Welp, here's a dissenting opinion - it's not. I've run self-managed, sorta managed (MSK), fully managed (Confluent Cloud), and somewhat managed (Strimzi). It

Welp, here's a dissenting opinion - it's not. I've run self-managed, sorta managed (MSK), fully managed (Confluent Cloud), and somewhat managed (Strimzi). It is complex, yes, but it solves a very complicated problem. The issue tends to arise when people use it when simpler alternatives exist for their problem.