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Lou Bichard

Software Developer

Hey I'm Lou! I'm a Cloud Software Engineer From London. I created Open Up The Cloud to help people get their start and grow their careers in cloud. I edit the monthly Open Up The Cloud Newsletter which I think you'd really like. You can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn , I'm always happy to chat. When I'm not writing you can usually find me picking up heavy things and putting them down, or riding two wheels (sometimes with an engine, sometimes not).

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Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #14 (July 2020)

Hello again cloud friend,

It’s that time again, to go through another month of cloud news, topics and interesting articles. So grab yourself a coffee (or whatever), and let’s dig in.

Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter Banner

To begin I must note that this months newsletter is a little behind schedule. Tardiness is definitely not something I will be making a habit from. That being said, the world is in an odd place right now and I’m definitely not the only one feeling the impacts.

However, the silver lining of the delay is that this months newsletter is packed with curious happenings, of which I’m quite excited to share. The newsletter this month is a real mixed bag, from high profile outages up to new communities popping up.

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A Philosophy For Effective Error Handling (Using JavaScript Examples)

Error handling can be a confusing topic — for a long time I struggled to understand error handling myself. I found the whole topic quite mystical and daunting. I ended up subscribed to the school of thought: “let the error throw and pray”. But, over time, I learned there are simple, easy to understand strategies for error handling that lead to noticeably better results than hope alone!

If, like I did, you also have difficulty understanding error handling then you’re in the right place. After years working with JavaScript, and speaking/working with other engineers, a style of applications layout for handling errors emerged in my own work. And it’s this philosophy for error handling that I want to share with you today.

By the end of the article you’ll understand how to structure an application to handle errors effectively, achieve more understanding of the application, deliver better error messages and have an easier time debugging.

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How To Setup Monitoring / Observability On Existing Software (e.g. A Web API): A Practical 5 Step Guide.

Recently I find myself in the position of applying monitoring to existing software applications quite often. Whilst I have been applying the monitoring tools, I noticed that I follow the same steps each time…

Request Invocations

Which got me thinking: “Could you create a ‘recipe’ or ‘cookbook’ for how to apply monitoring to an existing software application?”. I set to work writing this article, and I can conclude, the answer is: yes!

By the end of this article you’ll know the 5 steps you should take when setting up monitoring on an existing service. 

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How Do You Look at Console.Log Output of an Amazon Lambda Function?

Are you creating a lambda function? Are you currently debugging wondering where you can access the output of your console.log entries?

Understanding how logs work is a common confusion area when working with AWS Lambda. Today, we’re going to clear up the confusion and get your hands on your AWS Lambda logs so that you can start to debug your Lambda function.

By the end of this article you’ll understand how and where console.log output goes from an AWS Lambda function, and also how to debug your AWS Lambda setup if you’re still not seeing log output. 

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Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #13 (June 2020)

Hello friend,

This past month I’ve given the website a new lick of CSS paint. That’s a new body new font and a simpler white design. Let me know what you think! And in other news this month I started officially writing up reader questions, and writing up cloud book summaries (more on both of these later on). But now it’s time to take a look through the happenings of May 2020 within the cloud world.

Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter Banner

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Book Summary: “Building Microservices” By Sam Newman

1 Sentence Summary: Building Microservices allows us the opportunity to tackle software complexity and deliver faster; if (and it’s a big if) we build our services right: choosing the right tech, interfaces, and integration patterns.

Building Microservices Book

Microservices are a way of breaking down applications into their parts so that businesses can deliver the components separately, experiment with distinct technology stacks, and create clear boundaries between business logic.

But building microservices isn’t easy an easy task. With microservices, you need to consider many things, such as how (and where) you split the services, how they talk to each other (integration), and what data they share.

It’s in-vogue at the moment to debate on the virtues of Microservices vs. Monoliths. But ultimately they’re just two different architectural patterns that solve different use cases. Ideally, you should understand both patterns.

Here are my three big takeaways:

  • An architect is a town planner
  • Microservices are data abstractions
  • Independently deploy services
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Terraform: How To Rename (Instead Of Deleting) A Resource

Are you trying to rename or move a Terraform resource and Terraform is now trying to re-create your resource rather than referencing the existing one?

It’s a common issue, and the answer is quite straight-forward. Today we’ll cover how you can move a Terraform resource instead of deleting it.

By the end of this article you’ll understand how to rename, instead of deleting a resource and the reasons for how / why it works. 

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How I Gained Consistent Traffic To My Website Using SEO (And How You Can, Too)

Are you growing a website of your own? Are you looking to generate traffic to view your work? I want to take a slight step away from the usual proceedings of cloud content to talk about a somewhat different topic, website growth.

SEO Cover

Some of you reading will have your own websites or blogs—and like me—you want to reach the widest audience possible. Today I’m going to give you a behind the scenes look at exactly what I did over the last year to gain consistent, repeatable traffic growth to my own website through SEO.

By the end of this article you’ll know the two big changes that increased my traffic by 6X in less than 9 months. You’ll also understand three techniques I use to find winning article topics. 

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Reader Question: Which AWS Certificates Should You Start With If You’re A Junior?

In reader questions I share real reader questions / answers. In this question we discuss with AWS and where to start with AWS certificates. Also, if you have a question of your own, feel free to submit it.

Question

Hey Lou, I’ve been following you since I registered in Dev.to.

Your posts and blog are some of the reasons I got interested in Cloud, but I kept delaying it because I didn’t want to rush into it, now that I’ve learned Docker, Swarm, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Ansible, Linux administration and a bit of cloud with Digital Ocean droplets (mind you I’m a junior so I have very little experience), I feel ready to begin AWS, I’m so excited you have no idea. I bought a course on AWS Architect Associate, but I haven’t started it yet, I have one question.

I’m aware AWS has four levels: foundational, associate, professional and specialty. I’m also aware associate has three paths: architect, developer, sysops.

I read that it could take a couple years to move from associate to professional, should I put all my time into one path? or should I learn all three associate paths before focusing on one?

Also, if you have any general advice for me and/or any useful posts from your blog before I begin AWS I’d seriously appreciate it.

Thank you very much!