Matt Macdonald-Wallace's session from Monitorama PDX 2024. What kinds of surprises await you when implementing Open Telemetry, and will OTEL help you hold a mirror to your code? In this 30 minute talk, Matt Wallace will take you through his journey so far, including the pitfalls and prizes he's found along the way. Focusing on Python, and without any apologies for the title of the talk, Matt will answer such questions as: * Can I use OTEL to avoid vendor lock-in? (Yes!) * Should I be using OTEL? (Also yes!) * Is auto-instrumentation enough? (Maybe?) * Should I get disheartened if my application service maps don't show the right connections straight away? (No!) If you're new to OTEL or trying to work out how you escape vendor lock-in with application observability for the future, this session will guide you through everything you need to know to make the most from this free, open, and rapidly developing framework.