In the early 2010s, the tech landscape was vastly different: Docker was a job title, K8S sounded like a boyband, Kafka evoked existential anxiety, and "Chaos Engineering" hadn’t even been coined. The Cloud? That was just something in the sky.

It was 2012 when Microservices first appeared on the Thoughtworks Technology Radar, and two years later, in 2014, Martin Fowler and James Lewis published the definition that shook the industry. Fast-forward 10 years, and microservices have become the predominant architectural style for building complex systems.

In this session, we will explore the incredible innovations that have shaped microservices over the last decade. Docker and Kubernetes (K8S) fulfilled the "write once, run anywhere" promise of the JVM, and operations transformed with the rise of Cloud Native, FaaS (Function as a Service), and Testing in Production—now seen as a maturity signal, not a sign of chaos.

Join James as he reflects on the original nine characteristics of microservices and the lessons learned since then. Even though Kafka may still cause some existential anxiety, microservices have proven their staying power.

Target Audience: This session is primarily aimed at Software Architects and Technical Leads, as it covers a decade of microservices evolution and the critical lessons learned in designing complex, scalable systems. Back-end Developers are the secondary audience, as they are responsible for implementing microservices and will benefit from insights into the architectural patterns and innovations that have shaped the microservices landscape.