database sharding, when do the complexities start to outweigh the benefits, you know?

hey everyone, i've been thinking a lot about database sharding lately. we're hitting some scaling limits with our current single-node setup and sharding seems like the logical next step. but the operational overhead and potential for increased query complexity are making me pause. what are your experiences? at what point did you decide sharding was necessary, and what were the biggest challenges you faced in implementing and maintaining it? are there alternative scaling strategies you found more effective for your use cases