https://brenthollers.com/tags/cost-optimization/Recent content in Cost Optimization on Brent HollersHugoen-USWed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://brenthollers.com/posts/absence-system-iac/part-4-lessons-learned/Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://brenthollers.com/posts/absence-system-iac/part-4-lessons-learned/<h1 id="lessons-learned-cost-challenges-and-whats-next">Lessons Learned: Cost, Challenges, and What&rsquo;s Next</h1> <p><em>Part 4 of 4: Building Production-Grade Infrastructure</em></p> <hr> <h2 id="reality-vs-expectations">Reality vs. Expectations</h2> <p>In <a href="./part-1-from-manual-chaos-to-iac.md">Parts 1-3</a>, we built a production-grade absence tracking system with Terraform, monitoring, and CI/CD. The code worked. The architecture was sound. The deployment succeeded.</p> <p><strong>Then we turned it on.</strong></p> <p>This final article covers what actually happened in production: real costs, unexpected problems, decisions we&rsquo;d change, and lessons that only come from running systems at scale.</p>