When you’re a Senior Developer, your job goes beyond writing features — it’s about ensuring the system doesn’t collapse when real users arrive.
That’s exactly why I recently took ownership of load testing our APIs.
The goal was simple: make sure our backend stays solid under pressure.
🚦 Designing the Test Strategy
I created three distinct test strategies, each reflecting a different real-world scenario:
🔹 Sequential (run_all.sh) — runs each module one by one.
👉 Perfect for initial stability testing and identifying isolated issues.
🔹 Hybrid (run_all_hybrid.sh) — runs grouped modules with minimal recovery time.
👉 Simulates realistic traffic where users interact in short bursts.
🔹 Parallel (run_all_parallel.sh) — fires all modules simultaneously, simulating ~1200 users. 🚀
👉 The ultimate stress test to measure system endurance.
Each strategy gave us a unique view of how our infrastructure behaves under load — from normal usage to chaos mode.
📊 The Results
After running the tests using k6, InfluxDB, and Grafana, here’s what we observed:
✅ Core APIs (Jobs, E-commerce, Notifications) — handled pressure beautifully.
⚠️ Profile APIs — started showing latency spikes of 17s+ during peak load.
That’s when the real learning began.
💡 Key Takeaways
Every slowdown told us why the system behaved the way it did.
Here are the immediate action items we identified:
- Optimize database pooling — to reduce connection overhead.
- Implement caching layers — for frequently accessed resources.
- Scale infrastructure dynamically — based on real traffic metrics.
These insights helped us transform “potential failures” into clear improvement paths.
🧠Lessons Learned
What I loved most about this exercise?
👉 Every failure was a signal, not a setback.
Load testing isn’t about breaking the system — it’s about learning where it breaks.
And that’s what builds resilience and user trust.
Because great user experience isn’t built on assumptions — it’s built on preparation.
⚙️ Tech Stack
🧩 Load Testing Tool: k6.io
📊 Metrics Dashboard: Grafana + InfluxDB
💻 Scripts: Bash (run_all.sh, run_all_hybrid.sh, run_all_parallel.sh)
If you’re curious about the technical setup — scripts, dashboards, or monitoring tips — drop a comment or connect with me.
Happy to share the insights and scripts!
#LoadTesting #PerformanceEngineering #DevOps #SystemResilience #BackendDevelopment #Grafana #InfluxDB #k6 #Scalability #Microservices #BackendOptimization #msrajawat298