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> we’ve built our backend as a collection of distributed microservices I hope I will never have to rely on a bank that uses this architecture. It seems they ar

by jwr 10y ago

> we’ve built our backend as a collection of distributed microservices I hope I will never have to rely on a bank that uses this architecture. It seems they are vastly underestimating the complexity of distributed systems and the range of their failure modes. It's all cool if you're building a web site, less so if it's about your money and being unable to pay at a gas station.

simonhorlick 10y ago
Having worked in the industry, most top tier investment banks run on microservices, some for over a decade. Just because microservices is the new buzzword doesn't mean it's suddenly a bad, or risky idea. I don't know about the backend state of modern retail banking, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't also the case.
- collyw 10y ago
  The one I used to work for was all heavyweight relational databases. Admittedly this was nearly ten years ago.
  - threeseed 10y ago
    Most enterprises/banks still have their Teradata or Oracle EDW at the heart of the company. It's just that rather than have a single monolithic app in front of it they have broken it up into a suite of smaller, independent services. And many of those services will have their own database which contains a transformed, optimised slice of the total EDW data.
- dx034 10y ago
  As far as I know that only applies to some front end system, but not for anything accounting related. Even modern trading and accounting software has a big relational database somewhere to ensure integrity of the inventory. Everything around that (trading models, development, research systems, reporting) can be microservices, but it will all rely on the core system.
threeseed 10y ago
I've worked for a number of top retail banks and they all used a distributed services orientated architecture. In fact most enterprises do. You seem to be implying that you know something that the very talented developers I worked with don't. Be curious to know what that is.

by jwr 10y ago

simonhorlick 10y ago

Having worked in the industry, most top tier investment banks run on microservices, some for over a decade. Just because microservices is the new buzzword doesn't mean it's suddenly a bad, or risky idea. I don't know about the backend state of modern retail banking, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't also the case.

collyw 10y ago
The one I used to work for was all heavyweight relational databases. Admittedly this was nearly ten years ago.
- threeseed 10y ago
  Most enterprises/banks still have their Teradata or Oracle EDW at the heart of the company. It's just that rather than have a single monolithic app in front of it they have broken it up into a suite of smaller, independent services. And many of those services will have their own database which contains a transformed, optimised slice of the total EDW data.
dx034 10y ago
As far as I know that only applies to some front end system, but not for anything accounting related. Even modern trading and accounting software has a big relational database somewhere to ensure integrity of the inventory. Everything around that (trading models, development, research systems, reporting) can be microservices, but it will all rely on the core system.

threeseed 10y ago

I've worked for a number of top retail banks and they all used a distributed services orientated architecture. In fact most enterprises do. You seem to be implying that you know something that the very talented developers I worked with don't. Be curious to know what that is.