When it comes to designing and building software applications, there are several different architectural approaches that developers can take. Two of the most popular and widely used approaches are monolithic and microservices architecture.
In this blog, we will explore the differences between monolith and microservices, as well as their respective pros and cons, to help you make an informed decision about which architecture is right for your next project.
What is Monolithic Architecture?
A monolithic architecture is a traditional approach to software development in which all components of an application are combined into a single, tightly integrated unit.
In a monolithic architecture, the application is deployed as a single, large codebase that contains all the functionality, data access, and presentation layers required to run the application.
This architecture is simple, easy to understand, and can be developed and deployed quickly, making it a popular choice for many projects.
What are Microservices?
Microservices is an architectural approach that breaks down a complex application into a collection of small, loosely coupled services that communicate with each other over APIs.
Each microservice is responsible for a specific function, such as user authentication or data storage, and is deployed independently of the other services.
This allows teams to work on each service in parallel, making the development process faster and more efficient.
Pros and Cons of Monolithic Architecture
Pros of Monolithic Architecture:
Simple to understand and develop: Monolithic architecture is simple and straightforward, making it easier for developers to understand the application and its components.
Easy to deploy: Deploying a monolithic application is a straightforward process because all components are combined into a single codebase.
Easy to test: Testing a monolithic application is easier because all components are integrated into a single unit, making it possible to run a single test suite to verify the functionality of the entire application.
Cons of Monolithic Architecture:
Scalability challenges: Monolithic applications can become slow and unresponsive as they grow in size, making it difficult to scale the application to meet growing demands.
Limited modularity: Monolithic applications are tightly integrated, making it difficult to add new features or make changes to existing features without affecting the entire application.
Lack of agility: Monolithic applications are typically built with a single codebase, making it difficult for teams to work on different components in parallel, leading to slow development times.
Pros and Cons of Microservices Architecture
Pros of Microservices Architecture:
Scalability: Microservices architecture allows for the independent scaling of individual services, making it easier to handle growing demands and increasing traffic.
Modularity: Each microservice can be developed and deployed independently, making it easier to add new features or make changes to existing features without affecting the entire application.
Agility: The ability to work on each microservice in parallel makes the development process faster and more efficient.
Resilience: Microservices architecture can provide better resilience and fault tolerance, as failures in one service do not affect the entire application.
Cons of Microservices Architecture:
Complexity: Microservices architecture is more complex than monolithic architecture, making it harder for developers to understand the application and its components.
Increased operational overhead: Managing a large number of microservices can be challenging and can increase operational overhead, such as deploying, monitoring, and testing individual services.
Inter-service communication: Communication between microservices can introduce latency and reliability issues, leading to performance degradation and difficulty in debugging.
Conclusion – Monolith vs Microservices
In conclusion, both monolithic and microservices architecture have their pros and cons, and the choice of architecture will depend on the specific requirements and goals of your project.
If you’re building a small, simple application with limited scalability requirements, monolithic architecture may be the best choice. It’s straightforward, easy to understand, and can be deployed quickly.
On the other hand, if you’re building a complex, high-scale application, microservices architecture may be a better choice. This approach provides better scalability, modularity, and agility, but comes with increased complexity and operational overhead.
In either case, it’s important to understand the trade-offs and carefully consider your specific needs before making a decision. It may also be helpful to consider using a hybrid approach that combines elements of both monolithic and microservices architecture to get the best of both worlds.
Regardless of which architecture you choose, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your goals, requirements, and constraints, and to choose the architecture that best supports your needs. With the right approach, you can build a software application that is scalable, maintainable and delivers the desired business outcomes.
What is Aquarela Advanced Analytics?
Aquarela Analytics is Brazilian pioneering company and reference in the application of Artificial Intelligence in industry and large companies. With the Vortx platform and DCIM methodology, it serves important global customers such as Embraer (aerospace & defence), Scania and Randon Group (automotive), Solar Br Coca-Cola (beverages), Hospital das Clínicas (healthcare), NTS-Brasil (oil & gas), Votorantim Energia (energy), among others.
The desire to become a self-taught programmer or developer is at an all-time high right now and the pandemic is partially to blame for the rapid growth of this profession. During the pandemic, a lot of physical jobs were lost, but the Tech industry experienced an immense amount of growth in revenue and job opportunities, and these opportunities started to attract unemployed people or just ordinary people looking to get a slice from the industry.
The Tech industry comes with really good if not one of the best working conditions and benefits ever. The most famous one being the benefit of working from home or what is also known as the “Home office”.
With all these shiny benefits, people started looking for easier ways to join the tech industry, basically, without going through the hassle of paying for universities and/or colleges and having to study for years and years and this resulted in the explosion in the number of self-taught programmers.
What does it mean to be a Self-Taught programmer?
When you go to a University or college, you have a fixed curriculum or a ‘roadmap’ that shows you exactly what to study, in which order, and how to go about doing it. However, when you take the self-taught path, things are extremely different, because you are choosing the roadmap yourself, maybe with the help of some friends or family members, or maybe even a quick search on Reddit or youtube, but the whole idea is that you are in charge of putting together your plan of action, which may not always be the best of plans, however when that plan succeeds you can gladly call yourself a “Self-taught” programmer.
The challenges
Although it seems easy to many, being self-taught is arduous because you are constantly in battle with your doubts, with exhausting unpredictability and uncertainty. It takes time, patience, continuous learning, doing extensive research, building projects, and a lot of failing to become a self-taught programmer, but during this whole process, you are creating or building what is referred to as a “coding muscle”.
I remember back in early 2019 when I decided to embark on the programming journey, full of excitement and cheer, ready to change the world with code, but little did I know of what was in store for me. The process was very daunting, I was doubting myself almost every day during those early stages, I would find myself asking questions like who am I to do this? I am over 30 already and without any college or university degree, so where exactly do I fit in this vast world of programming, which programming language should I learn, do I want to learn back-end or front-end? and the list went on. I am pretty sure if you are a self-taught programmer, then some of those questions might be familiar because those are just some of the stages most self-taught programmers go through.
Why you should hire self-taught programmer
Well, self-taught programmers may not have the necessary diplomas or degrees in the programming field, but I can assure you that they can outwork, outthink and outmaneuver many varsity or college graduates.
They have vigor, passion, and a huge inner drive to achieve
For starters, if you are teaching yourself to code, you should either really love it or you must really want it with your whole being because it takes time, a huge amount of patience, dedication, a lot of guts, and just an immense work ethic. Most self-taught programmers possess all of these traits and much more.
They have support and know where to get information.
Although it might seem like a lonely journey for many, self-taught programmers actually often form part of a community, where they share their problem-solving skills and ideas with each other, and this can be an advantage for the employer because he is not only hiring one programmer but that programmer comes with a whole community of developers who possess various forms expertise in different fields or technologies, that the programmer can always tap into.
Always ready to go
All new employees need to go through the onboarding and training phases respectively because it is a vital experience for the employee, but it also gets expensive the more it drags on. Being self-taught mostly but not often means that you have a decent amount of real-world experience, which you picked up along your learning journey, be it in collaborative projects or freelancing gigs. So with that experience, the developer will most likely be ready to start coding in less time and with minimal training – Often saving the company time and money.
When all fails, they always have plan C, D, E, and more if need be
Self-taught developers are skilled problem solvers, every great developer has an extensive history of solving problems. Universities give programmers a solid base in theory, but theory goes out of the window when you encounter real-life coding problems or challenges.
A fundamental part of self-teaching is knowing how to untangle yourself when you are stuck in a situation, identifying problems, solving them, and learning from the process.
I hope this text doesn’t sound one-sided or maybe in favor of the self-taught programmer as opposed to the traditional varsity or college-educated programmer, but take it with a grain of salt. Studies have shown that happy employees are up to 13% more productive (according to the University of Oxford) and self-taught developers are passionate about what they do, so there is no doubt that this is an advantage for the company. With all that said, I think we can all agree that the self-taught programmer is here to stay! 🎓
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What is Aquarela Advanced Analytics?
Aquarela Analytics is Brazilian pioneering company and reference in the application of Artificial Intelligence in industry and large companies. With the Vortx platform and DCIM methodology, it serves important global customers such as Embraer (aerospace & defence), Scania and Randon Group (automotive), Solar Br Coca-Cola (beverages), Hospital das Clínicas (healthcare), NTS-Brasil (oil & gas), Votorantim Energia (energy), among others.
