July 2021 Summaries

We instrumented our frontend test suite using Sentry's Performance Monitoring instrumentation, which is tree-like in structure with a transaction as the root node and spans as child nodes. We used Jest-circus to listen to events from Jest by defining a handleTestEvent method. The slowest tests were larger page views with many subcomponents, and we found that the beforeEach function was slowing down due to the store triggering change detection in components that should have been unmounted. We added a componentWillUnmount to the class component being tested and used Sentry's Performance Trends feature to confirm the performance impact of these changes. By making these changes, our test has its overall total time cut nearly in half, and we were able to identify the root cause of the slow test.

Operations Breakdown is a tool designed to help developers quickly identify and address performance issues in their services by analyzing transactions and operations within those transactions. It provides a visual representation of the time spent on each operation type, allowing developers to pinpoint slow or problematic operations that may be causing issues for customers. The tool uses colors to denote different types of operations, such as HTTP requests, database queries, and resource interactions, providing a clear picture of how much time is being spent on each operation. This allows developers to identify unusual distributions of operations that could indicate underlying problems, such as slow database queries or growing databases. By analyzing these patterns and trends, developers can make data-driven decisions to improve their service's performance and address potential issues before they become major problems.

At Sentry, the company culture is built around a combination of innovation, product quality, and loyalty, which has led to a high retention rate among employees in their Vienna office. The company values its developers' contributions and benefits from their participation in a culture of high performance. With an open-source tradition at its core, Sentry's platform provides valuable insights into software issues, built on projects started by developers in Vienna. The company's European hub in Vienna offers a unique blend of urban convenience, natural beauty, and geographic proximity to Silicon Valley, providing a desirable work-life balance for its employees. By joining Sentry as a developer, one can become part of a hidden champion mindset that values long-term relationships and enduring products.

Jamstack June: A Recap` Jamstack June has come to an end, but its highlights will be revisited before moving on. The Next.js SDK provides features such as error monitoring and automatic source map uploads for improved debugging capabilities. Collaboration with Netlify was also explored in building, deploying, and monitoring Next.js applications. Debugging JavaScript is a common challenge due to the language's complexity, and solutions are being discussed. Additionally, tracing performance issues from frontend to backend will be covered in future content. The community is invited to share their feedback through forums or Discord channels, while new users can try Sentry for free or get started by contacting [email protected].