What is OpenTelemetry used for?

OpenTelemetry collects traces, metrics, and logs from apps, giving you full visibility into distributed systems without vendor lock-in.

How do I add OpenTelemetry to Spring Boot?

Use Micrometer Tracing bridge, add OTLP exporter deps, config in yml, and manual spans in code for key ops like jobs.

Does OpenTelemetry replace logging?

No—it enhances logs with trace context, plus adds traces and metrics for the full observability trio.

⚙️ DevOps & Platform Eng

OpenTelemetry: Ditching Log Hell for Real Backend Visibility

Logs were fine until your app grew teeth. OpenTelemetry's traces cut through the chaos, but is the open-source promise real or just another buzzword dodge?

theAIcatchup Apr 10, 2026 4 min read

Architecture diagram of Spring Boot app with OpenTelemetry traces flowing to Jaeger

⚡ Key Takeaways

Logs fail at scale; OpenTelemetry traces provide execution context via spans and unique IDs. 𝕏
Vendor-neutral instrumentation means one-time code, swap backends freely—but SaaS still profits. 𝕏
Hands-on for Spring Boot: Micrometer + OTLP gets you tracing concurrent jobs in minutes. 𝕏

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theAIcatchup

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#Kotlin #OpenTelemetry #Spring Boot #observability #tracing

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Originally reported by dev.to

⚡ Key Takeaways

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