DoorDash Engineering Blog

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Backend Improving Scalability, Reliability, and Efficiency of a Python Service with Gevent

When trying to scale a distributed system a common obstacle is not that there aren’t enough resources available, it’s that they are not being used efficiently. At DoorDash we found a similar opportunity when working to scale our point-of-sale system (POS). We were experiencing outages because our POS system could not scale to meet peak ...

Simone Restelli

9 Minute Read

General

“Bee boo bee boop”: Testing Robot Deliveries on DoorDash

All types of Dashers use DoorDash on a daily basis to complete deliveries. Some people drive cars, while others use bikes, motorcycles, scooters, or even walk. Each form of transportation has its own unique set of skills. Scooters can go through traffic easier, but are limited in the size of food they can carry. Bikers ...

Why We Use KIF-Quick for User Interface Tests

At DoorDash our engineering teams are constantly building out new code to improve our user interface (UI) on iOS. Recently, we developed our own unique testing system that combines a framework called Keep it Functional with Quick, a behavior-driven development framework. We have seen that our KIF-Quick system provides the very best testing results and are proud ...

How To Get from Salad to Sushi in 3 Moves

At DoorDash, we want to make it as easy as possible for people to discover and order from great restaurants in their neighborhoods. As part of that goal, one fascinating problem we’re tackling is how to create a personalized experience for each user on the DoorDash platform by surfacing recommendations for restaurants and other merchants ...

Launching the DoorDash Platform with DoorDash Drive

From the very start, DoorDash was founded with the goal of being the local logistics layer for every city. To get there, we began by building a consumer-facing marketplace focused on possibly the most complicated item to deliver correctly: food. Over the past three years we’ve been learning from millions of deliveries, training our data models, ...

My Delightful Summer Interning at DoorDash HQ

This summer I was ecstatic to work as a software engineer intern at DoorDash. It was an incredible, intense summer — I learned a remarkable amount about software engineering that no textbook could have taught me. I also discovered the work culture that I work best in, what makes technology startups like DoorDash thrive, and what it’s ...

Group Ordering Just Became Easier with New iMessage Integration

Earlier this year, at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, we demoed a way for DoorDash customers to place group orders directly from the new iMessage app. After polishing up the feature for the past few months and seeing the successful roll out of the new iMessage for iOS10, we’re excited that DoorDash for iMessage is now available with ...

Data at DoorDash: Transparent, Ubiquitous, and Still Just Getting Started

(Cross-posted from Job Portraits, a site that highlights fast-growing startup teams. For the interview below, Job Portraits spoke with Hendra, DevOps/Data Infrastructure Manager; Rohan, Engineering Manager; Preston, Data Scientist & M.L. Engineer; and Jessica, Head of BizOps/Analytics.) DoorDash tracks hundreds of variables to make sure a customer’s food arrives on-time and fresh, but the impact of data ...

Inside DoorDash Hackathon VI: Hack to the Future

Last week, DoorDash held our Fall 2016 hackathon: Hack to the Future. Like previous hackathons, we asked our engineering, design, IT, and business operations teams to think beyond quarterly roadmaps and build what they envision DoorDash to be years down the line. The hackathon kicked off with an icebreaker to help people meet other like-minded hackers outside ...

DoorDash at #WWDC2016

Today at the World Wide Developer’s Conference, Apple revealed some of the newest features of their upcoming iOS 10 platform. One of their most exciting features is for app developers to be able to integrate with iMessage. We are currently working on supporting this new functionality in the DoorDash iOS app, and during the keynote today ...

DoorDash Hackathon V: A Recap

Back in DoorDash’s earliest days, when the only employees were our three co-founders, the entire platform could be considered a “hack”: it featured a static website with a phone number where customers would call in to place orders. This skeleton team had few tools at their disposal beyond pen, paper, and elbow grease. Since then, we’ve ...

How DoorDash Engineers Are Building The Future of Logistics

(Cross-posted from Job Portraits, a site that highlights fast-growing startup teams. For the interview below, Job Portraits spoke with software engineers Kate Liu, Aju Scaria, and Abdul Nimeri, iOS Engineer Jeff Cosgriff, and CTO and Cofounder Andy Fang.) Let’s start simple: What is DoorDash? Jeff: At its core, DoorDash is a technology company. We are working to ...

Food Delivery by Drone: Literally a Pie in the Sky Idea

A few weeks back, we held our second formal hackathon, where DoorDash engineers tackled projects like a tool to improve customer service communication, a lightweight recommendation engine, and an employee name game. Oh, and we also crashed some drones. As a technology company focused on delivery, we’ve always been fascinated with different ways to get ...