What to know before hiring AWS Developers

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the leading cloud platform for businesses, offering a broad set of tools and services to build scalable, secure, and reliable applications. AWS Developers specialize in designing, deploying, and managing cloud-based solutions using AWS services such as EC2, S3, Lambda, and RDS. Hiring the right AWS Developer can make a huge difference in optimizing your cloud infrastructure and ensuring cost efficiency.

Here’s what you need to know to hire AWS Developers for your team effectively.

What does an AWS Developer do?

An AWS Developer specializes in designing, deploying, and maintaining applications and infrastructure on the AWS cloud platform. Their core responsibilities include:

• Developing cloud-based applications: AWS Developers build and deploy cloud-native applications, using services such as Lambda (for serverless computing), EC2 (virtual servers), and RDS (managed databases).
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): AWS Developers use tools like AWS CloudFormation or Terraform to define and manage cloud resources through code, ensuring consistency, scalability, and easy infrastructure replication.
• Database management: AWS Developers manage databases using services like Amazon RDS, DynamoDB, and Aurora, ensuring that data is stored securely, backed up, and highly available.
• Serverless architecture: Many AWS Developers build serverless applications using AWS Lambda, API Gateway, and other managed services to reduce operational overhead and increase scalability.
• Security and compliance: AWS Developers configure services such as AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), AWS Shield, and encryption tools to ensure that applications are secure and compliant with regulatory standards.
• Optimizing performance and cost: AWS Developers monitor and optimize application performance, ensuring that cloud resources are used efficiently to minimize costs while maintaining high performance.
• Continuous integration and deployment: AWS Developers build and manage CI/CD pipelines using tools like AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy to automate the testing, integration, and deployment of code changes.

AWS Developers play a vital role in architecting, deploying, and managing scalable and cost-efficient cloud solutions using AWS services.

How to hire AWS Developers: a quick guide

Define your requirements

Before hiring an AWS Developer, defining your project’s scope and technical requirements is important to ensure you find a developer with the right expertise. Consider the following:

• Type of application: Are you building a web application, mobile app backend, e-commerce platform, or big data solution? The type of project will determine the AWS services and architecture you need.
• Serverless or traditional architecture: Do you want to build a serverless application (using AWS Lambda) or a traditional server-based architecture (using EC2)? This will influence the developer’s skill set.
• Database requirements: Will your project require a relational database like Amazon RDS, or is a NoSQL solution like DynamoDB more appropriate? Ensure the developer has experience with the type of database you need.
• Security and compliance: If your project involves handling sensitive data, security and compliance should be top priorities. The developer should have experience with AWS security best practices, including IAM, encryption, and audit logging.
• Automation and CI/CD pipelines: Does your team use continuous integration and continuous deployment? Ensure the developer is proficient in setting up CI/CD pipelines on AWS using services like AWS CodePipeline and CodeDeploy.
• Cost optimization: How important is cost efficiency for your project? The developer should have experience with AWS cost management tools and best practices to ensure your cloud resources are being used efficiently.

By clearly defining your project’s requirements, you’ll be better positioned to find an AWS Developer who can deliver a solution that meets your technical and business goals.

Where to find AWS Developers

There are several platforms where you can hire top-tier AWS Developers. Job boards like LinkedIn, Indeed, Jobshark, and Glassdoor are excellent starting points. Additionally, platforms like Toptal, Jobshark, Upwork, and Fiverr offer access to freelance AWS Developers.  

Engaging with AWS-specific communities on GitHub, Stack Overflow, or AWS Developer Forums can help you connect with developers actively contributing to the cloud ecosystem. Attending or sponsoring AWS-specific conferences like AWS re, AWS Summit, or local AWS meetups can provide opportunities to network with skilled AWS Developers.

For quicker hiring, partnering with tech sourcing companies, like Jobshark, can help streamline the process.

Assess technical skills

When hiring an AWS Developer, evaluating their technical skills is critical to ensure they can design, deploy, and manage cloud infrastructure that meets your project’s requirements. Some technical skills to assess include:

• Proficiency in AWS services: AWS Developers should be experienced with a wide range of AWS services, including EC2 (virtual servers), S3 (object storage), Lambda (serverless computing), RDS (managed databases), and more.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Ensure the developer is proficient in using tools like AWS CloudFormation or Terraform to automate the provisioning and management of cloud resources through code.
• Serverless architecture: Experience building serverless applications using AWS Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB is critical for projects focused on reducing operational overhead.
• Database management: Look for experience with AWS database services like RDS, DynamoDB, or Aurora, as well as database optimization, backups, and disaster recovery.
• Security best practices: The developer should have experience with AWS security services such as IAM (Identity and Access Management), AWS KMS (Key Management Service), AWS Shield (DDoS protection), and encryption standards to ensure data security and compliance.
• Monitoring and logging: Experience with AWS CloudWatch (for monitoring and alerts) and AWS CloudTrail (for logging and auditing) is essential for tracking the health and performance of AWS resources.
• Scripting and automation: Proficiency in scripting languages like Python, Bash, or PowerShell is important for automating workflows and managing cloud infrastructure efficiently.
• CI/CD pipeline setup: AWS Developers should be skilled in setting up continuous integration and delivery pipelines using AWS services like CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy for automating application deployment.

You can assess these technical skills through coding tests, technical interviews, and reviewing previous projects the developer has completed on AWS.

Evaluate soft skills and cultural fit

Some soft skills to assess when hiring an AWS Developer include:

• Communication: AWS Developers must be able to communicate complex cloud concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Clear communication is critical for explaining architectural decisions and managing expectations.
• Problem-solving ability: AWS Developers frequently deal with optimizing infrastructure, troubleshooting deployment issues, and ensuring system reliability. Strong problem-solving skills are essential for overcoming technical challenges.
• Collaboration: AWS Developers often work closely with DevOps engineers, security teams, and software developers. They should be comfortable collaborating in a cross-functional team environment.
• Adaptability: AWS is constantly evolving with new services and updates. A great AWS Developer should be open to learning and adapting to new tools, frameworks, and best practices as they emerge.
• Attention to detail: Managing cloud infrastructure, setting security policies, and deploying applications requires a high level of attention to detail to avoid costly errors or downtime.

Evaluating these soft skills through interviews and trial projects can help ensure the AWS Developer integrates well with your team and project goals.

Benefits of hiring a skilled AWS Developer

Hiring a skilled AWS Developer offers several key benefits for businesses looking to optimize their cloud infrastructure:

• Cost efficiency: AWS Developers use best practices to manage cloud resources efficiently, helping businesses reduce infrastructure costs while maintaining high performance.
• Scalability: AWS Developers design scalable architectures that allow businesses to handle traffic spikes, scale applications globally, and automatically provision additional resources when needed.
• Security: With expertise in AWS security best practices, AWS Developers ensure that your applications and data are secure, compliant with industry regulations, and protected from threats.
• Automation: AWS Developers automate deployments, infrastructure provisioning, and monitoring processes, which reduces manual intervention, increases efficiency, and minimizes downtime.
• Continuous delivery: AWS Developers streamline the software delivery process by setting up CI/CD pipelines, enabling faster and more reliable application releases.

A brief overview of AWS tools and services

AWS Developers rely on a broad range of AWS services and tools to build, manage, and scale cloud infrastructure efficiently. Some of the AWS services include:

• EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): Virtual servers that provide scalable computing capacity in the cloud.
• S3 (Simple Storage Service): Object storage for storing and retrieving large amounts of data.
• Lambda: A serverless computing service that lets developers run code without provisioning servers.
• RDS (Relational Database Service): A managed database service that supports databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server.
• CloudFormation: An infrastructure as code service for defining AWS resources through templates.
• CloudWatch: A monitoring service for collecting and tracking metrics, logs, and events from AWS services.
• IAM (Identity and Access Management): A service for controlling access to AWS resources and ensuring secure access policies.

A skilled AWS Developer should be proficient in these services to ensure your AWS infrastructure’s efficient management and scalability.