I’m a sucker for gamification, so when I saw today’s announcement that AWS Certification badges could now be collected and published on a little profile page, I was all over it.
Nine certs in nine months so far, and I’m taking a tenth exam tonight. Wish me luck!
Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
– John 15:2
Deleting code feels so good, especially when it’s code I’ve written. It’s an emotion predicted by the Creator’s Curse, and it also make sense under the lens of this article, which challenges developers to write code that’s “easy to delete”.
Too often, especially in academic settings, or with inexperienced engineers who don’t have the experience of the dirty hacks required to keep an actual real-life system running, there’s a view that good software engineering practices are like the Ten Commandments, never to be violated. But for every rule, there’s any number of exceptions, and I loved the way the author laid out these tensions.
I feel like I say “_______ is hard” a lot, so forgive the repetition, but today’s article illustrates that service design is hard. The “micro” in microservices leads many (including myself at times) to believe each service should be as small as possible. It’s an unfortunate name, because that’s not the truth (naming things is hard too, but I digress).
What’s the right size for a Microservice dispels the above myth and several others, on its way to presenting a few helpful criteria to size a service. For anyone who designs systems, or builds systems, it’s worth your time.
And while you’re add it, read Martin Fowler’s paper on the topic.
And further, from these, my son, be warned; the making of many books hath no end – Ecclesiastes 12:12
One could spend the entirety of their waking hours reading articles on software engineering. While I try to keep up the headlines, I aim to limit myself to 10-15 minutes a day. Anything more proves a burden.
Over the past couple weeks there’s been a few discussions I’ve found particularly helpful. The first, On Being A Senior Engineer, echoed thoughts I’ve had for some time. I do believe the title of “Senior” is handed out too quickly in many parts of the software development world. This probably makes me sound like an angry old man, but no one should be called senior until they have at least ten years under their belt, if not fifteen. To quote Andy Jassy, “there’s no compression algorithm for experience.”
I also appreciated the article’s emphasis on sponsorship. Being a senior engineer in my view has little to do with your technical breadth or depth. The step up to senior means that you’re now looking to expand your influence beyond what your own two hands create, whether that be being a team lead, one-on-one mentorship, or participation in the larger development community. Senior engineers recognize that building great software is a human activity, and develop their soft skills.
Finally, a crucial aspect of being a senior engineer is humility. I view this as a complement to what Larry Wall famously said, and not in contradiction. It takes maturity to know what you don’t know.
“When two things are not the same, then they are different.” – Jud
A popular discussion topic these days is how society will change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One obvious likely outcome is even more will be accomplishable online, for example, the AWS certification exam I took from the comfort of my armchair this past Saturday morning. I thought I’d share my experience, and a few specific recommendations (in bold).
The process started with the normal scheduling workflow via the AWS Training website. Once that was complete and I paid the fee, I got an email with a link to instructions on how to run a system test. The recommendation was to do this right away, which I did. This involved installing a local application, verifying my laptop’s webcam and microphone worked, and testing my Internet bandwidth. Given that the application will completely take over your machine, and you must close all other running processes, I’d recommend using a personally-owned computer for this, and not a work computer (especially if you don’t have local admin).
Also as part of the above process, I had to take a picture of my face, my driver’s license (both sides), and four photos of the location where I’d take my exam, one from each of the front, back, left and right. A link sent to my phone via SMS guided me through these steps (so have your phone handy); it went quicker than I expected, and the photos were automagically submitted. Nice!
The day of the exam, about 15 minutes before my scheduled time, I closed everything on my personal laptop, and launched the client app. And here’s where I had my first hiccup: the app required that I upgrade to the latest version. This meant re-downloading and re-installing, which was annoying; I wished the app could have streamlined that process. Once the update was done, I had to go back through the entire system test process (including taking all the photos mentioned earlier). This was annoying, and made me wonder if the earlier test was even worth taking. At minimum, you want to be sure to get started at least 15 minutes before your scheduled start time in case you run into issues.
Once I got upgraded and back through the system test, my webcam became active and indicated I was being recorded. From this point you cannot leave the room (or move out of view of the camera), or open any other applications. I had to wait in this state for about 5 minutes before I was put in contact with a proctor, first via chat, and then via phone call. Be prepared to sit in silence for a bit while you wait. For a final verification I had to do a sweep of the room with my webcam to show it was empty of both other technology and other people. Be sure at this point that everything and everyone is out of the room. I even unplugged my extra monitor, just in case.
As I tried to launch the actual exam, I hit another problem. The app detected instances of chrome running in the background, even though I thought I’d closed everything. I had to go into activity monitor and kill them all before the test would launch. So, it’s worth looking through activity monitor right before you start to avoid this hangup (though the proctor was friendly and patient with me, which I appreciated).
(Oh, and speaking of things to do right before you start, use the restroom and get a drink of water right before you settle in; absolutely no breaks or food or drink are allowed).
Finally I could load the exam and begin. It’s a bit nerve-wracking to be video-recorded, but after a few minutes I tuned it out. You do need to be conscious not to look around the room, else the proctor might ping you to hold still (this didn’t happen to me, but I read about it). The test interface itself was pretty much like the in-person experience, with the ability to skip ahead, flag questions for review, etc.
Once I completed the exam, there was a survey, just like the in-person experience, and I was given the results (I passed, woot). Then the app closed and I was done. Piece of cake.
Even given the gotchas, I’d say the experience is easier and more convenient than scheduling a time with an in-person testing center, driving there, etc, if for no other reason than the available time slots for online proctoring ranged across all days of the week, and nearly all hours of the day (want to take your exam at 3am? knock yourself out). I’ll definitely use this online proctoring again, probably exclusively, as long as I have option to do so.
Have you been thinking about getting AWS certified? If so, I’d encourage you to go right now and get a date on the calendar. You’ve nothing to lose, and it’s now easier than ever.