Why Study AWS?
Intro
Up to this point, I have used AWS a lot while doing web development. AWS EC2 was also used to deploy the web server, and AWS S3 was also used to manage user profile photos and photos uploaded by users. (Actually, I think I’m going to use Cloudflare Images now…) But even though I used AWS a lot, I just kept avoiding AWS. I’ve been avoiding AWS because it’s so vast and complex and because I’m afraid I’ll lose money if I get it wrong.
Actually, it is true to some case that if you touch the wrong thing, your money will be blown away. It’s because I’ve seen a lot of developers around me saying they’ve spent a lot of money because they’ve touched AWS wrongly or AWS has been hacked. However, in most cases, if you use it for educational purposes, you will get a refund.
To be honest, I don’t think you need to learn AWS if you’re going to host a side-project web service. AWS is like a chainsaw that cuts everything, so it can even cut your wallet. So, if you’re thinking of doing a small side project, I recommend a free hosting service like Render.
Why Study AWS?
Cost Performance
As I continued to avoid AWS and use services such as Heroku and Render, I felt one thing. it’s too expensive for its performance.
⛔️ Warning: This article is by no means implying that services like Render or Heroku are expensive without reason. These services are worthy of offering such a price enough to implement really complex and diverse functions such as CI / CD and Auto Scaling with one click. However, only in terms of performance, I am saying this because it is much cheaper to study AWS and use AWS. Personally, I tend to use these services when doing side projects.
The picture above is the Pricing of Render. If you look at Starter, which is the cheapest (excluding Free), it offers 512MB of RAM and 0.5 CPU for $7. even the region
Oregon, USA
Frankfurt, Germany
Ohio, USA
Singapore
Only these 4 are provided.
Now, what will be the result in AWS with the same performance?
Of course, if you use t4g.nano, which provides 2 vCPUs and 0.5 Gib of RAM, you can use the service at $5 per month. In addition, if you use AWS, you can use the server in the region closest to your current location, and it will actually provide much faster performance because it provides 4 times more CPU than Render.
A question may arise here. ”The EC2 I used have been much more expensive than that…?” That’s because of the EC2 pricing model. EC2’s pricing model is divided into two main categories. (There is one more, but it is not a plan that is commonly used, so I will not cover it here) Reservation model and On-Demand model. The on-demand model is a commonly used model where instances can be started and stopped at any time. This model is quite flexible in that instances can be started and stopped at any time, but has the disadvantage of being the most expensive per hour. The reservation model is a model in which instances are rented on a one-year or three-year basis. Because the instance is rented on a yearly basis, there is a huge discount, and this is what makes the above difference.
If you study AWS properly, you can enjoy tremendous benefits. You can find the service you need and use it at the lowest price, or combine various services to suit your need.
## Autonomy (?)
First of all, I will quote the famous front-end developer, Teo, because what I am saying can be unreliable.
Q. If I look for front-end deploy related materials, there is little talk about vercel, and a lot of people distribute it using Amazon (cloudfront, etc.). What are the disadvantages of vercel? Or is there some other reason?
A. In the case of Vercel, Leave it to us and we will take care of it, AWS There is everything you need here, so you pick what you need and we will lend it to you . It’s convenient to leave it to vercel, but the downside is that you can’t ask for what you need when you’re unsatisfied.
In this context, of course, dealing with AWS for back-end jobs is much more helpful than dealing with Vercel, and since a lot more companies deal with AWS after leaving a job, of course, the ecosystem is inevitably larger. There are many frameworks, but it is in the same vein as the React ecosystem and the largest number of resources. the rest omitted
As mentioned above, the strategy of platforms like vercel is “leave it to us and we’ll take care of it”. It makes complex and time-consuming tasks directly on AWS, such as CI/CD and environment variable management, easy without any configuration. On the other hand, AWS says “We have everything you need here, so you pick what you need and we’ll lend it to you”. Therefore, if you use vercel, you have to rely on 100% vercel, but on AWS you can select and use the services you need according to your needs. For example, if you want to deploy a static website, you can use S3, if you want to deploy a React web application, you can use EC2, and if you want to deploy a serverless deployment, you can use Lambda. If you are working on a side project or a smaller project, you may not know why you need this autonomy. However, you may find yourself in a situation where you have to use AWS (or other clouds such as GCP or Azure…) unconditionally due to a situation where you need to handle large-scale traffic or internal company circumstances. To prepare for this, I think it is good to study AWS or other cloud platforms.
How to study AWS?
In my opinion, the best way to start studying AWS is to get a certification. If you study to get a certification, you will be able to study more efficiently than just studying because there will be a study goal and deadline. Many people start their studies with only the goal of studying. In my experience, this kind of study doesn’t last long. Also, the certification itself can help prove your knowledge of AWS as it is proof that you have some understanding of AWS. Here, I will recommend a book recommended by many people.
👍 Of course, if you don’t want to get a certificate and can study AWS perfectly with your own study method, that’s good too. But, wouldn’t it be better to hang a cool badge on LinkedIn if you’re studying now?
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Study Guide
This is a study guide certified by Amazon. A detailed description of AWS’s main services and how to design an efficient architect through them are also described in detail. Each chapter includes practice exams so that you can check if you have understood each chapter correctly.
Conclusion
In fact, I’m still studying for my certification. (Originally, the goal was to start last month and acquire a certificate early next year, but it was delayed due to various schedules such as TOEFL) It is definitely difficult to study AWS. It’s really a nightmare to think about understanding all of the vast amounts of services and even taking the exam. However, if you understand these services well and know how to handle them skillfully, I think it will be of great help in the future!
