Interested in working in Software Development at Vivid Seats? Hear from Varun Devulapalli about how his career progressed to a Senior Software Engineer and the cool projects he gets to work on.
1. Tell us about a project you’re working on right now. What about this project do you find most rewarding or challenging?
I am currently working on a brand-new project to revamp the checkout experience that we host for our partners. It’s very exciting because we are working on a solution that affects all aspects of the stack that is going to impact our users at scale.
As an engineer, I interact with all aspects of this project, including the architecture and the solution design. I also code in a full stack environment, working on the front end in React, backend services which are coded in Java & Python, all while enhancing our CI/CD pipelines using AWS resources and Kubernetes. From a non-technical standpoint, I am involved in discussions with our business partners to understand their requirements and help troubleshoot operational issues that may arise. This allows me to work within various phases of the release management process from ideation to release, all while helping improve customer satisfaction while driving key business metrics such as higher conversion rates.
2. What are some key technologies you’re using in your current work and does Vivid Seats look at integrating new technologies?
We work with the latest tech stacks & technologies within our team. Here are a few of the tools and technologies we use:
- Our backend services are powered by Java using the spring framework and using FastAPI with Python. We also use Node.js for some of our services as well
- Our front end is implemented in technologies like Vue and React
- Our databases are mainly powered by MySQL
- Our infrastructure is powered by AWS services to drive our Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment pipelines
A great thing about working at Vivid Seats is that you can have a large influence and impact in your job! For example, any team member can propose a new technology or solution for the team to review. If the technology or idea fits the use case we are looking at, there is a high chance that it will be implemented. This is something that I love about Vivid Seats; we are flexible enough to adopt new technologies and the best ideas rise to the top.
3. What steps did you take to launch your career as a software developer and most recently as a Senior Engineer at Vivid Seats?
A fun fact is that this is my second job out of college! I immigrated from India in 2010 to pursue a Master of Information Security at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Go Jackets!). In 2012, post-graduation, I started working in Chicago at an Information Services company for 7 years as a Software Engineer. I then joined Vivid Seats in April of 2019 and have been here ever since.
At Vivid Seats I have had the opportunity to work on innovative projects with very talented team members who have helped me to develop my skills in designing and architecting large systems. I even had the chance to pair with the CTO! Our CTO hosts “office hours” which I have found to be extremely helpful to me as I have explored new growth areas within Vivid Seats. I have also been fortunate enough to be involved in some great projects during my time here, including revamping our search engine, designing and building out a new inventory ingestion pipeline, and setting up our integrations with multiple partners.
We also have an “Engineering Architecture Group” made up of the Principal Engineers within the company where any software engineer can share their proposed designs to receive feedback on design patterns and approaches to use, which I have found invaluable to my growth as an Engineer.
The opportunities to learn and grow at Vivid Seats have allowed me to advance my career in so many new ways. As a result of gaining and applying this new knowledge, I was promoted to Sr. Software Engineer. While I know there is always more to learn as the tech space evolves, one aspect of my job I’ve really been enjoying is playing the role of mentor — passing on what experiences I can to other team members.
If you are in the technology space and want to work on cool projects that make a difference while having a huge impact, I would encourage you to check out and apply to Vivid Seats!
