Historically, Amazon Web Services has provided developers with the most comprehensive toolkit to fully support the workflows needed to build business applications. The list of AWS resources related to cloud application development is constantly expanding. The company frequently releases updates to existing tools, adds support for popular platforms and technologies, and integrates with solutions from leading vendors.

In this article, we will explore the roles and responsibilities of AWS developers in detail and find out the benefits of hiring AWS developers for your business.

Why Does Your Business Need Amazon Web Services (AWS)?

Amazon Web Services or AWS is a cloud computing platform of Amazon. AWS has been a leader in the cloud computing market for many years and still dominates the cloud computing market. It provided a significant advantage in the early start of the cloud computing race, which continues to serve businesses and individuals with its unprecedented offerings.

AWS began offering cloud infrastructure solutions such as computing and storage before the cloud became available to individuals and the corporate sector. The platform was launched in 2002 with only limited tools and services and was later publicly reformatted in late 2003. The first AWS service became available to the public in 2004. It offers a combination of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). Its popularity is reinforced by offering innovative production environments and consistent innovations.

The AWS platform offers a wide range of cloud products and services. For example, it provides servers, storage, databases, analytics, networking, tools for development, deployment, data migration, security services, mobile services, tools for business productivity and customer engagement, and so on.

What Does an AWS Developer Do?

The responsibilities of AWS developers depend on the company’s priorities and projects. But there is a list of the main things every AWS Developer should know. It includes:

• Deep knowledge of an app infrastructure;
• Planning and maintaining the service capacity;
• Implementation of cost-effective migration solutions;
• Exploring the best practices of infrastructure;
• Guidance and assistance in migration to AWS;
• Monitoring stack setup;
• Knowledge of main and trending AWS development tools.
• Setup security policies
• Upscaling and downscaling
• Integrations between other cloud providers (GCP, Azure)
• Perform Infrastructure As Code and CI\CD pipelines in AWS cloud

Based on our experience in AWS, we have formed the tools that are useful and in demand for software development tasks.

Developers' tools

• AWS Cloud9 is a cloud-based integrated development environment (IDE) for writing, running, and debugging code in the browser. It includes a code editor, debugger, and terminal and built-in support for the JavaScript, Python, and PHP programming languages.
• AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) is an open-source software development environment for modeling and provisioning cloud application resources using familiar programming languages. The AWS CDK simplifies application modeling tasks by using high-level components that pre-configure cloud resources with default settings.
• AWS X-Ray helps developers analyze products and distributed applications, such as applications based on a microservices architecture, and troubleshoots bugs. The X‑Ray also provides end-to-end tracking of application request paths and maps internal components.
• AWS CodePipeline is a managed continuous delivery service that helps you automate the process to test and release your code more frequently. It can be used with a graphical user interface or a command line. It supports a combination of automatic and manual control modes.
• AWS Lambda is a computing service that allows developers to run code without managing servers. It only executes code when needed and scales it automatically. With Lambda, you can run almost any application and back-end service by simply uploading code to Lambda. The tool lets you set up code to run automatically from other AWS services or call it directly from a mobile or web application.
• AWS Fargate is a container-based serverless computing engine that works with Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).

For application integration

• AWS Step Functions allows you to coordinate multiple AWS services in serverless workflows and quickly build and update applications. You can also combine services such as AWS Lambda and AWS Fargate into multifunctional applications.
• Amazon EventBridge is designed to easily connect cloud-native applications using data from users' applications, integrated SaaS applications, and AWS services.

Mobile development

• AWS AppSync is a service that uses GraphQL to make it easy for applications to access the data. It simplifies development by allowing you to create a flexible API to securely access, manipulate, and combine data from multiple sources.
• AWS Amplify is a platform for developing secure, scalable mobile and web applications. It helps authenticate users, securely store user data and metadata, allow selective access to data, integrate ML solutions, analyze application metrics, and execute server-side code.
• Amazon Pinpoint is a marketing and analytics service hosted on the AWS public cloud that enables companies to collaborate and track metrics related to end-user application usage.

Benefits of Hiring AWS Developer for Your Business

Amazon Web Services is a cloud-based platform that offers a wide range of digital services for companies of all sizes. AWS is often used to create a company's digital infrastructure and work with data.

Rapid growth and scaling are the main goals and key indicators of the success of a modern business. However, this requires the implementation of appropriate infrastructure. It is not enough to gain a million customer base.

The general benefits of hiring an AWS developer include:

• You can use high-quality tools like Kubernetes, Lambda utils, tests, etc.
• It’s cost-effective
• You can save money
• You can use less human resources
• You can reach the target audience faster
• You can use the most scalable, reliable, and secure computing infrastructure
• You can get the best support services

AWS was created to solve this problem for small businesses and startups. Service customers have access to the largest cloud computing network. AWS allows you to reconfigure the platform capabilities quickly. AWS is also great for medium businesses looking to achieve impressive growth in a short period.

One of the key advantages of the AWS platform is the ability to develop a necessary infrastructure from individual services. Instead of buying hardware and using a local server, you can rent space on Amazon servers.

Another appealing feature of cloud service providers is that they can implement ready-made AI and ML solutions. For example, companies can take advantage of AI-APIs developed by Amazon together with Microsoft. AWS also offers a more advanced ML-API for in-house development.

To save time and money, you can turn to professional consultants who can help you choose the best solutions and implement them for your business.

The Cost of Hiring an AWS Developer

The first thing you need to do is to define the needs of your business. The rate of the AWS developers depends on various factors that include their expertise level, location, business market.

Let’s see the main factors that influence the cost of hiring such specialists:

1. Project scope

The first thing you need to define is the project specification. Different AWS projects require various approaches and skills. Do you need cloud service support or some specific certified AWS DevOps solutions? The cost varies depending on the project scope and the unique functionality you want to include in your web application development. Try to create a detailed project description to estimate a more accurate cost.

2. Level of experience

Deciding on the expertise level of AWS developers is essential, as you don’t need to pay more for hiring an advanced developer for an essential file storage website. And if you want to create a complex, unique solution using the best technologies and ML tools, you need to prepare the budget for a senior AWS developer with experience in the necessary technologies.

Here you can compare the cost of the main types of AWS developers depending on their level of expertise.

3. Location

Another vital aspect is the location of the AWS developer. Sometimes you can save money by finding talents in other countries. But don’t forget the hidden factors like differences in time zone, language barriers, management of remote work. You can search the global talents, compare the costs in different regions and choose the best option for your project.

4. Freelancer or agency

If you choose an agency, it’s more often you’ll get the entire team of specialists, including project managers, engineers, designers, and others. When giving preference to freelancers, you can concentrate your attention on the specific part of the project and look for the skills you need. The main point is to understand which model best suits your business goals.

Final Words

Even though AWS is more suitable for medium or large businesses that need to scale quickly and reduce overhead, AWS offers the same opportunities for small businesses providing more flexible payment options and customizable features.

Explore the possibilities, decide on the approach that suits your business, learn the best practices and choose the best AWS professionals. If you need help, don’t hesitate to contact us.