Thoughtful Architect

Insights and reflections on software architecture.

Cover Image for Don't Reinvent the Wheel: API Gateways in 2025

In a world of ready-made, feature-rich API gateway solutions, building your own is rarely justifiable. Here's why leveraging proven tools like Spring Cloud Gateway, Apache Camel, or AWS API Gateway is the smart architectural choice in 2025.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos

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Cover Image for Workflow Orchestration Tools Compared: Find the Right Fit for Your System

Workflow Orchestration Tools Compared: Find the Right Fit for Your System

Camunda, Temporal, AWS Step Functions, Conductor, and Airflow each solve orchestration differently. Here’s a practical guide to choosing the right tool, plus recommended resources to dive deeper.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for Mastering the Orchestration Pattern: Why and How to Use It

Mastering the Orchestration Pattern: Why and How to Use It

Orchestration provides clarity, reliability, and control for complex workflows in distributed systems. Here’s why it matters, when to use it, and which tools can help you avoid reinventing the wheel.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for Orchestration vs Choreography in Modern Architectures

Orchestration vs Choreography in Modern Architectures

Understanding the difference between orchestration and choreography is key to designing scalable, maintainable, and resilient microservices architectures. Here's a thoughtful guide to help you navigate these two coordination styles.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for Kafka, RabbitMQ, NATS, or Redis Streams? Choosing the Right Tool for Event-Driven Systems

Kafka, RabbitMQ, NATS, or Redis Streams? Choosing the Right Tool for Event-Driven Systems

Choosing the right message broker is crucial for event-driven architectures. This article breaks down the pros and cons of Kafka, RabbitMQ, NATS, and Redis Streams — helping you make informed choices for your architecture.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for Event-Driven Architecture: Pros, Cons, and When It Makes Sense

Event-Driven Architecture: Pros, Cons, and When It Makes Sense

Event-driven systems are flexible, scalable, and decoupled — but they’re not always the right fit. Here's when to use them, when to avoid them, and what trade-offs to consider as an architect.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for 5 Must-Read Books for Modern Software Architects

5 Must-Read Books for Modern Software Architects

Architecture is not just about patterns—it's about principles, trade-offs, and the ability to reason about complexity. These five books shaped the way I build systems and lead engineering teams.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for How to Choose the Right Architecture Pattern (Monolith, Modular, Microservices)

How to Choose the Right Architecture Pattern (Monolith, Modular, Microservices)

Choosing the right architecture pattern isn't about trends — it's about your team's structure, pace, and deployment goals. Here's how to evaluate monoliths, modular monoliths, and microservices based on 20 years of real-world experience.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for Don’t Build Your Own Auth: Use Keycloak Instead

Don’t Build Your Own Auth: Use Keycloak Instead

Rolling your own authentication system might sound fun… until it isn’t. Here’s why Keycloak should be your go-to IAM solution — especially when you need full control and on-prem deployment.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos
Cover Image for Why I Started Thoughtful Architect

Why I Started Thoughtful Architect

After two decades building software, I've seen architecture celebrated, ignored, and misunderstood. Thoughtful Architect is my way of slowing down, reflecting, and sharing hard-earned lessons about designing systems that endure — not just scale.

Konstantinos
Konstantinos

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