In the pursuit of speed and flexibility, many platform teams turn to open-source or “free” tools they can self-host. But as usage grows and complexity creeps in, that “simple” low-cost solution quickly becomes a burden - consuming precious engineering time, draining focus, and introducing operational risk. Sound familiar?
In this talk, we’ll share our journey out of the trap that our fear of vendor lock-in led us into, and how we leveraged AWS and other vendors’ managed offerings to build a streamlined infrastructure and observability platform.
We’ll explore the hidden costs of ownership - time, expertise, and security - and walk through real-world tradeoffs when deciding between DIY and managed solutions.
Whether you’re a startup scaling up or a platform team drowning in maintenance toil, you’ll learn how to make cost-aware decisions that align with your team’s bandwidth and your company’s growth trajectory. This talk will help you avoid, or escape, self-managed hell and give your engineers the time and energy to focus on delivering real value.