In other jobs, we’ve used docker and it’s worked out just fine (for the most part… there was that time the RedHat filesystem on our prod server got mysteriously hosed – maybe it wasn’t docker’s fault.) But no, the reason we don’t use docker is because we don’t need it. Literally. Writing golang web services and static html embedded with with golang 1.16’s new //embed directive, we end up with a single deployable binary.

As a self-sustaining startup, we have limited resources to devote to tasks. We chose golang exactly for this reason. It sure would be nice if we could spend a couple weeks building the perfect CI/CD pipeline, an elegant deployment process, along with pretty dashboards. But we have software we need to ship in order to get users in order to drive subscriptions. Anything that doesn’t directly serve that goal is a complication. So at best, docker is a complication. A 9 million LoC complication that brings its own bugs and its own idiosyncrasies.

I’m not here to tell you whether or not you should use Docker. I don’t know what you should do. What I do know, is that you (all) need to make your own decisions based on your needs.

That’s why I like this piece by the team behind MeeZee Workout‪s. They share their decision and why they made it. Add this to your knowledge base for your next big decision.