun-ocaml. These gatherings not only drove technical discussions but also fostered connections with like-minded professionals.
None of this would have been possible without the incredible team at ahrefs. I want to acknowledge Rusty, Javi, and Antonio for their invaluable support and collaboration. Their expertise and camaraderie have been instrumental in driving our projects forward and making this journey unforgettable.
My time at ahrefs has been a journey filled with rich experiences and growth. It is truly a privilege to work in an environment that aligns with my vision, surrounded by a team dedicated to excellence and innovation. I look forward to many more years of solving exciting challenges and pioneering forward in technology.
Thanks for reaching the end. Let me know if you have any feedback, corrections or questions. Always happy to chat about any topic mentioned in this post, feel free to reach out.