Roll Out OpenTelemetry Tracing Across a Microservices Fintech
Overview
What this challenge is about.
Receive an anonymized service map (90 services, payment-critical path of 12), a runtime mix (Node.js, Go, Java), and existing logging/metrics setup. Define: an OTel SDK adoption pattern per runtime, a Collector topology (agent + gateway), a tail-based sampling policy (keep 100 percent of errors, 100 percent of greater-than-1-second spans, 5 percent of the rest), and a cardinality budget per service. Instrument 12 services end-to-end, validate trace propagation across HTTP and Kafka, and dashboard the top 4 traces in Honeycomb. Deliver: 14-page rollout plan, working SDK + collector configs (Helm chart), 6-page operator runbook covering cardinality budgets and sampling tuning, and a 2-week pilot report.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Roll out OpenTelemetry tracing across 12 fintech services with a defensible sampling and cardinality policy that the platform team will operate.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Adopt OpenTelemetry SDKs across multiple runtimes consistently
- Design a Collector topology that scales beyond a pilot
- Define tail-based sampling that keeps the right traces cheaply
- Operate a cardinality budget so observability cost doesn't spiral
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
Careers
Roles this prepares you for.
Real titles. Real skill bridges. Pick the one closest to your trajectory.
Career mappings coming soon.