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Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

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Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#631

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

tester457 wrote: post #344
fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had the experience of an AWS account manager helping me by getting something fixed (working at a big client). But more commonly, I think the account manager’s job at AWS or any cloud or SAAS is to create a reality distortion field and distract you from how much they are charging you.

> I think the account manager’s job at AWS or any cloud or SAAS is to create a reality distortion field and distract you from how much they are charging you. How do they do this jedi mind trick?

Giving discounts on the things that are more commodified, but digging in on areas that are harder to define and compare with competitors. And of course, evaluating your sophistication and lock-in to determine if they have to compete at all.

Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#632

Post by pconstantine »

jq-r wrote: post #392
morsecodist wrote: post #131

> Picking AWS over Google Cloud I know this is an unpopular opinion but I think google cloud is amazing compared to AWS. I use google cloud run and it works like a dream. I have never found an easier way to get a docker container running in the cloud. The services all have sensible names, there are fewer more important services compared to the mess of AWS services, and the UI is more intuitive. The only downside I ha…

> "regular cadence meetings with our AWS account manager" and I am not sure what could be discusse. As being on a number of those calls, its just a bunch of crap where they talk like a scripted bot reading from corporate buzzword bingo card over a slideshow. Their real intention is two fold. To sell you even more AWS complexity/services, and to provide "value" to their person of contact (which is person working in yo…

What questions do you even ask?

In my experience all questions I've had for AWS were: 1. Their bugs, which won't be fixed in near future anyway. 2. Their transient failures, that will be fixed anyway soon.

So there's zero value in ever contacting AWS support.

Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#633

Post by pconstantine »

ndjshe3838 wrote: post #78

I’m imagining a developer in the 90s/00s reading this list and being baffled by the complexity/terminology

Not really, it's just like counting: awk, grep, sed, uniq, tail, etc. "CloudOS" is in it's early days right now. You need to be careful on what tool or library you pick.

Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#634

Post by davedx »

asalahli wrote: post #627
marcinzm wrote: post #603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that works right until you get to publish an incident report like this: https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2017/02/01/gitlab-dot-com-data...

> Our backups to S3 apparently don’t work either: the bucket is empty It took them a data loss incident to find this out? This is just one of the many red flags mentioned in the article, IMO this incident isn't about relying on cloud backups vs self managing it

Yeah. Testing your backup works can be almost as much work as setting the thing up in the first place, too, but you do need to do it

Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#635

Post by orthoxerox »

Draiken wrote: post #345
isbvhodnvemrwvn wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is spending time to make it reliable worth it vs working on your actual product? Databases are THE most critical things your company has.

I see this argument a lot. Then most startups use that time to create rushed half-assed features instead of spending a week on their db that'll end up saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. Forever. For me that's short-sighted.

Startups are in the job of earning millions. If they can spend $100k on a managed DB now and just spend every braincell on getting their product right, it's a win for their investors.

Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#636

Post by Draiken »

orthoxerox wrote: post #635
Draiken wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this argument a lot. Then most startups use that time to create rushed half-assed features instead of spending a week on their db that'll end up saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. Forever. For me that's short-sighted.

Startups are in the job of earning millions. If they can spend $100k on a managed DB now and just spend every braincell on getting their product right, it's a win for their investors.

That mentality is working wonders right now, isn't it?

Hundreds of dead startups because after all that unnecessary spending, they still have unnecessary buggy software that got sold to other startups that, when push comes to shove, will cut spending in those same startups that offer half-baked buggy products.

What you say is definitely what they preach. But I don't agree or see that as a good logic.

Way too many startup founders decide to build shitty products with short-sighted solutions like these, following whatever is trendy (crypto, AI, etc) because investors advise them to. Guess what: the investor doesn't care about creating a good business. He wants a unicorn. So they advise them to make all-or-nothing moves knowing it will most likely kill the startup.

It's definitely "a strategy". But I think it's short-sighted as hell.

Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#637

Post by orthoxerox »

Draiken wrote: post #636
orthoxerox wrote: post #635

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startups are in the job of earning millions. If they can spend $100k on a managed DB now and just spend every braincell on getting their product right, it's a win for their investors.

That mentality is working wonders right now, isn't it? Hundreds of dead startups because after all that unnecessary spending, they still have unnecessary buggy software that got sold to other startups that, when push comes to shove, will cut spending in those same startups that offer half-baked buggy products. What you say is definitely what they preach. But I don't agree or see that as a good logic. Way too many sta…

That's the whole point of startups and VC: not spending money on safe investments that provide a 10% return, but spending large amounts of money on risky investments that provide, when averaged together (rare unicorns on top of a mound of dead startups), a 20% return. Both numbers completely arbitrary, of course.

Re: Almost every infrastructure decision I endorse or regret

#638

Post by Draiken »

orthoxerox wrote: post #637
Draiken wrote: post #636

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That mentality is working wonders right now, isn't it? Hundreds of dead startups because after all that unnecessary spending, they still have unnecessary buggy software that got sold to other startups that, when push comes to shove, will cut spending in those same startups that offer half-baked buggy products. What you say is definitely what they preach. But I don't agree or see that as a good logic. Way too many sta…

That's the whole point of startups and VC: not spending money on safe investments that provide a 10% return, but spending large amounts of money on risky investments that provide, when averaged together (rare unicorns on top of a mound of dead startups), a 20% return. Both numbers completely arbitrary, of course.

Isn't this only the latest definition of "startup"? What exactly defines a startup? Is it growth at all costs? Is it reckless spending? Complete focus on short-term gains? Something else?

These investment rounds are only there to provide money to start. Unless the founders sign away the control of their company to investors, they are still at the helm of the ship. They can choose how they will approach growth.

We can see how the entire scene is gearing towards profitability now that the money dried up, so this growth focus is no longer the only game in town.

You can still take investments and accelerate growth without having to recklessly go all-in. But I've never taken VC money. Maybe that's baked into the contracts?

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