Pratik Nayak

Hey, I'm Pratik

I'm a backend engineer living in Bengaluru, currently obsessed with microservices, event-driven systems, and making APIs that actually survive contact with real traffic. I write about Kafka and distributed systems — mostly the lessons I learned by breaking stuff first.

Outside of work? Cricket, chai, and yet another Friends rewatch. I've lost count at this point.

Latest writing

Writing forces me to slow down and actually understand things — not just enough to make them work, but enough to explain why they work. Technical or not, the process of putting thoughts into words is how I untangle messy ideas. If something here helps you skip a bug I already hit, that's a win.

July 4, 2026

What I actually learned building idempotent payment APIs

Retry storms, idempotency keys, and the client-side state machine that finally stopped double-charging people.

2 min read
July 4, 2026

Kafka Consumer Groups: What Actually Happens During a Rebalance

A practical walkthrough of partition assignment, rebalancing, and the config knobs that decide whether your consumers hiccup or fall over.

3 min read

Beyond the keyboard

Cricket

Playing and watching cricket is my go-to escape from terminals and pull requests. Whether it's a weekend match with friends or catching a test series, the game keeps me grounded.

TV Series that made me stay up too late

Friends Breaking Bad The Big Bang Theory Brooklyn 99 Modern Family Game of Thrones