2025-05-02 –, Ballroom (track sponsored by Checkmarx)
This talk presents a cost-effective approach to processing SQS queues by transitioning from AWS Lambda to ECS for interrupt-tolerant workloads. It highlights a standardized, developer-friendly pattern that imitates the Lambda development experience while offering teams greater flexibility to customize scaling and resource allocation.
This talk will guide the audience through the thought process and development journey of transitioning costly Lambda functions to ECS Fargate Spot, showcasing how a single pilot migration achieved annual savings of approximately $50,000. We’ll explore how the Infrastructure team at Upside has delivered a developer experience comparable to Lambda, including features such as simple auto-scaling based on SQS activity, a streamlined CI/CD pipeline for code packaging, success/error CloudWatch metrics, and granular CPU/memory management. The talk will delve into the pros and cons of Lambda versus ECS Fargate Spot, identify the workloads best suited for this pattern, and outline strategies for driving adoption across teams.
Di is currently a Platform Engineer at Upside who considers herself a practical technologist focused on building solutions that work, not just chasing the latest trends. With experience in AWS, Terraform, and Python, she creates tools and systems that are cost-effective, scalable, and easy for teams to use. Di is not afraid to throw in a cringey pun when the moment calls for it—because, let’s face it, a little humor never hurts good documentation. Outside of work, you'll find her cooking or eating interesting foods.