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Think like an engineer

Seniors rarely answer “should we use X?” with yes or no. They walk a method: problem → requirements → constraints → options → trade-offs → decision. Write your reasoning at each step, compare it with a senior engineer's, and leave with an Architecture Decision Record.

In the meeting, someone asks

“We expect 20,000 users next year. Should we introduce Kafka?”

A hotel booking SaaS: Next.js frontend, one Node API, PostgreSQL. 6 engineers. After a booking, the API sends a confirmation email and updates a loyalty-points table synchronously. Sometimes the email provider is slow and checkout takes 4 seconds.

Problem

  • • What is actually hurting today: users, developers, or the bill?
  • • Is “20,000 users” a problem by itself?