This is less an example of why serverless was bad but rather an example where using non-suitable services for tasks they were not meant for.
In this case they were using AWS Step functions that are known to be expensive ($0.025 per 1,000 state transitions) and they wrote:
> Our service performed multiple state transitions for every second of the stream
Secondly, they were using large amounts of S3 requests to temporarily store and download each video frame which became a cost factor.
They had a hammer - and every problem looked like a nail. In my experience this happens to every developer at a certain stage when he/she gets in touch with a new technology; it doesn't mean that the tech itself is bad - it depends on the scenario, though.
In this case they were using AWS Step functions that are known to be expensive ($0.025 per 1,000 state transitions) and they wrote: > Our service performed multiple state transitions for every second of the stream
Secondly, they were using large amounts of S3 requests to temporarily store and download each video frame which became a cost factor.
They had a hammer - and every problem looked like a nail. In my experience this happens to every developer at a certain stage when he/she gets in touch with a new technology; it doesn't mean that the tech itself is bad - it depends on the scenario, though.