Ok,
@topper.me.uk here for the final AWS re:Invent keynote of the year. This one is Werner Vogels, CTO of
Amazon.com, and unusually it's just an hour long - which is probably for the best, because it's pretty late here in the UK.
As is traditional, we're starting with some nerd wish fulfillment video content. In previous years, this has seen Werner starring in something like The Matrix, or Fear & Loathing. This time... Back To The Future.
Lots of Amazon frugality on show in this particular video!
Werner starts by addressing the elephant in the room: Werner has given re:Invent keynotes since 2012, but this is his last one. He's not leaving Amazon, but he believes after so many years, the keynote audience deserves a fresh new set of AWS voices.
The other elephant in the room: Will AI take my job? Werner's answer? Maybe. Some tasks will be automated, some skills made obsolete.
But where AI might make some *jobs* obsolete, it won't make *you* obsolete, if you evolve.
We've had assembly, compilers, structured programming, object oriented programming, monolithic architectures, service-oriented architectures. Things have always changed, the new shift in focus to AI is no different.
Bezos believes we're at the convergence point of multiple golden ages, in AI, robotics, space travel, and development in each area accelerates the others. Werner reckons the other era this reminds him of is the renaissance. Ok, let's see where he's going with this.
Werner's attempting to define "The Renaissance Developer". His first suggestion, a developer must by curious. I agree entirely, curiosity leads to learning.
Werner shares some of the learnings he's come to, travelling the world, meeting customers, and seeing people change the world using their skills.
The second quality The Renaissance Developer has is that they think in systems. Not computer systems per se, but other systems of interconnected things.
The third quality of a Renaissance Developer is that they communicate clearly.
(Taking a detour via Kiro to highlight the importance of communication when talking to the AI about how it should build your software)
The fourth quality of the Renaissance Developer: they are an owner. They own the quality of their software.
(On that topic, if you're using AI, you still need to own the outcomes. The work is yours, not the tool's)
Werner encourages us to keep doing person to person code reviews. AI will change many things, but the craft of software is still learned person to person.
The fifth quality of the Renaissance developer: they must be a polymath - someone whose knowledge spans many subjects.
Have pride in your work: most people will never see the majority of your effort, which goes on behind the scenes.
And now, behind the scenes is where Werner is going (albeit 15 minutes late - it wouldn't be a Vogels keynote without running long!). And that's the last AWS re:Invent for this year. Thanks for following along with me.
