This year’s Mobile DevOps Summit theme is ‘Accelerating your Mobile App Success’ so we sat down with Gema Socorro Rodriguez, Senior Android Engineer at Cabify, to talk about all things mobile.
Cabify, founded in 2011 in Madrid, spread to Latin America within a few months and is currently present in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Today they have over 1,000 direct employees and they create self-employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of driver partners, supporting local talent in all their markets (Cabify, 2023).
Gema’s 25 minute session: ‘Proactive Bug Management: Leveraging App Observability’ will see her speak about all things bugs and how to proactively prepare for their inevitable existence on day one of the Summit: October 4th at 1.30pm GMT. Register now to hear her speak: https://summit.bitrise.io/page/2783515/register
15 quick interview questions with Gema Socorro Rodriguez, Senior Android Engineer at Cabify
1. No. of apps Cabify develop
Cabify has two apps - one for drivers and another for passengers.
2. No. of monthly downloads of Cabify apps
The Cabify (passenger) app has a total of 6M+ downloads and averages 30,000 downloads a month whilst the Cabify (driver) app averages 7,000 downloads a month.
3. What review score do you get on App Store and Google Play Store
The Cabify app scores a 4.2 on both stores.
4. What does app success look like at Cabify?
Cabify has two main apps: one for passengers and one for drivers, so app success looks a little different for each one. Success for their passenger app is “providing passengers with a safe to use experience. They pay using our app, they travel using our app, so we have to provide them with options to feel safe and be safe”. Transparency therefore is key to the passengers experience and their experience with the Cabify app.
Success for their driver app looks a little different. Transparency comes in terms of their compensation and providing drivers with metrics on how they did for each ride they provided. What they have in common? They want to create an intuitive experience for all their users. App Store and Google Play Store reviews are important.
5. How many people work in your DevOps team? (And more specifically, your Mobile DevOps team)
Cabify has a total of 30 mobile developers dedicated to their two apps.
6. What is the title of your Mobile DevOps Summit 2023 session?
Session title: Proactive Bug Management: Leveraging App Observability
Session date: October 4th 2023 at 1.30pm GMT
Session hosts: Gema Socorro Rodriguez
Session description: As developers, we strive for stable, high-quality code, but as humans, sometimes things go awry. Minimizing user impact is crucial when issues arise, and the key lies in early detection. In this talk, explore our innovative solution inspired by backend observability systems, utilizing Prometheus and Grafana for efficient bug management.
We'll discuss our decision-making process, implementation, and the remarkable results achieved so far. Join us as we delve into proactive strategies for catching bugs and delivering an exceptional user experience.
3 key takeaways from this session:
1. Observability: what is it and why it is important (based on our case)
2. Our implementation using real time observability using backend tools
3. Our learnings from our implementation and future improvements
7. Without giving too much away, what tips and trends do you plan to talk about in your session?
“I will start by saying that as developers, we try to deliver apps that are bug free, but that's impossible. No matter how much you put in, bugs are going to happen.” Gema Socorro Rodriguez, Senior Android Engineer at Cabify
Gema’s session at the Summit will focus on what mobile DevOps teams can do to prepare for bugs before they reach a lot of users and show you the solutions that exist to assist with this.
8. How long have you been using Bitrise to develop your mobile apps?
Cabify switched from Buddybuild to Bitrise in 2019 - they have been using Bitrise for 3 years.
9. How has the Bitrise platform helped you accelerate your app's success?
“Bitrise has improved [our apps] performance and provided a reliable environment for delivering releases. We used previous platforms before, like Jenkins and Buddybuild, which were complicated and hard to maintain. Since we’ve moved to Bitrise, our build times have improved and random errors are now very rare. [Bitrise] provided us with the tools to make our lives easier as developers. Everything is in one place and they always have the latest iOS/Xcode/Mac OS versions and we can test with the new Apple environments before we decide to move forward because Bitrise always has their server updated with the latest versions, even Beta versions. With Bitrise, I can see and configure all pipeline stages in the one place.”, Gema Socorro Rodriguez, Senior Android Engineer at Cabify
10. How long have you been in the mobile app development industry?
Gema has been working in the mobile app development industry for 14+ years. She has worked with Java, iOS and other technologies before specializing in Android.
11. What was your previous role before working at Cabify?
Gema has a breadth of experience in multiple mobile tech industries from travel & leisure to start-up social networks before coming to Cabify as their Senior Android Engineer in 2019.
12. Are there any mobile DevOps websites or resources that you regularly visit to keep up to date with industry trends
Receiving the Kotlin and Android weekly newsletters are Gema’s regular source of inspiration for all things mobile as well as the strong Mobile DevOps community on X/Twitter.
13. How important do you think it is to have a mobile-first strategy?
“Extremely important. Everyone has a mobile phone but not everyone has a computer. Everyone wants to have the things they need at that moment, immediately, so they’re going to take their mobile phone out and search - it’s accessible.”, Gema Socorro Rodriguez, Senior Android Engineer at Cabify
14. We know you’re speaking at the Summit but what sessions are you looking forward to attending?
Here are the sessions Gema is most looking forward to attending:
Hacking & Securing Android Applications. With Daniel Llewellyn, Acting Director of Technology at xDesign | October 4th at 1.30pm GMT
From hundred (86) to zero (7). How we publish 67 Android apps in under 7 minutes. With Stefan. M, Android Developer at ioki | October 4th at 4.30pm GMT
Check our the full list of speakers in the Summit agenda: https://summit.bitrise.io/agenda
15. When you’re not developing kick-ass apps, what do you like to do in your free time?
When Gema isn’t helping release Cabify’s Android apps, she’s playing the Cello - a hobby she took up three years ago.
Don’t forget to check out the full session with Gema, October 4th at 1.30pm GMT: https://summit.bitrise.io/agenda/session/1203936
Haven’t already registered for the Mobile DevOps Summit 2023? Register now: https://summit.bitrise.io/page/2783515/register
