Inside Tripadvisor’s real-time personalization with ScyllaDB and AWS

Felipe Cardeneti MendesDean Poulin18 minutes

What kind of traveler are you? Tripadvisor tries to assess this as soon as you engage with the site and offer you increasingly relevant information with every click—within a matter of milliseconds. This personalization is powered by advanced ML models acting on data that’s stored on ScyllaDB running on AWS. In this lightning talk, Dean Poulin, Tripadvisor Data Engineering Lead, provides a look at how they power this personalization and shares a taste of the technical challenges involved in delivering real-time personalization at Tripadvisor’s massive (and rapidly growing) scale. This presentation is brought to you by ScyllaDB, an AWS Partner.

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Dean Poulin, Data Engineering Team Lead, Tripadvisor

With over two decades of experience, Dean has led engineering efforts across a variety of domains, from front-end and backend development to technical management. Currently, as the Data Engineering Team Lead at Tripadvisor, he guides a talented team in building and scaling real-time personalization systems, leveraging microservices and cutting-edge architectures. Dean’s role focuses on driving efficiency, innovation, and delivering high-impact solutions for a global user base.

Prior to Tripadvisor, Dean gained valuable experience in fast-paced startup environments, including serving as Software Architect, CTO, and Chief Security Officer at MDconnectME, where he led the development of HIPAA-compliant web platforms using AWS infrastructure. At Orbius, he was one of the early employees, contributing to building the platform from the ground up, helping to shape both the technology and operations. Dean’s extensive experience across startups, product management, and scalable architectures uniquely positions him to solve complex technical challenges.

Dean has a passion for building highly scalable solutions and technology teams.

Dean holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Maine.

Felipe Cardeneti Mendes, Technical Director, ScyllaDB

Felipe Cardeneti Mendes is a Technical Director at ScyllaDB.