In the world of software development, microservices architecture has gained immense popularity due to its ability to create scalable and maintainable systems. However, as with any framework or approach, there are lessons to be learned along the way. In this blog, we will explore some common pitfalls and valuable insights that can be gained from building microservices.

1. One of the first traps that many developers fall into when working with microservices is exposing the internal details of their services to other teams. This often occurs when one team needs to access another team's microservice in order to build a tool or feature. While it may seem like a shortcut to save time, it can lead to significant problems down the road.
   Allowing another team's microservice to directly access your microservice's database, for example, introduces a new contract that your service will have to adhere to. This can limit your ability to make changes to your database's schema, as you now have a hard-coupling between the two services. To avoid this issue, it is important to ensure that each microservice upholds one contract only: its API. By hiding as many internal details as possible, you maintain the flexibility to make changes to the components that are hidden from the outside. Invest early in the infrastructure required for service-to-service communication, such as service discovery and machine-to-machine tokens, to avoid these problems in the future.
2. Another common trap when working with microservices is the presence of chatty communication patterns between services. These can lead to performance issues and increased complexity in your system. For example, if you have two microservices that are constantly making requests to each other, it may be an indication that these services should be merged into one. This can help to simplify the architecture and reduce the risk of infinite request loops or cyclic dependency issues. To identify chatty microservices, utilize observability tools that provide visuals of intra-service communication in your ecosystem. By monitoring and analyzing the communication patterns, you can identify which services are communicating excessively and take steps to optimize their interactions. Additionally, it is important to minimize alerting noise and ensure that issues like cyclic dependencies are caught by automated monitoring alerts. By addressing these issues early on, you can maintain the stability and efficiency of your microservices architecture.
3. One of the core principles of microservices architecture is independent deployability. Each microservice should be able to be deployed at any time without requiring the deployment of other services. Unfortunately, deviating from this rule can lead to significant challenges.
   In some cases, teams may break their API contracts and make changes without considering backward compatibility. This can result in coordination challenges during deployment, as services need to be released in a strictly ordered sequence to minimize downtime. If a service experiences an issue and a hotfix is required, it may be necessary to revert all deployments, causing frustration and wasted time. To address this issue, it is crucial to maintain backward compatibility and not break API contracts. Integrate automated checks in the CI/CD pipeline to report and prohibit breaking changes. By adding this step, you can ensure that the stability of the ecosystem is not compromised and that teams can maintain their autonomy in deploying their microservices.
4. While having comprehensive test coverage is important, there comes a point where adding more tests may not provide significant value. This is particularly true in microservices projects, where the number of bugs that make it through to production may still increase despite strict testing measures. In these cases, testing in production can be a valuable strategy. This involves applying post-release techniques to address issues encountered in production, rather than trying to prevent them all pre-release. By increasing monitoring and utilizing feature flags, you can identify and address critical errors quickly.
   Feature flags allow you to gradually roll out new features and easily switch them off if issues arise. This mechanism can be leveraged not only for feature deployment, but also for error resolution. By utilizing feature flags and testing in production, you can improve the

Building microservices can be a rewarding experience, but it is important to be aware of the common pitfalls and lessons learned along the way. By ensuring that services hide their internal details, minimizing chatty communication patterns, maintaining independent deployability, and leveraging testing in production, you can successfully navigate the complexities of microservices architecture. Keep these lessons in mind as you embark on your own microservices projects to create scalable and robust systems.