Best of AWS — January 2026

  1. 1
    Article
    Avatar of freecodecampfreeCodeCamp·16w

    Build Your Own Kubernetes Operators with Go and Kubebuilder

    A comprehensive 6-hour video course teaches how to build custom Kubernetes operators and controllers from scratch using Go and Kubebuilder. The course covers controller theory, Kubernetes extensibility, environment setup, API and logic building, hands-on development, and advanced internals including Informers, Caches, Finalizers, and Idempotency. A practical example demonstrates managing AWS EC2 instances directly from Kubernetes, treating Kubernetes as an SDK rather than just a deployment platform.

  2. 2
    Article
    Avatar of lastweekinawsThe Last Week in AWS·16w

    I Hope This Email Finds You Before I Do

    A developer built an AI-powered email assistant called "Billie" to handle spam and low-effort pitches with passive-aggressive responses. The system uses AWS Lambda, Cloudflare Email Routing, Claude AI for classification and drafting, and SES for sending. Emails are classified into tiers (spam, low-effort pitches, podcast requests, real humans) with AI-generated responses that are technically professional but carry an undercurrent of menace. Shadow mode ensures human approval before sending, and an operator context panel allows real-time instruction updates without code changes.

  3. 3
    Article
    Avatar of grabGrab Tech Blog·16w

    Docker lazy loading at Grab: Accelerating container startup times

    Grab implemented Docker image lazy loading using SOCI (Seekable OCI) technology to solve slow container startup times caused by large images. The solution achieved 4x faster image pull times on fresh nodes, 30-40% faster P95 startup times in production, and 60% improvement in download times after configuration tuning. Unlike traditional image pulls that download all layers before starting, lazy loading uses remote snapshotters to fetch data on-demand via FUSE filesystems. Grab chose SOCI over eStargz because it's natively supported on Bottlerocket OS, doesn't require image conversion, and maintains the same application startup time as standard images while dramatically reducing image pull time.

  4. 4
    Video
    Avatar of techworldwithnanaTechWorld with Nana·16w

    If I would start DevOps from 0 - How would I start and what would I learn

    A structured learning path for DevOps beginners breaks down into six phases over several months. Start with Linux fundamentals, bash scripting, and git (1-2 months). Move to cloud basics focusing on AWS compute, storage, and networking (1-2 months). Learn infrastructure as code with Terraform (1 month). Master containerization with Docker and Kubernetes (1-2 months). Build CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI (1-2 months). Finally, cover observability with Prometheus and Grafana (1 month). The key mistake to avoid is learning tools in isolation—instead, combine technologies through hands-on projects that build on each other continuously rather than starting from scratch each time.

  5. 5
    Article
    Avatar of awsfundamentalsAWS Fundamentals·15w

    The Only Claude Skill Every DevOps Engineer Needs

    The Terraform Claude Skill by Anton Babenko transforms Claude AI into a senior DevOps architect that generates production-ready infrastructure code. Unlike generic AI responses that create technical debt through monolithic files, insecure IAM policies, and poor structure, this skill enforces a four-pillar framework: strict engineering loops, modularity guardrails, expert-level Terraform knowledge, and integrated tooling (tflint, tfsec, infracost). Installation involves cloning the skill into Claude's directory, enabling it to produce modular, secure, cost-aware infrastructure with proper testing strategies and CI/CD pipelines that follow HashiCorp best practices.

  6. 6
    Article
    Avatar of advancedwebAdvanced Web Machinery·18w

    I'm changing my mind about serverless

    Serverless architectures may no longer be the default choice for most applications. Modern dedicated servers offer massive capacity (192 cores, 3TB RAM) at reasonable costs (~$5k/month), eliminating traditional concerns about elasticity and scale ceilings. For most services, a single powerful server or primary-secondary setup provides sufficient reliability without the complexity of distributed systems. The trade-offs favor simpler architectures: no eventual consistency, easier debugging, local reproducibility, and fewer logical errors. Tools like NixOS enable infrastructure-as-code rigor while maintaining simplicity. Serverless remains valuable for bounded, infrequently-changing workloads, but actively-developed products may benefit from exploring single-server alternatives.

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    Article
    Avatar of arcjetArcjet·17w

    Arcjet's tech stack

    Arcjet's architecture combines WebAssembly modules written in Rust embedded in SDKs, a Go-based gRPC decision API for low-latency security decisions, and a region-aware data pipeline using AWS SNS, SQS, and ClickHouse. The stack includes TypeScript/Python SDKs, Valkey for rate limiting, DynamoDB for dynamic rules, and runs on AWS EKS with isolated regional deployments. Development uses devcontainers with Docker Compose and LocalStack for AWS emulation, while security is layered with automated scanning tools and dependency management.

  8. 8
    Article
    Avatar of lastweekinawsThe Last Week in AWS·17w

    AWS in 2026: The Year of Proving They Still Know How to Operate

    AWS remains financially strong with $132B annual revenue and 29% market share, but faces challenges in operational excellence and talent retention. While Azure's growth numbers are questionable due to unclear financial reporting, Google Cloud emerges as the real competitive threat with clean 34% growth and $155B backlog. AWS's re:Invent 2025 announcements signal strategic shifts toward multi-cloud acceptance, on-premises investment, and democratized AI model training. Though AWS's AI capabilities have become credible with Nova 2 and Trainium3, execution concerns persist—particularly the October us-east-1 outage response time and 69-81% regretted attrition among senior engineers. Success in 2026 depends on whether AWS can maintain operational excellence while retaining institutional knowledge during organizational restructuring.

  9. 9
    Article
    Avatar of supabaseSupabase·15w

    Supabase PrivateLink is now available

    Supabase PrivateLink enables database connections through AWS private networks without public internet exposure. Using AWS VPC Lattice, it allows applications to connect to Supabase databases as if they're inside your own VPC. This addresses compliance requirements for regulated industries and reduces attack surface by eliminating public endpoints. Currently in Beta, it supports AWS VPCs in the same region, covers Postgres and PgBouncer connections (but not other Supabase services), and requires Team or Enterprise plans. Setup involves sharing AWS account details, accepting resource shares, creating VPC endpoints, and updating connection strings.

  10. 10
    Article
    Avatar of hnHacker News·15w

    Europe wants to end its dangerous reliance on US internet technology

    Europe's heavy reliance on US cloud computing providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud control ~70% of the market) creates vulnerability to service disruptions from technical failures, geopolitical disputes, or cyber-attacks. Recent outages from AWS and Cloudflare demonstrated this risk. European governments are responding by investing in digital sovereignty initiatives: Schleswig-Holstein replaced 70% of Microsoft licenses with open-source alternatives, France/Germany/Netherlands/Italy are developing sovereign digital platforms, and Sweden built its own collaboration system in domestic data centers. The EU is developing a cloud sovereignty framework and upcoming Cloud and AI Development Act to keep European data under European control, treating digital infrastructure as critically as physical infrastructure.

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    Article
    Avatar of newstackThe New Stack·18w

    Bryan Cantrill: How Kubernetes Broke the AWS Cloud Monopoly

    Kubernetes broke AWS's cloud dominance by introducing a vendor-neutral orchestration layer that eliminated API lock-in. Before 2014, AWS seemed unbeatable with five times the capacity of competitors and relentless execution. Companies felt trapped by AWS APIs, believing competitors like Google Cloud and Azure could never catch up without API compatibility. Kubernetes changed this by allowing applications to be built against its APIs instead of cloud-specific ones, enabling true multi-cloud portability. Google open-sourced Kubernetes to encourage cloud neutrality, knowing they had the most to gain as the underdog. While AWS still leads with 30% market share, the cloud market has expanded into a trillion-dollar industry with diverse participants, partly thanks to Kubernetes democratizing infrastructure orchestration.

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    Article
    Avatar of halodocHalodoc·15w

    Reducing Amazon EKS Compute Costs by 35%: Migrating Production Workloads from Graviton3 to Graviton4

    Halodoc migrated their Amazon EKS workloads from Graviton3 to Graviton4 processors, achieving 35% cost savings through a data-driven approach. The migration involved two-phase validation: hardware benchmarking with Sysbench showed 28% CPU throughput improvement and 64% memory bandwidth gains, while application-level testing with JMeter demonstrated lower latency and resource utilization. By combining the processor upgrade with strategic resource right-sizing (15% CPU and 10% memory reduction), they reduced node count by 40% and maintained performance while cutting costs. The zero-downtime migration used controlled node pool rebalancing, followed by a one-week stabilization period before applying resource optimizations.

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