Local prototyping has become de rigueur for most web stack developers in the last few years. Even complex web backends are generally assumed to be emulatable from a developer’s laptop. But this assumption breaks down a bit as we explore the AWS platform in general. More specifically, serverless architecture challenges the system of local prototyping.
Serverless is a quickly-maturing technology and, if you’ve followed its evolution over the past several years, you’ve likely seen a host of great (and not-so-great) documentation of its technology and practices. Now that serverless is a much more mainstream topic for reputable outfits to report on, it’s become easier to comb through serverless fact and fiction in the media.
Serverless can bring opportunities by making DevOps more accessible to folks new to the industry. It can also bring opportunities to folks already in the industry that want to spend more time focusing on adding business value. But many technologists, seasoned or otherwise, hear a lot about serverless but don’t always know how to get started.
Among the many, MANY announcements at re:Invent this year is one that settles a years-long debate or concern amongst people considering using AWS Lambda to build serverless applications: cold starts. AWS Lambda is now 5 years old. For all of that time, there’s been a concern about latency the first time a function is called. Well, fret no more: with Provisioned Concurrency you can pay a tiny fee to know Lambda functions are always available.
At re:Invent 2019, Farrah and I gave a talk on our paths into the tech industry, how serverless helped us both build some of our first products, and how serverless represents a new mindset. I’d wanted to share a version of that talk on our blog for those who couldn’t make it, though we hope to give it again in the near future.
Have you ever have that dream where you’re in a class on Classical Tibetan Algebra? And you haven’t done any homework all semester? AND it’s the final? That was me in this session: I was WAY in over my head with this one. Tod Golding’s material was so high-level that I got a nose bleed. Seriously. My nose started gushing 10 minutes in. This Portland dewdrop is NOT used to the dry desert and casino AC air.
Another day of re:Invent is over and it’s all been amazing and overwhelming. And yes, the medals really do spin. It was a huge honor to be named an AWS Serverless Hero a few weeks ago. As I prepare for more conference talks in the upcoming months, I’m reflecting on what it means to be granted this honor despite having only written my first lines of code earlier this year.
After months of planning and anticipation for sponsors, attendees, and speakers alike, it’s a bit surreal that re:Invent 2019 is actually upon us! In addition to setting up shop in the Expo hall with the team to chat with re:Invent guests about their current serverless development workflows (and how Stackery can supercharge it), I made sure to attend some choice presentations this week.
