Meet the a-team: Bryan C. Frontend Engineer

I have been with Ahrefs for over six years and what keeps me here is the combination of cutting-edge technology, a collaborative work environment and the ability to balance my professional and personal life seamlessly. Having a strong support system at work allows me to be present for my family whilst also being deeply engaged in projects that excite me.

What “frontend” means at Ahrefs

As a frontend developer at Ahrefs, each day is slightly different from the last. The term “frontend” itself is a rather loose term within the company, as my teammates work on products such as Ahrefs and Yep, libraries, both internal and open source and even tooling, for example Melange. Working on a product can also entail creating the API for it, or fiddling with the build system. So “frontend” development doesn’t just mean user interface development. 

Although we are a product company, working on products is not the only activity that fills my day. One of the highlights of working at Ahrefs is the opportunity to contribute to open-source projects.

It’s fulfilling to see my work being used and appreciated by the wider developer community. Another aspect I enjoy about my role is the freedom to try new things, which keeps the work exciting and ensures that we are always at the forefront of innovation.

Having been a developer in various roles for more than 20 years, my role in Ahrefs is, by far, the most enjoyable of them all. Every day is a new day where I get to solve interesting problems, or make improvements that have a positive impact on thousands of users. And as a father of four young children, the flexible work culture is especially appreciated, as household issues can frequently materialise out of nowhere.

9am–12pm: Urgent queries, reviewing PRs (and a morning run)

My day usually begins by sending my kids to school and going for a morning run, before heading to the office.

The first thing I do is to check if there are any urgent queries or issues that customer success had escalated which my colleagues in Europe and the US had not picked up. For example, our tooling team does the occasional, major revamp of common UI components as part of our effort to keep our tech stack up-to-date. This involves refactoring many existing components, and some usability bugs only surface several hours after it is released into production, as they only occur under very specific circumstances. By this time, they are winding down for the day, as the Singapore office takes over support duties.

After I’ve addressed any immediate concerns, I review my task list for the day. I prefer to start by reviewing the PRs that I am tagged on, before starting on my own backlog. My work often involves deep-diving into existing code to investigate and fix tricky problems, implementing new features, and picking up small tasks that can help unblock my colleagues. At the moment, I’m working on new features for Site Explorer and Batch Analysis. I have previously worked on Content Explorer, Web Explorer, and Competitive Analysis, among others.

12pm—1pm:  Lunch

Around midday, I take a break for lunch, often with colleagues. This is a great time to discuss new ideas or simply relax and recharge. Some of my colleagues in the Singapore office are real foodies, so lunchtime is also a good opportunity to try new eateries with them! My current favourite restaurant is Din Tai Fung. I’m sure I’m not alone, as our team Slack has been programmed to automatically respond to anyone mentioning the restaurant.

1pm—5pm: Deep work, prioritisation, brainstorming

Towards the end of the day, I revisit any issues that might have cropped up during the day and ensure that my tasks are on track. I also prepare for the next day by organising my priorities and jotting down any ideas or issues I want to tackle. Today, I was happy that I had managed to complete the happy-flow path for the new Batch Analysis. Tomorrow, I hope to improve this further by handling the exception cases and adding enhancements, like when users enter more URLs than their account allows for, or automatically suggesting the target mode based on a user-entered URL.

Being a frontend developer at Ahrefs is a dynamic and rewarding experience. Every day brings new challenges and opportunities to grow both professionally and personally. The supportive and flexible work culture allows me to balance my career and family life, making it one of the most satisfying roles in my career.

My team and others at Ahrefs are hiring, take a look at our open roles.