10 Easy Reasons to Escape the Status Quo and Switch to Cloud Dev Environments

Kubernetes, containers, and cloud infrastructure have made deploying modern cloud-native applications relatively easy. Unfortunately — if you're stuck using a laptop and local dev environment  — the coding of complex cloud-native apps consisting of hundreds of microservices can be difficult, if not impossible.

It’s now the era of the microservice and cloud development environments. Monoliths are a thing of the past — and so are local development environments.

Need another reason to switch from local to a cloud development environment? Kubernetes does not work with a local development environment.

Period.

A cloud development environment's ability to handle microservices and integrate with Kubernetes are two powerful and critical reasons the cloud is not just a better way, but the ONLY way to develop in today's cloud-centric Kubernetes world. However, many hesitant development organizations find their local dev status quo safe.

The irony is that a cloud development environment is a preassembled, spin-up-in-seconds, easy-peasy solution to not just handle Kubernetes and microservices but ensure a positive developer experience far beyond what’s possible on a local environment. But Kubernetes is confusing and the idea of change and fear of the unknown create analysis paralysis. And that’s why many companies stick with their local development environments. The concept of “The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know” governs many unwise business decisions.

Even more tragic is perhaps some companies worry that cloud might help with Kubernetes and microservices but make other core development processes more complicated. But the truth is a cloud development environment makes everything easier.

Ten Obvious Reasons Why Cloud Development Is Better

Still unconvinced? So, let’s start with ten simple, friendly reasons why a cloud development environment is better than a local development environment. At a baseline, cloud development environments do the following:

1. Provide a realistic environment that mirrors production allowing for instant feedback on code changes.
2. Scale up, take down or throw away environments to meet the needs of the project.
3. Offer a wide variety of tools and services that can be used to improve the quality of the code.
4. Allow developers to work on their code from anywhere worldwide.
5. Make it easy to share code with others and collaborate on projects.
6. Enable developers to focus on their code, not on installing and maintaining the infrastructure.
7. Reduce bugs in production and identify dependencies without conflict.
8. Provide security at the development stage and where local environments cannot include it until after the code is merged.
9. Allow you to include data in your test environment.
10. Enable instant feedback on code changes, which can speed up the development process.

And the most "duh" reason for choosing cloud over local development environments is (drum roll, please) the days of dealing with local machine crashes while trying to spin up a development environment are over. Simply put: if you’re still working in a local development environment, your organization is a dinosaur heading toward extinction.

Let's face it: when it comes to modern development, local is loco.

More Enterprises Demand Enterprise Ready Environments

Many development organizations are afraid of change. But compared to the status quo, more smart engineering managers increasingly realize the need to change is the only chance for survival because local development can't:

• meet the accelerated pace of cloud development.
• manage complex microservices architecture.
• sort dependencies, configurations, deployments, and networking.
• support complex apps by mirroring a production environment to test your code before merging.
• get a realistic replica of their production environment - even for applications with 50+ microservices and tons of data.
• convert complex monoliths into microservices quickly and easily.
• allow for hands-on access to containers and clusters. It's hard to understand what you can't see or touch.

Fortunately, a cloud development environment provides a realistic replication of Kubernetes, helping developers understand the power of containers without having to learn its intricacies that could otherwise hold up development. With a cloud development environment, your team gets all the benefits of Kubernetes right out of the box — no tedious assembly required. And Okteto's professional service team enables an easy transition to cloud whether you are a startup or enterprise.

The results of switching to cloud speak for themselves as Okteto customers have achieved 50% increase in production and an 80% reduction in bugs.

The unknown is scary and that’s why many companies stick with their local development environments. It’s an example of psychology trumping economics and business common sense. However, more organizations demand "enterprise-ready" cloud dev environments that can scale, spin up fast and replicate. The ability to run multiple dependent microservices in parallel and a dev environment that mirrors production frees developers to innovate and ensures enhanced productivity and a positive developer experience.

Don’t be afraid to move beyond the status quo. Change is good. And relax - the switch to a cloud development environment may be the easiest thing you’ll ever do.

John PapageorgeMarketing / Dance InstructorView all posts