What are the key differences between REST and SOAP web services, and in which scenarios would you prefer one over the other?

During my final year project in college, I was part of a team that developed a web application for managing student records. We chose to use RESTful APIs because of their simplicity and ease of integration with front-end frameworks. The project required us to handle basic CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) for student information. By using REST, we could easily create endpoints for each operation, and we appreciated the stateless nature, which simplified our server logic. This experience taught me the importance of using the right architecture for scalability and how REST APIs allow for quick iterations without significant overhead.

In a volunteer role with a non-profit organization, I helped integrate a third-party service that used SOAP for secure transactions. This service required strict data integrity and security, which SOAP provided through its built-in features like WS-Security. Although I initially found the complexity of SOAP daunting, I learned to appreciate its structured approach, especially for applications that handle sensitive data. Through this experience, I realized that while REST is great for general purposes, SOAP is more suited for situations where reliability, security, and formal contracts are essential.

In my first job as a junior developer, I was involved in a project that required integrating various services. We had to decide between REST and SOAP for our API. Given that our application was consumer-facing and needed to be lightweight and fast, we opted for REST. However, I also encountered scenarios where SOAP was preferred, especially for legacy systems that required a high level of security and transaction reliability. This experience highlighted for me the importance of evaluating the specific needs of a project when choosing between REST and SOAP.