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Are you looking for the best way to hire AWS developers? If so then you have come to the right place.
While other technology giants such as Google and Microsoft have their own powerful cloud platforms, Amazon Web Services or AWS has dominated the cloud services market for the last few decades.
There are clear reasons for this. The first and foremost reason is that AWS was the first to the cloud party. Suprisingly, it was not Microsoft or Google that had the vision for on-demand cloud computing but rather an online books retailer – Amazon. Investing heavily in cloud services, Amazon quickly got outfront and has never looked back.
AWS cloud is cost-effective while offering a great range of services, capabilities, tools, and solutions. AWS is designed to make access to on-demand cloud computing resources easy for all.
Whatever kind of project that you are looking to undertake, be it a web development or mobile development project, etc., AWS has a huge range of top-notch tools to help you.
For example, if you are developing a web solution, you can use AWS Elastics Beanstalk, i.e., the PaaS offering from AWS for your web application development. On the other hand, if you are developing a mobile application, you can use AWS Amplify, i.e., the MBaaS (Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service).
If you only want scalable computing capacity but not a PaaS or MBaaS platform, you can use Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and if you want an object storage service on the cloud, Amazon S3 is for you. Planning to set up, operate, and scale a relational database on the cloud? Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) can help you.
I think you get the point.
The growing popularity of AWS has resulted in more and more developers using it. As a result, you might think that finding a great software developer with AWS skills will be easy, however, this is not the case.
Since there are so many developers out there, you need to know how to find those few great developers among the rest. To help you, we have put together this guide on how to do just that. Please keep in mind that this is a generalized list as there are so many different types of projects out there.
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Essential AWS development skills
You need AWS developers that have the following skills:
- Knowledge and experience with the core AWS services, including the specific services that you plan to use in your project;
- Skills in Linux or Unix administration;
- AWS database migration skills;
- Experience with Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS);
- Knowledge of Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS);
- For a web development project, your developer needs the extensive experience of working on Java, Node.js or your choice of the programming language;
- For developing a mobile app, the programmer needs to have native Android/iOS development skills or React Native skills;
- Python skills for AI/ML development;
- Deep knowledge of application security in the cloud computing environment;
- In-depth knowledge of AWS information security services like Amazon Identity & Access Management (IAM), AWS Single Sign-On (SSO), Amazon Cognito, Amazon GuardDuty, AWS Shield, AWS Key Management Service (KMS), AWS CloudHSM, etc.;
- Experience with AWS cloud monitoring solutions like Amazon CloudWatch;
- Deep knowledge of designing application systems and architecture patterns;
- Proven capability to troubleshoot distributed systems;
- In-depth knowledge of “Infrastructure as Code” (IaC) and experience with AWS IaC solutions like AWS CloudFormation;
- Prior experience of designing, developing, deploying, and maintaining cloud-native apps;
- Deep knowledge of Amazon RDS;
- Familiarity with AWS platforms like AWS Elastic Beanstalk, AWS Amplify, etc.;
- Experience with DevOps practices;
- Knowledge of AWS CI/CD tools like AWS CodePipeline, AWS CodeBuild, AWS CodeDeploy, AWS CodeStar, etc.;
- Familiarity with AWS Lambda, the Serverless computing platform provided by AWS.
Remember that this isn’t an exhaustive list of skills. Your specific project requirements will determine the other skills you need. For example, if your project requires, then you might need skills with AWS services for IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, etc.
Other software development skills that AWS developers need
AWS developers need some additional skills too. These are as follows:
A. The skills to develop secure applications
Application security is crucial, and we can’t overstate its importance. You need developers that know how to code secure applications. They should know the following:
- How to identify and mitigate key application security vulnerabilities like injection, broken authentication, etc.;
- Utilizing modern tools/techniques/solutions like multi-factor authentication (MFA), encryption, next-generation firewalls, etc.;
- How to secure APIs;
- The importance of proactively including compliance and security testing in the CI/CD pipeline instead of leaving them as the last set of tasks.
B. The knowledge to develop 1st party APIs
In all likelihood, you will develop 1st party RESTful APIs as part of your application development. APIs allow the front-end of your app to access the back-end using a consistent framework. Thanks to APIs, you can also scale your software development processes.
You need developers that know the following:
- How to use modern API development and documentation tools;
- Using the AWS cloud platform to host APIs;
- How to use Amazon RDS and/or other NoSQL databases to build the back-end;
- Designing API endpoint URLs smartly;
- How to secure 1st party APIs with the help of tools and techniques like authentication tokens, encryption, digital signature, quotas, throttling, and secure gateways;
- How to create effective rules for API requests and responses.
C. The knowledge and experience gained by delivering great software development projects
Succeeding in a software development project requires much more than good technical skills in programming languages and tools. Developers learn a lot by working in complex projects, and AWS developers aren’t exceptions to this rule.
You need developers that know the following:
- How to meaningfully contribute to the software architecture design;
- How to code in line with the architectural decisions taken in the project;
- Coding in alignment with the user interface design principles used in the project;
- How to collaborate with testers and DevOps engineers.
We can’t overstate the importance of code review here. Code reviews can identify defects early in the life cycle. It also unearths defects that testing can’t detect.
Application security vulnerabilities are prime examples of this. You will find it hard to detect these vulnerabilities during testing, however, code reviews can detect them. You need developers with experience in code review.
How to find competent AWS developers?
Now you know the skills you should look for. You now need to start the hiring process. Take the following steps:
1. Choose a hiring platform: Freelancer platforms or software development company
When you undertake a crucial software development project, you need the right people. Hiring decisions make a significant impact since they determine what kind of people you get.
The first option is to use a general-purpose freelance site. These have the main advantages of having large networks of freelancers and the ability to negotiate a favorable hourly rate.
However, freelancers often work on multiple projects simultaneously, therefore, they will work on your project only on a part-time basis. Time zone differences can make it hard, e.g., managing freelancers in an eastern European country can be hard if you are in the western United States, for example.
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Platforms often deduct up to 20% of the freelancers’ income, which acts as a demotivating factor. They also don’t provide any management support.
The second option is to use a freelance platform that focuses primarily on software development. You can get high-quality developers from these platforms thanks to their stringent screening process (or so they say).
While that’s an advantage, they don’t provide any management support and you still need to mitigate the risks of working with freelancers.
The best option is to use a reputable software development company like DevTeam.Space. We allow companies to outsource our full-time AWS developers or development teams. We comprehensively vet our developers to ensure they are all up to our high standards before we allow them into our community. This means you don’t have to.
We provide comprehensive project management support and replace any developer should they fall sick, etc. We also take the security of your sensitive data seriously. We implement physical, technical, and procedural safeguards to secure your sensitive data.
2. Interview the shortlisted candidates
Now you have chosen a hiring platform, you now need to interview the candidates. (Note that you won’t need to undertake such a comprehensive interview process in regards to individual developers when you hire from a software development company).
Assuming you are not, you can interview them if you are an AWS expert. If you aren’t, then you can ask a knowledgeable associate to interview the candidates (You need someone who is knowledgeable enough to really test the candidate’s answers by answering next-level follow ups).
The other option is to find interview questions on the Internet (though we really don’t recommend this unless you have a good degree of understanding).
Cover all the technical skills we have mentioned. Review the portfolios of the candidates carefully and identify the complex projects that they have worked on. Ask them how they have dealt with problems and value honestly. We don’t necessarily penalize candidates if they admit they needed to ask a colleague for help, etc.
Explain your project requirements and ask them how they would approach the more difficult aspects of your project. You should expect them to provide detailed responses. Candidates with years of experience on AWS will know how to provide a specific solution to most requirements.
3. Provide detailed information about your application development project
An AWS developer will need sufficient information to successfully deliver your project. This is true even for an AWS professional with years of experience. You now need to provide all relevant confidential information about your project.
Start with your project’s business requirements. Provide the business and technical requirement documents to the AWS developer. The developer needs to know the software architectural decisions in your project, therefore, provide relevant documentation.
You need to provide relevant documentation that explains your information security requirements. The AWS developer you choose needs to know about your test plans. Your database management requirements are the other important documentation that you need to provide.
Introduce the AWS developer to your larger team. Explain the team structure. Take sufficient time to explain the roles and responsibilities of the developer. Provide access to the technical environment of your project. Establish a communication process.
As the next step, explain your project plan and schedule. You will probably have multiple iterations in your project, therefore, you need to explain them to the developer.
Establish accountability measures. Describe the milestone review process in your project. Explain how you will pay, including the payment terms and conditions.
Interview tips to hire AWS engineers
Keep the following interview tips in mind when hiring AWS developers:
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A. Value HAM – Honesty And Motivation
We value HAM above all. The reason for this is simple. An honest developer allows you to understand exactly what they have been doing and what mistakes they have made. We don’t need to explain why this is invaluable.
When it comes to motivation, after more than a decade in this business, we are fond of saying: You can find a talented unmotivated developer but you will never find a great unmotivated developer. Do we need to explain more?
B. Ensure you have at least a 4 hour time-zone overlap
You need software developers that are around to communicate, obviously. We recommend that you only consider developers who have a 4 hour + overlap either in the morning or afternoon so that you have ample time to deal with any issues. We have found 4+ hours to be enough.
C. Look for software engineers with experience in using popular NoSQL databases on AWS
Many software developers might want to use Amazon DynamoDB, the popular NoSQL Key-Value database. It’s easy to use on an AWS project too. However, keep in mind that NoSQL databases like MongoDB and Apache Cassandra are very popular too.
Best AWS developers know how to use the right NoSQL database for your project. Look for developers that have used a variety of NoSQL databases on AWS.
Examples of AWS interview questions
Ask questions that help you to judge practical knowledge. Check out the following examples:
A. Which AWS solution can you utilize to monitor the performance of your application system?
Answer: You can use Amazon CloudWatch. It offers relevant metrics to track the performance of application systems. You can use Amazon CloudWatch to implement monitoring of resources like Amazon EC2 instances. You can see reports and set up alarms, etc.
B. Does AWS allow you to modify security group rules that are used by multiple EC2 instances?
Answer: AWS allows you to modify such security group rules. It implements the changes immediately, and you don’t need to restart the instances.
C. Why will you lifecycle hooks for auto-scaling?
Answer: Lifecycle hooks carry out custom actions when an auto-scaling group launches or terminates an instance. The pause instances. You can install software products of your choice or check the readiness of the instance when it’s paused.
Read our AWS interview questions for more in-depth examples.
That’s it! You are now ready to set your new developer working.
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