Avoiding the Strangler Fig Pattern

Newsletter from the Desk of Confluent Developer,

Today we're interviewing Wade Waldron, author of the Designing Event-Driven Microservices course! This course will help you know when to use patterns with fun names like "Strangler Fig" but will also boost your confidence in event-driven microservices.

What do you find to be the most interesting concept in the course?

The Dual-Write Problem had a surprising amount of engagement. That was something I wouldn't have expected when I created the content. It's clearly something that a lot of people are both interested in and potentially confused about.

What will learners build/know by the end?

Learners will get a strong grasp of some key patterns for building both Microservices, and Event-Driven systems.

What did you most enjoy about building it?

I think, the most enjoyable part of building it, was the engagement that came after. Interacting with users via the comments on YouTube was always interesting and rewarding.

What common stumbling blocks will students sidestep by taking the course?

My hope is that students will be able to jump into building Event-Driven Microservices with their eyes wide open. They'll be able to avoid common problems like the Dual-Write Problem. They'll be able to effectively isolate their changes using the Strangler Fig Pattern or Branch by Abstraction. And they will understand that effective microservice development requires them to embrace asynchronous events.

Data Streaming Resources:

• Testing Flink SQL windowed applications brings unique challenges... Bill Bejeck provides some examples in this blog post
• Afzal Mazhar explains the tricky bits of replication in Apache Kafka 
• Learn how to create a chatbot using Confluent, AWS Bedrock, OpenAI, GroqCloud and Qdrant

A Droplet From Stack Overflow:

Learn how to use Flink SQL hints in a Flink query on Confluent Cloud with this Stack Overflow answer.

Got your own favorite Stack Overflow answer related to Flink or Kafka? Send it in to devx_newsletter@confluent.io!

Terminal Tip of the Week:

In a multi-developer user environment, Confluent CLI provides a helpful command to list quota coverage for an organization:

Use the following CLI command to list the quota allotted as well as quota consumed:

confluent service-quota list organization --output "json"

The output shows allotted and consumed quota:

[
  {
    "quota_code": "byok.max_keys.per_org",
    "name": "Max BYOK keys per organization",
    "scope": "organization",
    "applied_limit": 100,
    "usage": "",
    "organization": "<YOUR_ORG_ID>",
    "environment": "",
    "kafka_cluster": "",
    "network": "",
    "user": ""
  },
 [...]
]

Priority Onboarding to Apache Kafka® & Apache Flink®

• Here's the deal: Stream into Confluent Cloud with an extra $50 on top of your $400 in initial credits. Use promo code NEWUSERPROMO50 by November 30th (new users only) to get started.
• Stuck? Book time with an engineer → 

Links From Around the Web:

• Enjoy a Jumblie game from Cassidy Williams 
• Andrew writes about getting his daily news from a dot matrix printer
• "deal with it" emoji generator

Upcoming Events:

In November, we will have in-person events in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, Cologne, Germany, and Zurich, Switzerland! View all the events using the link below:

Stay up to date with all Confluent-run meetup events - In order for meetups to appear in your personal calendar, copy the following link into your Personal calendar platform:

https://airtable.com/app8KVpxxlmhTbfcL/shrNiipDJkCa2GBW7/iCal

(Instructions for GCal, iCal, Outlook, etc)

By the way...

We hope you enjoyed our curated assortment of resources! If you'd like to provide feedback, suggest ideas for content you'd like to see, or you want to submit your own resource for consideration, email us at devx_newsletter@confluent.io!

If you'd like to view previous editions of the newsletter, visit our archive.

If you're viewing this newsletter online, know that we appreciate your readership and that you can get this newsletter delivered directly to your inbox by filling out the signup form on the left-hand side. 

P.S. If you want to learn more about Kafka, Flink, or Confluent Cloud, visit our developer site at Confluent Developer.