AWS Certifications
There are some requirements for each level of certification, but it allows for organizations to have access to AWS, provides access to a community of other AWS certified groups, or get help for AWS services themselves. For those interested in the complexities of certification or are interested in becoming certified themselves, we do cover these topics in greater detail here:
https://allcode.com/aws-partner-service-tiers/
and here:
One of the tools more directly tied to helping users build out their applications on Amazon’s Web Services is a multi-function platform that is easy to use, easy to start with and makes sharing projects on the platform easy. All of the features described are tailored toward streamlining the application development pipeline by removing as many opportunities for pitfalls as possible.
Templates and Blueprints
For whatever language the dev team decides to build the application on, there are various prebuilt foundations with established resources ready to simplify the initial construction process. This extends beyond just providing the basics for coding. It includes a source code repository, an issue tracker, and a collection of resources and integrated tools to boot including the CI/CD pipeline and AWS hosting resources. Upon starting a project, users will be greeted by a library of options with names and a brief description of their functionality, version number, when they were last updated, and some tags to help with searching.
Developer Environments
One major problem in developer toolkits is situations where one member can have a slightly different toolchain or library compared to other members of the team, potentially resulting in bugs that remain undetected and unresolved. Developer Environments remove any unneeded variance and that all team members involved getting the same setup, ensuring that all experiences that are wanted or not are repeatable. All configurations are kept in a single file in the source code repository with options to scale instances up to 2, 4, 8, and 16 virtual CPUs. The file defines all resources for a project including coding, testing, and debugging. These environments can be paused, restarted, and deleted at a moment’s notice, helping to cut back on overhead.
Pipelines
Application builds are deployed on flexible, managed infrastructure through pre-built pipelines that were established by the initial blueprint and can use either on-demand or already provided builds. They work on a variety of machine sizes and can work with whatever environment the user decides to bring on board. Configuration is done through YAML files or through a visual editor and the pipeline can be fully automated through GitHub Actions. More importantly, the pipelines here are designed by default to work with anything in-house at Amazon’s Web Services from the Elastic Container Service (ECS) to the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). This way, testing and deploying to multiple regions and accounts are further simplified but secure.
Collaboration Tools
The most important part of any development cycle is ensuring the bridge between all development teams and members present. There is no shortage of issues that could arise from the simple notion of not having everyone on the same page. Upon accepting the email invitation to a project, the developer gets to see the entire picture and skip right to working without needing to fuss over petty items like establishing tools or required libraries. Once the teammate is brought on, they will see all the projects that are currently in progress, an extensive overview of what has happened, recent workflows, and a board of issues and features that have been resolved or are a work in progress.
Guidance on Moving to the Cloud
The introduction of the cloud means how businesses apply themselves is going to be a constantly changing landscape in the years to come. There will be countless opportunities available that may not necessarily be apparent on their face value. With the resources that Partners are equipped with, it will be important to meet not only the established objectives, but to also meet the potential opportunities available as well. Additionally, anything constructed will come with the full functionality and quality initially planned without extending into redundancies or anything superfluous.
Expected Pricing
CodeCatalyst is one of the AWS services that does benefit users with the Free Tier. By default, users will receive monthly 2,000 compute minutes, two virtual CPUs with 4GB and a Linux OS only, 60 dev hours for each CPU, and 16GB of storage per CPU. Free users will also get 10GB of Source storage, 64GB of aggregate Dev Environment storage, and 10 GB of transfer storage per month for both instances. For more on the free tier, there are additional details found here. Anything extra beyond what is initially provided will require an upgrade to the Standard Tier at $4 per month. Time spent logged on will count as time spent using CodeCatalyst. Along with more compute time and pre-provisioned resources to use, users will get some additional options for virtual CPUs at 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB with the option for Windows operating systems, more storage, and more compute time. Any additional resource use will cost extra per hour used, but the Linux vCPUs do get a hefty discount for utilizing the pre-provisioned resources. The specifics for rates on certain vCPUs and more can all be found on AWS’ own page.
A Cautious Hand
Any project on AWS could end up spanning across several different services in order to provide all of the needed functionality. There will be more than enough moving parts tied to the project with additional potential problems that could crop up with each layer of complexity that is added. Having an AWS partner helps to understand all layers of the project, remain aware of any current and rising issues, and resolve the bottlenecks quickly with the deep resources the team has been provided. By the end, a good AWS partner will have earned your trust.
Maintaining Focus
This point indirectly tie into the reasons already outlined. It is easy to lose sight of your original vision, but having someone build the project for you means you can keep sight of the bigger picture, such as management issues. The development cycle and any of the issues that come with building the project are outsourced to the partners, including new growth opportunities that need evaluation, design flaws that might require revisioning of the planned architecture, and providing an AWS framework review to ensure everything meets the guidelines.
Optimization
It can be incredibly easy to just burn through project funding on AWS. Worse, even when the project is done as originally planned, there’s still a constant need for upkeep and adapting to either user behavior or the need for newer functionality.
The original partnered team can still provide continued support over the application’s lifecycle to better handle bugs, IT, or even a visual facelift to prevent the project from looking too antiquated. As for cost, Amazon does provide discounts for continued use and streamlined resource provisioning so the users will only ever pay for what the project needs to meet the minimum required demand. Although AWS’ billing system can be confusing to newer users, so having someone experienced in optimization can help acquire that cost efficiency.
In-House Solutions
There are more than enough reasons to acquire even the lowest tier of AWS partnership for your organization from future networking to project building. But even if partnership isn’t the end goal, having some members of the team AWS certified can be incredibly useful if building on the cloud is the end goal. For starters, having someone on the team who also understands the inner workings of AWS can help communication between the organization and the AWS partner. Secondly, having an expert readily available can prove helpful for during and after the construction of a project. That way, there will be at least one member of the organization who understands the inner workings of the application for when adjustments need to be made and there’s new staff brought onboard to make changes.
Partner Up
Using an AWS Partner can help businesses of all sizes in many ways. Partners are experts in certain areas and can help businesses design, architect, and put into action solutions on AWS. They can also help with cost optimization, migration, and managed services, and they can give businesses access to tools and software which can help them use the AWS service of their choosing more efficiently.
AWS Partners can also help businesses keep up with the newest features and services that AWS has to offer and give advice on how to use them. Also, Partners have passed rigorous technical and business exams that show how much they know about AWS. This can give businesses that want to build solutions on the AWS platform peace of mind.
Members of the Amazon Parner Network also have access to dedicated resources and support from AWS, which can help them give better services to their customers. Also, they can offer AWS promotions, credits, and other perks as incentives. This can help businesses save money and cut their costs overall.
