Common Mistakes When Building Microservices and Lessons Learned

In the era of ubiquitous microservice discussions, the author reflects on the backlash and diverse opinions that arise when writing about microservice architecture, emphasizing that many teams adopt microservices without truly needing them.

The piece then outlines three major mistakes observed from the author's own early attempts at microservices:

1. Over‑customized construction – Communication between services becomes cumbersome, especially when transactions are split across services. The author describes using an orchestrated saga pattern with Redis streams and Go to handle multi‑service transactions, later realizing that a monolithic approach would have been simpler for the given use case.

2. Complexity out of control – Teams often pursue microservice solutions beyond their project timelines and skill levels, leading to unnecessary overhead. The author advises setting clear complexity limits and aligning project deadlines to prevent needless experimentation.

3. Overly loose definitions – Without a precise problem definition, teams waste time building distributed solutions that do not match the actual needs. The author stresses the importance of clearly identifying the problem a distributed architecture should solve before committing to microservices.

Overall, the article serves as a cautionary tale, urging developers and architects to evaluate the necessity of microservices, define problems accurately, and avoid over‑engineering to save time, effort, and resources.