This video had me nonstop giggling! It's supposed to be a parody, but it mimics stories from my own professional work so well that it's hard to believe it's only a skit:
My favorite microservices from the video were those with an uncanny resemblance to some of the microservices that I've had to work with in the past. For example:
1) EKS, the Entropy Kaos Service
Why, oh why, did they have to use the acronym EKS? Amazon Web Services (AWS) already has a very popular service called Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), so using the same acronym for an internal microservice is incredibly confusing! Even the proper spelling of "kaos" as "chaos" would have been problematic, because AWS already has an Elastic Container Service (ECS) too. Ridiculous.
But surely this is just a joke? Maybe, but I know a software company that had a microservice called VPN, whose function was completely different from that of their virtual private network (VPN), which all employees were required to use to access the company's internal resources. And I'm sure they're not the only ones.
2) Bingo, the service that knows everyone's name-o
A service named after a song? Let me tell you about a startup with a microservice named "Call Me Maybe" after the Carly Rae Jepsen song...
At least the name reflected its function. The microservice was responsible for making phone calls. Maybe.
3) Raccoon, the themed service
I've seen too many companies decide to use a shared, but irrelevant, theme when naming all their services. Sometimes, the theme is Olympian gods. Other times, it's species of cat. Or maybe, it's just kinds of cheese. But why?!
Because it's fun. Or because it ensures job security for veteran engineers. Or because employees know they won't be around long enough to be responsible for maintaining a million services with bewildering names. Or maybe none of the above. Who really knows?
But no matter what, naming microservices is, without a doubt, pure madness. I wish I could tell you what a "good" microservice name looks like, but I can't. All I have are stories of what not to do!