Say you’re chasing someone in the dark, Marco Polo style. To find where they are, you shout “Marco”, and they scream “Polo” back. Like a ra

Why Payments Engineers Should Avoid State Machines

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2024-09-25 09:30:03

Say you’re chasing someone in the dark, Marco Polo style. To find where they are, you shout “Marco”, and they scream “Polo” back. Like a radar, you move to where the voices are. And when you tag somebody, you stop.

Asking for directions is the other way to move. The path is ahead, and you just keep straight until a new direction is given to you. Like a car driving at night, you can see only what’s right in front of you. And when you aren’t given directions anymore, you stop.

Both approaches work. But if, once you were at your destination, I asked you which path you took, which of the two approaches would be more useful?

I’m Alvaro Duran, and this is The Payments Engineer Playbook. Scroll for five minutes on Youtube and you’ll find tons of tutorials that show you how to pass software design interviews that use payment systems. But there’s not much that teaches you how to build this critical software for real users and real money.

The reason I know this is because I’ve built and maintained payment systems for almost ten years. I’ve been able to see all types of interesting conversations about what works and what doesn't behind closed doors.