OpenTelemetry
OpenTelemetry is an open-source observability framework for generating, collecting, and exporting telemetry data such as traces, metrics, and logs from software applications. It provides vendor-agnostic APIs, SDKs, and instrumentation libraries to help developers instrument their code for monitoring and debugging purposes. The framework supports multiple programming languages and integrates with various backends for data analysis and visualization.
Developers should learn and use OpenTelemetry when building distributed systems or microservices architectures that require comprehensive observability to monitor performance, troubleshoot issues, and ensure reliability. It is particularly valuable in cloud-native environments where applications span multiple services, as it standardizes telemetry collection, reduces vendor lock-in, and simplifies instrumentation across different components. Use cases include tracking request flows, measuring latency, and aggregating metrics for dashboards.