“A monolith, or nothing!”: Embracing the Monolith at Ornikar
Introduction
In “Un monolithe sinon rien,” presented at Devoxx France 2023, Nicolas Demengel, a tech lead at Ornikar, makes a bold case for sticking with a monolithic architecture. In this 14-minute quickie, Demengel challenges the microservices trend, arguing that a well-structured monolith can be a powerful choice for startups like Ornikar, a French online driving school platform. His talk offers a refreshing perspective for developers weighing architectural trade-offs.
Key Insights
Demengel begins by acknowledging the allure of microservices: scalability, independence, and modern appeal. However, he argues that for Ornikar, a monolith provided simplicity and speed during rapid growth. The talk details Ornikar’s architecture, where a single Ruby on Rails application handles everything from user onboarding to payment processing. This centralized approach reduced complexity for a small team, enabling faster feature delivery.
Demengel shares how Ornikar maintains its monolith’s health through rigorous testing and modular design. He highlights practices like domain-driven boundaries within the codebase to prevent spaghetti code. The talk also addresses scaling challenges, such as handling increased traffic during peak enrollment periods, which Ornikar solved with database optimizations rather than a microservices overhaul.
Lessons Learned
Demengel’s talk offers practical takeaways:
-
Simplicity First: A monolith can accelerate development for startups with limited resources.
-
Discipline Matters: Modular design and testing keep a monolith maintainable.
-
Context is Key: Architectural choices should align with team size, expertise, and business goals.
These insights are valuable for startups and small teams evaluating whether to follow industry trends or stick with simpler solutions. Demengel’s pragmatic approach encourages developers to prioritize outcomes over dogma.
Conclusion
Nicolas Demengel’s “Un monolithe sinon rien” is a thought-provoking defense of the monolith in an era dominated by microservices hype. By sharing Ornikar’s success story, Demengel inspires developers to make context-driven architectural decisions. This talk is a must-watch for teams navigating the monolith vs. microservices debate.