The Hitchhiker's Guide to Google Cloud: learnings from the Wie is de Mol? app

How we used Google Cloud for the Wie is the Mol? app to scale to millions of users

For years, Wie is de Mol? (Who is the Mole?) has been one of the most popular programs on Dutch television. Viewers can play along by betting points on suspicious candidates (aka the mole).

In 2023, Q42 was asked to replace the old apps and back-end. Main challenge: at peak times, one million players must be able to simultaneously view their points via the app, bet on the mole and see how other players in their group(s) are doing.

Together with the team from AVROTROS, Q42 set up the back-end completely on Google Cloud Platform with Bigtable as a scalable data source.

On Tuesday March 4, backend engineer Joost Naaijen will share insights on how this cloud-first approach with a scaling infrastructure and efficient code makes it possible to handle a very high load without having to fall back on caching.

After the talk, there is also ample opportunity to ask Joost and other members of the team questions.

Time schedule
17.30 Walk-in
18.00 Foody stuff
18.30 Talk
19.15 Q&A
19.30 Drinks

This free event takes place at Google Netherlands in Amsterdam (Claude Debussylaan 34, 15th floor, next to the reception). There is a maximum capacity of 50 seats at this meetup space. Bites and drinks are included.

This meetup is powered by Google Cloud Customer Community Netherlands.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to... is an initiative by developers of digital product studio Q42 and its ventures LessonUp, Hack The Planet and Micrio. Any topic you'd like to hear more about in the future, or something to share yourself? Let us know!