ARENA
A new backend had to respect decisions already made in the old one.
ARENA is a real-time sports picks platform. Existing picks and lineups depended on sports data, balances, grading rules and historical relationships that a backend rebuild needed to preserve.
Stefan Vuković — Lead Backend / Full-Stack Engineer
Consolidating the data was only part of the challenge.
The platform had evolved across multiple Django services and databases. Data and workflows were connected across that architecture, making changes and migration more difficult.
Stefan helped redesign the backend and led implementation of the refactor, including bringing data from five logical PostgreSQL databases into a unified system.
A record could not simply arrive in the new database. It needed to retain the identity, relationships and historical context that determined how the application used it.
Preserve the history needed to finish existing work.
The migration work included reconciling users and related records, preserving the sports-data versions associated with existing lineups, and reconstructing relationships such as copy-bet lineage and creator attribution.
Unresolved picks created before the transition still needed the information required for correct grading afterward.
That requirement shaped the data migration and the attention given to picks, grading, balances, payments and sports-data synchronization.
Connect architecture, processing and tests around critical behavior.
Stefan’s responsibilities included backend architecture, schema redesign, migration planning, implementation, debugging, automated testing and code review.
The work also covered background processing, messaging, caching, sports-data ingestion and real-time updates. Long-running tasks were moved out of synchronous web requests where appropriate.
Examine what your own migration must preserve.
For a replacement decision, the important question extends beyond which fields can be exported. It includes which relationships, historical states and business rules must remain usable.
Start by identifying the system and the work that cannot be lost.
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