Opening high traffic access points using Go - George Kampanos

A year ago, a good friend of mine asked me to help him with his gym's member management system. For a small gym (~1000 members), the set of problems and requirements was immense...

Not only did they need a web app to view and manage members and memberships, they also needed an app for their users. Furthermore, they were installing a new turnstile door that should connect to the member management system and open when appropriate. And all of that had to run on a near $0 per month price tag so that it doesn't financially burden a small business... So, of course I said yes - the task sounded insane!

How I built the APIs
How does the gym's dashboard and user-facing app communicate with the API
How do we connect to third-party APIs
Syncing the database with the access point
Controlling the access point to open for members, even when you're offline
UI/UX and feature considerations
Monitoring the app but also the edge
And how do you keep all of this running for under $5 per month?

George Kampanos, Software Engineer at Nando’s, gave his excellent talk at GopherCon UK 2025 held 14-15th August.

#gopherconuk #golang #goprogramming #golanguage #apidevelopment #systemdesign #accesscontrol #softwaredevelopment #opensource