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I can’t believe it’s May already! It’s been a busy few months here. Here’s what I've been up to and what you might have missed.

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Blog posts

• ​How to handle execution timeouts in AWS Step Functions​
• ​How to apply the TDD mindset to serverless​
• ​Here are four ways you can implement WebSockets using serverless​
• ​DynamoDB now supports cross-account access. But is that a good idea?​
• ​When to use Step Functions vs. doing it all in a Lambda function​
• ​When to use API Gateway vs. Lambda Function URLs​
• ​First impressions of the fastest JavaScript runtime for Lambda​
• ​What’s the best way to migrate Cognito users to a new user pool?​
• ​How to secure CI/CD pipelines without burning developer productivity to the ground​
• ​First impressions of CloudFormation’s IaC generator and CDK migrate​
• ​Does Step Function’s new TestState API make end-to-end tests obsolete?​
• ​How to reprocess Lambda dead-letter queue messages on-demand​
• ​How to create private, VPC-only DynamoDB tables​

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Real-World Serverless

• ​#101: Build faster serverless APIs with Brian LeRoux​
• ​#100: LocalStack v3 is here and it’s kinda amazing!​
• ​#99: Azure Functions: DEEP DIVE with Microsoft MVP, Ian Griffiths​
• ​#98: How DAZN streams live sports to MILLIONS of concurrent viewers​
• ​#97: What makes LLRT the FASTEST JavaScript runtime for Lambda?​
• ​#96: How Fathom saved $100,000 per year on their AWS bill!​
• ​#95: How Dunelm went from on-prem to serverless while going faster​

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Guest appearance on podcasts

• The Reconfigured Podcast Ep. 27: Yan Cui: Serverless on AWS​
• Cloud Control podcast Ep. 12: Let’s talk serverless: A discussion with AWS hero Yan Cui​
• Cloud Currents podcast Ep. 6: Understanding Serverless: A Passing Trend or the Best Approach?​

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Webinars

• What Causes AWS Lambda Cold Starts & 7 Ways to Solve Them (slides, recording)
• 3 Ways to Improve Serverless Performance (slides, recording)
• Saving Money on Serverless: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them (slides, recording)

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Public speaking

• QCon London: Efficient Serverless Development: Latest Patterns and Practices on AWS
• AWS Summit London: Patterns for efficient serverless development (slides)
• Conf42 Cloud Native: Patterns for efficient serverless development (recording)
• Serverless Toronto user group: Money-saving tips for the frugal serverless developer (slides, recording)

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Production-Ready Serverless workshop

We had 162 students across the January and March cohorts, and here are some of the best topics we discussed:

• How to tune the lambda memory to get the maximum cost benefit?
• Lambda Function URLs look like an ideal target for DDOS; am I missing something?
• How to manage Node.js function dependencies with the Serverless Framework? Would you use Lambda layers?
• How do you convince people to give up traditional web frameworks to single-purposed functions with Lambda?
• What are the pros and cons of using JavaScript with Lambda vs another (statically typed) language like TypeScript or Golang?
• When to use Lambda over Fargate?
• Should you have an AWS account for every employee?
• How can I protect a public API endpoint from DDOS attacks?
• What are the best practices for setting up AWS Organizations?
• What are the most common gotchas for serverless deployments?
• How to estimate the cost of an application as load changes?
• What are the pros & cons of using mono repo?
• How to handle long-running requests that take longer than API Gateway’s 30s timeout?
• What do you think about unit testing infrastructure code?
• How to control Lambda concurrency so we don’t overwhelm downstream systems?
• How best to limit CI/CD role’s permissions?
• Why hasn’t serverless taken over the world yet? (like it should have!)

There is still time to sign up for the next cohort and level up your serverless game.

Unlike on-demand video courses, I’m making myself available to you during the 4-week programme to answer all your questions and give you tailored advice.

It’s also constantly evolving based on your feedback and the latest developments in AWS.

The next cohort starts on May 27th and will feature more in-depth discussions about building event-driven architectures, including:

• Best practices for structuring events.
• Domain vs Integration events.
• When to add an anti-corruption layer.
• Comparing different event bus topologies and their trade-offs.

And there will be new lectures and exercises on Step Functions (because so many of you have asked for them!)

I’m working on lots of updates for the workshop, and I hope to share them with you soon!

Ciao for now.