Fuzu
Fuzu
Job marketplace in Africa
Fuzu carries an important social mission: to help people embark on meaningful careers and help companies grow by attracting the right kind of talent.
The platform was initially launched in Kenya to simplify the talent search for local companies. In 2018, Fuzu turned to Syndicode for a redesign and new features. Our team upgraded the platform’s look and made it accessible on all devices. We also designed and implemented a learning feature and provided page customization based on user goals.
As a result, the company expanded its services to Uganda and reached 70,000 users in the first year after Fuzu’s relaunch.
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Categories:
Marketplace
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Technologies
Ruby on Rails, Ruby, ReactJS, JavaScript, Python, Postgresql, ElasticSearch, Rspec, Redis, Memcached, Sidekiq, HTML5, CSS3, SCSS, AWS, Kubernetes, GitHub, GitHub Actions
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Location
Finland, Helsinki
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Team
4 Full-stack Senior developers
2 UI/UX Designers
1 QA Tester
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Timeline
January 2018 – present
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Highlights
Lightning-fast development
The initial website consisted of legacy code and couldn’t keep up with the client’s growing business needs. Syndicode did a full refactoring and added B2B functionality in less than a year. Thanks to our efforts, the client fulfilled the obligations to their investors.
ML-powered search
There are over 1.5 million job seekers on Fuzu. Syndicode used the Elasticsearch technology to return search results immediately. The platform also uses machine learning to evaluate candidates’ skills and experience. This way, the employer can immediately assess the relevance of each submitted application.
Gentle transition
The sudden transition to a new software version often leads to bugs and drops in traffic. To avoid this, we kept the old website and gradually redirected visitors to a new platform.
Improved SEO
We implemented server-side rendering to increase the website’s load speed and optimized the pages. Fuzu’s average loading speed is currently less than 2 seconds. We also improved page layouts for better UX. Additionally, we created a linking strategy to improve the website’s crawling budget, advised on meta tag selection, and helped to choose efficient tools that would improve the website’s ranking in the SERP.
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Fuzu in media
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Services provided
Legacy code refactoring and new feature development
Syndicode’s specialists analyzed the original website. Beyond its outdated look, the platform’s code consisted of haphazard blocks. It was evident that different development teams had worked on the website throughout its lifetime.
There was a considerable amount of technical debt. For this reason, the pages took a long time to load, and the new functionality didn’t stick well. Given the client’s desire to scale, the website was in urgent need of a full rewrite.
Our engineers worked on Fuzu’s back end and front end, conducting a full code refactoring. They went feature by feature and organized the code while retaining the website’s functionality. The cleaned-up structure became more readable, easier to maintain, extensible, and facilitated fast program execution.
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In addition to refactoring, we had a list of new features to implement. Syndicode designed and developed many new features from scratch, including:
- Different website functionality for job seekers and employers
- Customizable user profiles
- ML-powered job search
- Career coach
- Individual course recommendations
- Interactive CV builder
- Personality tests and more
The tight deadline made the task rather challenging. To keep up with the demanding schedule, Syndicode’s engineers used a mix of refactoring methods. We also added new functionality to the freshly revised code module and tested it right away. This way, the development ran in parallel with the refactoring, and we managed to complete the task around 30% faster than we would have otherwise.
We chose a tech stack that would help us quickly create a stable solution with predictable behavior. React.js and Ruby on Rails are known for fast development. They also promote the creation of modular code that makes adding new blocks and features easy. And if the website becomes bloated, a skilled programmer can tune the code to avoid slow performance.
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Web design
For Fuzu’s design, we merged a trendy aesthetic with a familiar layout for an average African user. Syndicode’s designers studied the project’s history and researched the market before creating Fuzu’s new look. They used the best practices to build an intuitive interface that would leave a positive impression.
The initial platform mainly addressed customers and had a limited B2B functionality. Syndicode reinvented the B2B part’s look and improved the user flow. The new Fuzu also enables employers to create branded pages and integrate them with their core websites. The platform serves as an HR tool with which human resources specialists can manage their hiring activities.
The resulting job search website has a complex structure and is highly interactive. To make this possible, Syndicode developed an entirely new UI/UX approach for web and mobile platform versions.
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While creating a job marketplace for talented specialists in Africa, we found a great software development partner with talented and dedicated engineers in Ukraine. Syndicode engineers strengthened Fuzu’s team and made it possible for the service to scale and work smoothly for half a million job seekers and employers. We appreciate their professional work and hope to collaborate with Syndicode again!
Result
We relaunched Fuzu from scratch one year after the original project started. From legacy code, we created a high-performing optimized platform that the client can easily maintain on their own. We continue to work on the platform, improving and expanding its functionality. Among the major updates, the platform started using AI on top of the ML that we built.
Since its relaunch, Fuzu has raised a total of $6.7M in funding. The platform helps to fill employee skill gaps and provides access to the hidden job market across Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya. As of today, Fuzu has over 1.3 million active users. Among them, there are 1,000+ companies that receive more than 5,000 applications daily.
