Internship at Vespa

During their summer internship at Vespa, Mathias Chunnoo and Ole-Magnus Vian Norum explored the Vespa search engine and developed two main projects: a "search-as-you-type" application and a "search-suggestion" application. The "search-as-you-type" app dynamically displays search results as users type, using n-grams and Vespa's nativeRank for efficient searching, while the "search-suggestion" app offers potential search terms based on document texts and previous user queries, leveraging AWS Lambda for processing query logs. The interns faced challenges such as decompressing logs with zstd-compression and ensuring scalability, which they overcame by implementing efficient search methods and using tools like AWS and Docker. They also worked on side projects, including a visualization of memory usage in Vespa Console, gaining experience in software development practices, information retrieval, and various technologies. The internship provided valuable insights into the workings of a software company and enhanced their collaborative and technical skills, leaving them with a desire to further explore Vespa's capabilities.