Seth Orell

Serverless Is Not A Primary, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/… As excerpted in a recent edition of Lee Gilmore's Serverless Advocate, my latest article is now live. In it, I relate serverless to its fundamental, hierarchical foundations of continuous deployment, continuous delivery, and continuous integration. It's something I've seen too many teams miss on.

My fifth (and last!) post in my series on how to crush your database is live. In it, I summarize the key points of the series and highlight what makes DynamoDB unique. How to Crater Your Database, Part Five - Summary, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

The fourth post in my series on turning your database into a smoking hole in the ground is live. This one addresses consistency, where it is crucial, where it's not, and why airtight consistency leads to scaling troubles. I also talk about DynamoDB's consistency, both atomic and eventual. How to Crater Your Database, Part Four - Consistency, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

The third post in my series on turning your database into a smoking pile of ash is live. In it, I address normalization: why it was invented, what it is good for, what costs normalization incurs, and why you won't find it in DynamoDB (hint: it's a feature, not a bug). sethorell.substack.com/p/how-to-crate…

My second post in my series of how to turn your database into a smoking hole in the ground is live. This one addresses aggregations, why they are harmful, and why you don't find them in DynamoDB How to Crater Your Database, Part Two - Aggregations, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

How to crater your database: Do things that don't scale, and then try to scale! I've started a short series of articles on turning your database into a smoking hole in the ground. During the process, I'll also discuss tools like DynamoDB to help you avoid these problems entirely. The first article is now live on Ownership Matters. Let me know what you think. How to Crater Your Database, An Introduction, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

AppSync has three types of GQL operations: Queries, Mutations, and Subscriptions. These operations can be divided into two broad categories: Synchronous and Asynchronous. Queries and Mutations are straightforward to implement and test due to their synchronous nature. Subscriptions are more complicated, both in how they are put together and how they are validated. In my new article on Ownership Matters, I want to focus on that validation: how to test AppSync subscriptions. sethorell.substack.com/p/testing-apps…

> "The VPC will ultimately share the same fate as machine code" (Me) It's a bold statement, admittedly. My latest post on Ownership Matters, titled "Simplicity Is An Achievement," offers my reasoning and addresses some of the pushback I've received for taking this stance. Simplicity Is An Achievement, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

Using events to reduce coupling between applications is quite popular. However, it has its challenges. One of those challenges is testing. How do you verify that you publish what you want when you want it? In my latest article on Ownership Matters, I discuss various approaches to this problem and how you can use serverless to test serverless. sethorell.substack.com/p/testing-even…

I pitch Lambda all the time. It's an amazing service that scales--in real-time--up to tens of thousands and down to zero. I encourage nearly all of the engineers I work with to begin with Lambdas as their compute layer (serverless first). Inevitably, I get the same pushback. "Lambdas are nice" someone will say, "but you have to deal with cold starts." "Yes," I'll answer. Then I ask them "How are you dealing with cold starts today?" They crack a wry smile and say "We don't use Lambdas today; we don't have cold starts." "Au contraire," I reply, "you are positively swimming in cold starts right now." At this point, you, who has overheard the whole conversation, rush up to say "But... I thought cold starts are unique to Lambdas?" Not in the least, no. Let's dive into cold starts and see why they are truly everywhere. Everything Suffers from Cold Starts, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

"What could be easier than testing a JavaScript file?" That's how it all started some weeks ago when I discovered how wrong I was. I've taken what I've learned and put it into a new post on Ownership Matters. In it, I dig into some challenges with the APPSYNC_JS runtime and how to overcome them in your tests with examples. I'd appreciate any questions, comments, or boosts. Testing AWS AppSync JavaScript Resolvers, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

I have a new post on Ownership Matters: "Going Pro" This is a slight deviation from my normal technical/serverless topics to discuss getting good, being ambitious, and some steps to achieve your best. I hope you will find some value in it. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Going Pro, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

I have a new post on Ownership Matters: AppSync CloudFormation Scaling Revisited, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/…

I have a new post on Ownership Matters about progress, change, and serverless. Serverless Doesn't Stand Still, by @sethorell open.substack.com/pub/sethorell/… #aws #Serverless #Progress

I have a new post on Ownership Matters about AWS Credentials for Serverless. Specifically, I focus on the differences between your workstation AWS credentials and your Lambda & Fargate runtime credentials. I point out a few mistakes and show why the optimal approach is also the easiest. bit.ly/aws-creds-for-…

I have a new post on Ownership Matters about "A Continuous Delivery Press Release". bit.ly/cd-pr-faq In this article, I go over the PR/FAQ, explain what it is and how you can use it, and then provide an example for promoting CI/CD.

I have a new post on Ownership Matters about "Why DynamoDB Is (Still) My First Pick for Serverless". bit.ly/dynamodb-first… Born out of conversations I've had with various architects and engineers, it provides some great talking points for encouraging your teams to try (or continue using) DynamoDB. #AWS #Serverless

"How does work get decided upon and land on my plate?" "How long does it take to ship a single line of code to production?" "How does software get deployed?...and there is no CAB, or any manual approvals, right?" If they say yes, that's a sign of way too much dysfunction. Eject.

I have a new post on Ownership Matters about how to use IAM roles with OIDC to obtain AWS credentials for your GitHub Actions. It's a bit niche, but I think it's important. bit.ly/aws-github-sec…

I am honored to have been selected as one of the new Serverless contributors to the AWS Community Builders program. Thank you to Jason, Albert, Ernesto, Lily, and Taylor. #AWScommunity