Tobias Schmidt
@tpschmidt.com
Helping aspiring engineers master the cloud
👨💻 Freelance Software Engineer
✍️ Book #1: http://awsfundamentals.com
📕 Book #2: http://cloudwatchbook.com
Learn AWS for Free: https://awsfundamentals.com/newsletter
👨💻 Freelance Software Engineer
✍️ Book #1: http://awsfundamentals.com
📕 Book #2: http://cloudwatchbook.com
Learn AWS for Free: https://awsfundamentals.com/newsletter
I really like that AWS increased their updates to existing flagship services like ECS or Lambda, even the small ones like this:
𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲!
𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲!
December 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM
I really like that AWS increased their updates to existing flagship services like ECS or Lambda, even the small ones like this:
𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲!
𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲!
The biggest barrier to AWS for beginners isn't complexity.
It is fear. And it's a valid fear.
A lot of people I'm speaking to are terrified of the online horror stories of cloud bills.
You wake up, check your account, and owe $5,000 because of a DDoS attack.
It is fear. And it's a valid fear.
A lot of people I'm speaking to are terrified of the online horror stories of cloud bills.
You wake up, check your account, and owe $5,000 because of a DDoS attack.
December 17, 2025 at 11:56 AM
The biggest barrier to AWS for beginners isn't complexity.
It is fear. And it's a valid fear.
A lot of people I'm speaking to are terrified of the online horror stories of cloud bills.
You wake up, check your account, and owe $5,000 because of a DDoS attack.
It is fear. And it's a valid fear.
A lot of people I'm speaking to are terrified of the online horror stories of cloud bills.
You wake up, check your account, and owe $5,000 because of a DDoS attack.
CloudWatch Synthetics does a great job at running Visual Regression Tests.
You should give it a try.
Disclaimer: free tier for Synthetics is not great - only 100 executions per month are free. After that, it's $0.0012 per run.
Doesn't seem too much, but adds up quickly 😅
You should give it a try.
Disclaimer: free tier for Synthetics is not great - only 100 executions per month are free. After that, it's $0.0012 per run.
Doesn't seem too much, but adds up quickly 😅
December 16, 2025 at 2:00 PM
CloudWatch Synthetics does a great job at running Visual Regression Tests.
You should give it a try.
Disclaimer: free tier for Synthetics is not great - only 100 executions per month are free. After that, it's $0.0012 per run.
Doesn't seem too much, but adds up quickly 😅
You should give it a try.
Disclaimer: free tier for Synthetics is not great - only 100 executions per month are free. After that, it's $0.0012 per run.
Doesn't seem too much, but adds up quickly 😅
Heavy downside at CloudWatch: Managing logs at scale usually sucks.
With Unified Data Management, this may be solved!
With Unified Data Management, this may be solved!
December 16, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Heavy downside at CloudWatch: Managing logs at scale usually sucks.
With Unified Data Management, this may be solved!
With Unified Data Management, this may be solved!
We're still regularly updating our 𝗔𝗪𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴!
If you haven't looked yet, now's the time 👀
awsfundamentals.com/animations
If you haven't looked yet, now's the time 👀
awsfundamentals.com/animations
December 16, 2025 at 8:00 AM
We're still regularly updating our 𝗔𝗪𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴!
If you haven't looked yet, now's the time 👀
awsfundamentals.com/animations
If you haven't looked yet, now's the time 👀
awsfundamentals.com/animations
When you're using ECS/Fargate, think about using the spot capacity provider on your dev stages, where you generally don't need high availability.
This allows you to run containerized workloads 24/7 for as low as $7/month.
This allows you to run containerized workloads 24/7 for as low as $7/month.
December 15, 2025 at 7:56 AM
When you're using ECS/Fargate, think about using the spot capacity provider on your dev stages, where you generally don't need high availability.
This allows you to run containerized workloads 24/7 for as low as $7/month.
This allows you to run containerized workloads 24/7 for as low as $7/month.
RUM is a heavily overlooked feature of CloudWatch, even though it's great.
Now it finally supports mobile apps too! 🕵️♂️
Now it finally supports mobile apps too! 🕵️♂️
December 14, 2025 at 7:57 AM
RUM is a heavily overlooked feature of CloudWatch, even though it's great.
Now it finally supports mobile apps too! 🕵️♂️
Now it finally supports mobile apps too! 🕵️♂️
If you ever need to delete an S3 bucket with millions of files, simply use a lifecycle rule to expire all your files to avoid hanging in the console UI for hours ⚡️
December 13, 2025 at 8:04 AM
If you ever need to delete an S3 bucket with millions of files, simply use a lifecycle rule to expire all your files to avoid hanging in the console UI for hours ⚡️
Having a regular look at your Cost Optimization Hub is probably the highest ROI activity you can do in 5 minutes.
Especially if you haven't looked at financial efficiency in a while 😅
Especially if you haven't looked at financial efficiency in a while 😅
December 13, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Having a regular look at your Cost Optimization Hub is probably the highest ROI activity you can do in 5 minutes.
Especially if you haven't looked at financial efficiency in a while 😅
Especially if you haven't looked at financial efficiency in a while 😅
Personal take: Solving 99% of the daily software engineering problems became much easier with AI.
The other 1% became 100 times more difficult.
The other 1% became 100 times more difficult.
December 12, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Personal take: Solving 99% of the daily software engineering problems became much easier with AI.
The other 1% became 100 times more difficult.
The other 1% became 100 times more difficult.
Everyone is talking about the new AI toys from re:Invent.
But these 2 "boring" infrastructure updates will actually save you money today:
1. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀
Specifically: auto-cleanup for unattached EBS volumes.
But these 2 "boring" infrastructure updates will actually save you money today:
1. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀
Specifically: auto-cleanup for unattached EBS volumes.
December 12, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Everyone is talking about the new AI toys from re:Invent.
But these 2 "boring" infrastructure updates will actually save you money today:
1. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀
Specifically: auto-cleanup for unattached EBS volumes.
But these 2 "boring" infrastructure updates will actually save you money today:
1. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀
Specifically: auto-cleanup for unattached EBS volumes.
What's in your first priority AWS cost optimization list?
Here's what I'm checking most of the time 💸
What would you add? 💭
𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿: Not sorted by priority and/or effect
Here's what I'm checking most of the time 💸
What would you add? 💭
𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿: Not sorted by priority and/or effect
December 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
What's in your first priority AWS cost optimization list?
Here's what I'm checking most of the time 💸
What would you add? 💭
𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿: Not sorted by priority and/or effect
Here's what I'm checking most of the time 💸
What would you add? 💭
𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿: Not sorted by priority and/or effect
One of my favorite releases this year was Fair Queues at SQS.
Question: Is there a comparable feature at Azure Service Bus? 💭
I didn't find one, but I'm not thrilled about implementing a "workaround" here like
message sessions, priority subscriptions, separate topics, or partitioning.
Question: Is there a comparable feature at Azure Service Bus? 💭
I didn't find one, but I'm not thrilled about implementing a "workaround" here like
message sessions, priority subscriptions, separate topics, or partitioning.
December 11, 2025 at 8:03 AM
One of my favorite releases this year was Fair Queues at SQS.
Question: Is there a comparable feature at Azure Service Bus? 💭
I didn't find one, but I'm not thrilled about implementing a "workaround" here like
message sessions, priority subscriptions, separate topics, or partitioning.
Question: Is there a comparable feature at Azure Service Bus? 💭
I didn't find one, but I'm not thrilled about implementing a "workaround" here like
message sessions, priority subscriptions, separate topics, or partitioning.
You likely know that different AWS regions have different pricing.
But do you think it makes much of a difference? 💭
It definitely can make a huge difference!
Just stumbled on this fantastic article (back from 2021, but still applies) for finding the cheapest AWS region:
But do you think it makes much of a difference? 💭
It definitely can make a huge difference!
Just stumbled on this fantastic article (back from 2021, but still applies) for finding the cheapest AWS region:
December 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
You likely know that different AWS regions have different pricing.
But do you think it makes much of a difference? 💭
It definitely can make a huge difference!
Just stumbled on this fantastic article (back from 2021, but still applies) for finding the cheapest AWS region:
But do you think it makes much of a difference? 💭
It definitely can make a huge difference!
Just stumbled on this fantastic article (back from 2021, but still applies) for finding the cheapest AWS region:
Illustration for all the AWS "Savings Plans" and everything else you’re somehow supposed to keep track of 💸
December 9, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Illustration for all the AWS "Savings Plans" and everything else you’re somehow supposed to keep track of 💸
Love the announcement of Database Savings Plans at AWS! 💾
Up to 𝟯𝟱% 𝗼𝗳𝗳 if you commit for a year! 💸
Best thing: It's not just for one database engine or instance type.
You can move workloads between Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, DocumentDB, and more.
Up to 𝟯𝟱% 𝗼𝗳𝗳 if you commit for a year! 💸
Best thing: It's not just for one database engine or instance type.
You can move workloads between Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, DocumentDB, and more.
December 6, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Love the announcement of Database Savings Plans at AWS! 💾
Up to 𝟯𝟱% 𝗼𝗳𝗳 if you commit for a year! 💸
Best thing: It's not just for one database engine or instance type.
You can move workloads between Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, DocumentDB, and more.
Up to 𝟯𝟱% 𝗼𝗳𝗳 if you commit for a year! 💸
Best thing: It's not just for one database engine or instance type.
You can move workloads between Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, DocumentDB, and more.
Getting started with ECS? Not fun. You end up explaining tasks, task definitions, target groups, subnets, security groups.
Seems like ECS Express Mode will fix this! 😮
Seems like ECS Express Mode will fix this! 😮
December 3, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Getting started with ECS? Not fun. You end up explaining tasks, task definitions, target groups, subnets, security groups.
Seems like ECS Express Mode will fix this! 😮
Seems like ECS Express Mode will fix this! 😮
More CloudWatch updates rolling in before re:Invent...
You can now easily protect your log groups from being deleted 🔑
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
You can now easily protect your log groups from being deleted 🔑
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
December 2, 2025 at 1:58 PM
More CloudWatch updates rolling in before re:Invent...
You can now easily protect your log groups from being deleted 🔑
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
You can now easily protect your log groups from being deleted 🔑
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
I guess we can now finally easily mitigate one of the most common security incidents for a whole AWS organization: restricting public access for S3 bucket 🪣 🔓
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
December 2, 2025 at 8:02 AM
I guess we can now finally easily mitigate one of the most common security incidents for a whole AWS organization: restricting public access for S3 bucket 🪣 🔓
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/w...
Most of the noise from re:Invent day 1 is about "agentic AI"
The interesting stuff for me is way more boring: Lambda, EKS, DNS, IAM.
AWS just shipped features that will change how a lot of teams design systems long before they ship "cute" agents 😛
The interesting stuff for me is way more boring: Lambda, EKS, DNS, IAM.
AWS just shipped features that will change how a lot of teams design systems long before they ship "cute" agents 😛
December 1, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Most of the noise from re:Invent day 1 is about "agentic AI"
The interesting stuff for me is way more boring: Lambda, EKS, DNS, IAM.
AWS just shipped features that will change how a lot of teams design systems long before they ship "cute" agents 😛
The interesting stuff for me is way more boring: Lambda, EKS, DNS, IAM.
AWS just shipped features that will change how a lot of teams design systems long before they ship "cute" agents 😛
Everyone says they do observability.
Almost nobody uses it to actually solve problems.
Stared at dashboards and still lost? You’re not alone.
❄️ Cold take:
Most engineers just want to know where to put their trace or how to see their logs.
Almost nobody uses it to actually solve problems.
Stared at dashboards and still lost? You’re not alone.
❄️ Cold take:
Most engineers just want to know where to put their trace or how to see their logs.
November 30, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Everyone says they do observability.
Almost nobody uses it to actually solve problems.
Stared at dashboards and still lost? You’re not alone.
❄️ Cold take:
Most engineers just want to know where to put their trace or how to see their logs.
Almost nobody uses it to actually solve problems.
Stared at dashboards and still lost? You’re not alone.
❄️ Cold take:
Most engineers just want to know where to put their trace or how to see their logs.
You already know how to spin up stuff on AWS. 🏗️
Seeing what it does in production is the hard part! 🔎
We put together a 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 bundle that focuses on that part:
Seeing what it does in production is the hard part! 🔎
We put together a 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 bundle that focuses on that part:
November 29, 2025 at 8:00 AM
You already know how to spin up stuff on AWS. 🏗️
Seeing what it does in production is the hard part! 🔎
We put together a 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 bundle that focuses on that part:
Seeing what it does in production is the hard part! 🔎
We put together a 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 bundle that focuses on that part:
My personal favorites for the pre:Invent announcements 🪄
Didn't plan to end up with the heavy serverless focus! ⚡️
You can find the detailed review on our blog ✍️
awsfundamentals.com/blog/aws-pr...
Didn't plan to end up with the heavy serverless focus! ⚡️
You can find the detailed review on our blog ✍️
awsfundamentals.com/blog/aws-pr...
November 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
My personal favorites for the pre:Invent announcements 🪄
Didn't plan to end up with the heavy serverless focus! ⚡️
You can find the detailed review on our blog ✍️
awsfundamentals.com/blog/aws-pr...
Didn't plan to end up with the heavy serverless focus! ⚡️
You can find the detailed review on our blog ✍️
awsfundamentals.com/blog/aws-pr...
I really love how easy it is to set up OpenTelemetry with Lambda through the official layers.
But the cold start times are pretty rough! 🥶
I guess there's nothing to be fine-tuned to improve this? 🐌
But the cold start times are pretty rough! 🥶
I guess there's nothing to be fine-tuned to improve this? 🐌
November 27, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I really love how easy it is to set up OpenTelemetry with Lambda through the official layers.
But the cold start times are pretty rough! 🥶
I guess there's nothing to be fine-tuned to improve this? 🐌
But the cold start times are pretty rough! 🥶
I guess there's nothing to be fine-tuned to improve this? 🐌
If this works as written here, it seems like a great feature addition. Pretty tired of requesting 30 quota increases for Lambda when using CloudFront for new accounts! ⚡️
November 27, 2025 at 8:04 AM
If this works as written here, it seems like a great feature addition. Pretty tired of requesting 30 quota increases for Lambda when using CloudFront for new accounts! ⚡️