Cookpad

I’ve worked as an iOS engineer at Cookpad Japan since 2017 on a variety of teams and products. Some projects have involved working on and improving existing codebases whilst others also included contributing to the product development cycle and ideating new services.

I’ll go through each one in order…

Cookpad Global

The Global application of Cookpad is one I started on with around 8 engineers. I initially focused on refactoring and adding test cases to existing code but then moved onto working on an early version of the app’s recipe editor.

The application is complex and has many diverse requirements, particularly around localisation. The app supports over 20 different languages including those rendered from right to left.

The majority of the team is based in the UK so cross-timezone communication also posed a challenge.

Overall, it was a challenging but rewarding project to work on. Here’s a short blogpost I wrote on “Rapid iOS UI Design and Prototyping With Swift Playgrounds”.

Working language: English

Cookpad TV

After Cookpad Global, I started a new project, Cookpad Studio with a small team of 3 other members. We, together, focused on creating a media-related project which might add to or replace some of our studio-related services in Cookpad.

We eventually landed on an application to allow users to record and edit recipe videos at home. I contributed to the ideation, design and product development aspects of the project whilst also working on the iOS codebase with another engineer.

Highlights included a complex timeline and caption editing UI, low-level camera settings control (white balance, contrast etc) and on-the-fly image processing with Core Image.

The project was to be released as a private beta but was put on hold. Currently, a work in progress version is available on the app store.

Additionally, I gave a presentation on the technology used in this project at the Cookpad Tech Kitchen meetup.

Working language: English

Cookpad iOS

I worked on a number of new projects and general refactoring, bugfixing and improvements on the main Cookpad iOS application. In particular, I contributed to the “Project Nara” renewal project where I was the sole developer on the new “Kiroku” feature which allows users to create a diary and type of scrapbook of their favourite recipe creations. I also took the opportunity to contribute towards improving the product/design/development workflow used.

I also renewed the popular “Tsukurepo” feature to enable support for uploading multiple images and videos. From a technical perspective, this involved some complex Core Animation work as I displayed these in a slideshow format utilising the Ken Burns effect.

I wrote more about the development of this feature for a blogpost entitled “Bridging the Gap Between Engineering and Design”. Please check it out.

Infrastructure consists of VIPER and RxSwift with a custom dependency injection layer.

Working language: Japanese

Cookpad Mart

In mid-2020, I moved onto the Cookpad Mart team to work on a small team of iOS engineers working on a new product to allow users to order and receive cooking ingredients. Users’ orders are delivered to refrigerators installed around Tokyo and the surrounding areas. I initially started by reworking the map-based system which allows users to select the location they want to receive their orders. I proposed UX improvements such as clustering for map pins and shortening the selection process.

Going forwards, I took the lead on some individual projects and continue to work on improving the architecture of the app, improving the user experience and general bugfixing and maintenance.

Working language: Japanese