watchwander
A web platform inspired by IMDb, designed to help users discover, explore, and track their favorite movies, series, and anime. WatchWander features a modern, visually appealing interface that boosts user engagement. It offers a smooth browsing experience with interactive features like favorites, episode tracking, and user comments — all built on a scalable microservices architecture.
Date
2025
Role
Full Stack Developer & Project Lead
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The Solution
Developed a modular system with two Spring Boot microservices: one handling secure authentication with MySQL, and another managing user interactions like comments, favorites, and viewing progress using Firebase Firestore. The React-based frontend serves as a bridge between the services and communicates directly with the TMDB API to display rich multimedia content. This setup ensures flexibility, performance, and a clear user experience.
The Challenge
Building WatchWander required designing a scalable microservices architecture, separating authentication from user interactions like comments and favorites. Integrating Firebase for real-time features and syncing with the TMDB API added technical complexity. On the frontend, delivering a smooth React experience while ensuring clean component structure and responsiveness—especially on mobile—remained a key focus.