Building a modern application development mindset

Today’s applications need to scale to potentially millions of users, have global availability, manage petabytes if not exabytes of data, and respond in milliseconds. We call these modern applications, and they cover use cases from web and mobile backends, IoT applications, AI/ML workloads, batch processing, PaaS solutions, microservice backends, and more.

Modern applications are built with a combination of new architecture patterns, operational models, and software delivery processes. They allow businesses to innovate faster while reducing risk, time to market, and total cost of ownership. This blog outlines the benefits of modern application development and the skilling resources AWS Training and Certification offers.

Benefits of modern application development

Modern application development practices can enable rapid innovation, allowing your teams to create robust, reliable, secure, and scalable applications that customers love to use, and that make it to market faster.

Case in point, Yelp transformed one of its monolithic, business-critical applications—its monthly subscription billing cycle—to AWS serverless microservices. With 10 years of development, the legacy application was functional but cumbersome. By refactoring it into a microservices architecture, Yelp gained flexibility and engineering agility, in addition to a more resilient billing process for its advertisers.

Training your developers

AWS Training and Certification can help your employees change the way they design, build, and manage applications with modern application development. When you train your entire business, they can work proactively toward modern application development best practices and common goals. Your staff becomes agile and innovative, all while saving your company money and time.

Training at your own pace

With a little time and initiative, learners can enhance their practical cloud knowledge through free digital training. These on demand courses, which vary in length from 10 minutes to several hours, can help one broaden their understanding of specific subjects. Moreover, when employees need training, they can access it anywhere they are in the world.

AWS Virtual Classroom Training brings the classroom learning experience to learners. They can engage with an expert AWS-accredited instructor for practical, on-the-spot help. Live instructors teach students in-demand cloud skills and best practices using a mix of presentations, discussion, and hands-on labs to support comprehension and help retain learning.

Virtual classroom training offers more in-depth instruction for employees who want to deepen their technical skills. Developers can dive deep with a mix of presentations, hands-on labs, interactive labs to break down complex topics, and group discussions led by experts in their fields.

When Autodesk migrated to AWS, they trained their teams using the Architecting on AWS class.

“We wanted to make sure that our teams had enough knowledge to know how to best make use of AWS in an efficient way, not just from a cost perspective, but also from using the right features in the right place at the right time,” said Alan Williams, enterprise architect, Autodesk. This class has benefited Autodesk and allowed Autodesk employees to learn using scenarios that are relevant to them.

Two of our most popular virtual classroom courses for software developers who want to learn how to develop modern cloud applications on AWS are:

Developing on AWS
Intended for intermediate-level software developers
Teaches how use the AWS SDK to develop secure and scalable cloud applications. Explores how to interact with AWS using code and also learn about key concepts, best practices, and troubleshooting tips. Also teaches how to set up the AWS SDK and developer credentials for Java, C#/.NET, Python, and JavaScript, as well as how to interact with AWS services and develop solutions by using the AWS SDK.

Advanced Developing on AWS
Intended for experienced software developers who are already familiar with AWS services
Teaches learners about advanced development topics such as architecting for a cloud-native environment and deconstructing on-premises legacy applications and repackaging them into cloud-based, cloud-native architectures. Covers how to apply the tenets of the Twelve-Factor Application methodology.

The following are a few additional recommended digital and virtual training courses for modern application development:

Development-focused learning paths

To help you maximize your modern application development learning, we offer two prescriptive learning paths: Developer and DevOps Engineer. Our Learning Paths are designed to help you build skills by role or by solutions area. Each path recommended a collection of digital and classroom courses to help you advance your skills, and many include recommended AWS Certifications. You can also leverage the AWS Ramp-Up Guides, which outline the free digital training, classroom courses, videos, whitepapers, certifications, and other information to help you build your AWS Cloud knowledge.

Industry-recognized developer certifications

As you advance in your cloud skills training, you may wish to pursue one (or more) of our 12 industry-recognized AWS Certifications. The certification exam validates your expertise and knowledge in the given domain. For modern application development, you may wish to prepare for one or both of the following certifications:

AWS Certified Developer – Associate
Intended for developers with one or more years of hands-on experience on AWS
This exam validates an understanding of core AWS services, uses, and basic AWS architecture best practices. Examinees must demonstrate proficiency in developing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications using AWS.

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
Intended for DevOps engineers with two or more years of experience on AWS
This exam tests an engineer’s experience provisioning, operating, and managing AWS environments. Examinees will show an understanding of how to build highly scalable, available, and self-healing systems on the AWS platform and to design, manage, and maintain tools to automate operational processes.

Modern application development requires a new way of thinking, working, and collaborating to rapidly produce high-quality software. When an organization gains a strong foundation in cloud services and delivery, it can build more sophisticated solutions in the cloud, which allows it to deliver deeper value to its customers. Training has profound benefits for all kinds of organizations. Giving your staff a common cloud foundation is the most cost-effective way to transform your development practices. Track your growth as you gain skills for building modern applications, or for more information, contact us.

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