Let me tell you something.
Every beginner learns how to build apps like this:
One backend
One database
Everything connected
Everything… tightly packed
Feels nice. Simple. Clean.
Until one day…
everything breaks.
The Day Your App Betrays You
Imagine this.
You built a cool app:
- login system
- payment system
- notifications
- search
- user profiles
All inside one backend.
Life is good.
Then suddenly:
- Payment API slows down
- Entire app becomes slow
- One small bug → whole server crashes
- You try to fix one thing → 10 things break
Welcome to the monolith nightmare.
This is exactly why companies moved away from it.
Because in monoliths:
“one failure can bring the entire system down”
So What Did Smart Engineers Do?
They said:
“Why are we building ONE giant system…
when we can build MANY small ones?”
Boom.
Microservices were born.
What Even Is a Microservice?
Simple.
Instead of this:
One giant backend doing EVERYTHING
You now have:
Auth Service
Payment Service
Notification Service
Search Service
Each one:
- runs independently
- deploys independently
- breaks independently 😌
Technically speaking:
Microservices are “small, independent services that communicate with each other”
But forget the definition.
Think of it like a team.
Think Like a Startup
Imagine a startup.
You don’t hire:
- one guy who does everything
You hire:
- backend dev
- frontend dev
- designer
- marketer
Each person:
- does one job
- does it well
- works with others
That’s microservices.
Now Let’s Get Real (Production Level Stuff)
This is where most tutorials lie to you.
They show:
“Create 3 services, connect with REST API, done.”
That’s NOT production.
Real world looks like chaos.
Example: Amazon (Real System)
When you click “Buy Now”:
Behind the scenes:
- Product Service → checks item
- Inventory Service → checks stock
- Payment Service → processes money
- Order Service → creates order
- Notification Service → sends email
All of these are **different services talking to each other.
And guess what?
If notification fails…
Your order STILL goes through.
The Hidden Truth Nobody Tells You
Microservices are NOT easier.
They are:
- harder to build
- harder to debug
- harder to manage
Because now you’re dealing with:
- network calls (not function calls)
- latency
- failures between services
- distributed systems
Even the docs admit:
Microservices introduce “additional complexity… like latency and fault tolerance”
So Why Do Big Companies Still Use It?
Because at scale…
Monolith = death ☠️
Microservices = survival 🚀
Companies like:
- Netflix
- Uber
- Amazon
use microservices because:
- they can scale parts independently
- deploy features faster
- avoid full system crashes
What Actually Happens in Production
Let’s simplify a real production flow:
User → API Gateway → Services → Database
But inside?
It’s more like:
User
↓
Load Balancer
↓
API Gateway
↓
Auth Service → Token
↓
Order Service → calls Inventory Service
↓
Payment Service
↓
Event Queue (Kafka)
↓
Notification Service
Yeah…
It’s not pretty.
But it’s powerful.
The One Concept That Will Make You Dangerous
If you understand just this, you’re ahead of 90% devs:
Each microservice owns ONE business responsibility.
Not “user service does everything”.
No.
- Auth handles login only
- Payment handles money only
- Inventory handles stock only
This is called:
👉 Single Responsibility at system level
Should YOU Use Microservices?
Let’s be honest.
If you are:
- building a college project
- small startup
- solo dev
👉 Don’t.
Start with monolith.
Microservices are for when:
- system grows
- team grows
- traffic grows
Final Thoughts :
Microservices are not about code.
They are about how you think about systems.
From:
“Let me build this feature”
To:
“How will this behave when 1 million users hit it?”
That shift…
That’s what separates:
developers → engineers
