Aws Developer Associate

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What Does an AWS Associate Developer Do?

An AWS Developer Associate is responsible for designing, setting up, maintaining, and managing the cloud-based infrastructure of web applications in the AWS cloud. AWS Developer Associates work with applications or programs on the cloud-based Amazon Web Services platform.

Beyond Amazon, many businesses, including consultancies like Deloitte, providers of software solutions, and production studios that need in-house staff for their operations, hire AWS Developer Associates.

AWS Associate Developer

A career in AWS offers many job opportunities regardless of your interests because it is used by such a wide range of industries (from hospitality to entertainment and advertising).

Work With Microservices

Microservices are an architectural approach to building applications that the overall application uses to function. It is simpler to add features and update several elements at once when they are assigned to different parts of the application. As an AWS Developer Associate, you must understand how to deploy these microservices on the AWS platform and use them to build business solutions.

Set Up Monitoring Systems

An application would always work as intended in an ideal world, but errors do occur. The purpose of monitoring is to notify you when a problem arises, identify what happened, and flag any affected systems. You can identify the system that caused the issue and fix it by performing root cause analysis (RCA) with the assistance of monitoring.

Migrate Infrastructure

As more businesses choose to migrate their systems to the cloud, infrastructure migration is becoming more and more popular, For example, on-prem servers to Amazon EC2 instances or on-prem databases to AWS-managed Aurora database. Since AWS has so many resources, some companies might want to hire you to move their infrastructure to AWS. Your ability to successfully migrate will depend on your understanding of the guiding principles and procedures.

Background and Experience

A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent work experience is required, as well as a thorough knowledge of the fundamental AWS services, for candidates looking to land an AWS Developer Associate position.

The best candidates should know object-oriented programming, distributed systems, and building or maintaining cloud-native applications.

Additionally, an ideal AWS Developer Associate would have experience with front-end UI development for web-based applications using SQL, HTML, Advanced JavaScript, and CSS, as well as knowledge of large-scale system design.

Roles and Responsibilities

The responsibilities of an AWS Developer can be volatile depending on the organization's functioning at the time. A few potential duties include:

  • Implementing service capacity planning strategies: A capacity plan helps you estimate the long-term requirements for your organization.
  • Setting up a monitoring stack: Few logging, monitoring, and observability tools are -
    • Amazon CloudWatch is used to monitor system and application logs, set alarms, and create custom metrics.
    • AWS CloudTrail is used to track changes made to resources, monitor compliance, and investigate security incidents.
    • AWS X-Ray is used to identify the root cause of performance issues, troubleshoot errors, and optimize resource utilization.
  • Migrating infrastructure with minimal downtime.
  • Defining and documenting best practices and strategies for infrastructure maintenance and application deployment.
  • Writing Infrastructure as Code using CloudFormation or similar tools.
  • Overseeing effective design, development, and validation.

Essential Skills You Need To Be an AWS Developer

Proficiency in Programming Languages

  • Proficiency in at least one language from the stack: Java, Python, Ruby, or Node.js
  • Good understanding of writing infrastructure as code (IaC) using Terraform or CloudFormation.
  • It is good to have familiarity with front-end web development as well.

Knowledge of AWS Services and Infrastructure

  • AWS Compute, Storage, Database, and Networking Services:
    • Compute Services provide a scalable and flexible infrastructure to run code, process data, and run containers. Example AWS products - Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS).
    • Storage Services provide a scalable and secure infrastructure to store data of any size. Example AWS products - Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service), Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store), and Amazon EFS (Elastic File System).
    • Database Services provide a highly scalable and performant infrastructure to store and manage data. AWS products include Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) and Amazon DynamoDB.
    • Networking Services provide a highly available and scalable infrastructure to build and manage network architectures. Example AWS products - Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud), Amazon Route 53, And AWS Direct Connect.
  • Previous experience with serverless approaches. For instance, experience with AWS SAM (Serverless Application Model) or AWS Lambda is a plus.
  • Proficiency in using AWS CLI, AWS APIs, and SDKs for building applications.
  • AWS Deployment and Management Tools: Here are some deployment and management tools in AWS -
    • AWS CloudFormation is a service that helps customers model and provision AWS resources.
    • AWS CodeDeploy can be used to deploy application code, serverless functions, and even entire infrastructures.
    • AWS CodePipeline is a continuous delivery service that automates application building, testing, and deployment.
    • AWS Systems Manager is a service that helps customers manage their AWS resources.
    • AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a service that makes it easy to deploy, manage, and scale web applications and services.

Understanding of Cloud Computing Concepts

  • Cloud Deployment Models: It refers to how cloud computing services are deployed, including public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud.
  • Cloud Security and Compliance: The measures and protocols put in place to protect cloud computing environments and ensure that they meet regulatory and industry compliance requirements.
  • Cloud Architecture and Design Patterns: The process of designing and implementing cloud-based systems using best practices and pre-established design patterns.
  • Proficiency in using a CI/CD pipeline for deploying the applications on AWS.
  • Good understanding of writing infrastructure as code (IaC) using Terraform or CloudFormation
  • Experience with logging and monitoring tools like Prometheus, AWS CloudWatch, and the ELK stack.

AWS Developer Salary

The average salary for an AWS Developer Associate is around $125,000 per year, though this can vary depending on where you work, how much experience you have, and the particular organization. For instance, the average salary for an AWS Developer Associate based in Wisconsin is $135,000, while the salary for the same position in California is $140,000.

Additionally, it matters a lot what your job designation is. For example, a Java AWS Microservices Developer in Wayne, New Jersey, can earn $130,000 annually. At the same time, a senior AWS Full Stack Developer in Charleston, South Carolina, can make up to $115,000.

In India, an entry-level AWS developer in India can earn around INR 4-6 lakhs per year, while a mid-level AWS developer can earn around INR 10-18 lakhs per year, and a senior-level AWS developer can earn over INR 20 lakhs per year. It's important to note that these are just estimates and the actual salary may vary based on individual circumstances and the specific job role.

Hence, globally the average salary of an AWS Developer Associate ranges from $92,000 to $158,000 per year.

How To Become an AWS Developer

You need a background in application development to get started on the path to becoming an AWS Developer Associate. Even though an AWS Developer Associate may be expected to perform several duties, development is the main focus of all duties because you'll be producing or managing software solutions.

Obtaining a professional certification can significantly increase your value as an AWS developer. Naturally, Amazon, the organization that created the AWS platform, is the best place to look for these certifications. You can target the `AWS Certified Developer - Associate exam which is suitable for developers with at least one year of experience in building AWS-based applications.

Completely new to the industry? Our Full-Stack Developer career path is a great place to start. You will gain the fundamental knowledge necessary to feel at ease while designing and developing digital solutions from these courses. These will also make it simpler to become certified in AWS.

Conclusion

  • An AWS Developer Associate is responsible for designing, setting up, maintaining, and managing the cloud-based infrastructure of web applications in the AWS cloud.
  • Microservices are an architectural approach to building applications that the overall application uses to function.
  • A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent work experience is required to become an AWS Developer Associate.
  • The average salary of an AWS Developer Associate ranges from $92,000 to ``$158,000 per year`.
  • You need a background in application development to get started on the path to becoming an AWS Developer Associate.
  • AWS Developers work with applications or programs on the cloud-based Amazon Web Services platform.
  • Essential skills you need to become an AWS Developer Associate are Proficiency in programming languages, Knowledge of AWS services and infrastructure, and Understanding of Cloud Computing concepts.