Ask HN: Were you happy moving your API from REST to GraphQL?

Re:Ask HN: Were you happy moving your API from REST to GraphQL? by smt88 on Thursday July 19, 2018 @12:29PM (#17567880)

As a manager/business owner, I like GraphQL because it shifts the burden to the API consumer. That consumer, for us, is a front-end resource who is sometimes less expensive but very often less busy than our backend team.

That's obviously not the same formula for every company. I'm just offering it as a potential counterpoint.

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Re:Ask HN: Were you happy moving your API from REST to GraphQL? by ergothus on Thursday July 19, 2018 @01:10PM (#17568400)

This is a common swing point though:

PM: Make this change to the site

Backend: that would take 2 weeks to make sure it doesn't break anything

Frontend: That's a tiny change! I can do it in 2 hours

Frontend makes the change. Along with the next several. Overtime, the backend team uses the lessened pressure to overhaul/replace/refactor to decrease the complexity. Meanwhile, Frontend is starting to accumulate a collection of unrelated exceptions to the "normal" flow to meet demands. Eventually....

PM: Make this change to the site

Frontend: Um...that would risk all sorts of complications. Consider it a few weeks to make sure it doesn't break anything

Backend: That's a straightforward change, I can do it in 2 hours

And the pendulum starts to swing in the opposite direction...

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Re:Ask HN: Were you happy moving your API from REST to GraphQL? by andrewingram on Thursday July 19, 2018 @01:29PM (#17568583)

If a frontend employee isn't earning a comparable salary to a backend employee, you're either not hiring people of equivalent skillset, or you're underpaying your frontend people.

Where the GraphQL burden lies is largely due to who is considered to be its product owner. This varies significantly depending on whether it's an API for first or third parties.

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Re:Ask HN: Were you happy moving your API from REST to GraphQL? by smt88 on Thursday July 19, 2018 @02:10PM (#17568920)

You don't know enough about my products to be so certain about my payment practices.

First of all, our backend is extremely complex and our frontend isn't. Our backend devs need a lot of legal and financial training. Other companies will have an inverse situation.

Second, there's a glut of frontend devs (at least when I look for them) because bootcamps seem to produce people who are better at frontend than backend.

And third, our frontend devs just don't have as much work to do, so they're idle a lot more often.

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Re:Ask HN: Were you happy moving your API from REST to GraphQL? by andrewingram on Thursday July 19, 2018 @07:02PM (#17571108)

So you’re not hiring people of equivalent skillset, that’s fair enough.

I just found it a surprising comment in isolation because most people I’ve met who’ve developed both frontend and backend skills to a senior or greater level, would argue that frontend is the more challenging of the two.

The bit about idle time is a bit confusing though, can’t you just have fewer devs if there’s not enough work to go around? Or do you always need a lot of spare resources due to unpredictable workloads?

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