In this episode of the AWS Developers Podcast, we sit down with Ivan Casco, Principal Solutions Architect, AWS Community Builder, and one of the rare few to have earned all 14 AWS certifications—an achievement that earned him the coveted Golden Jacket. Ivan takes us through his remarkable journey, from his first certification back in 2017 to joining the Community Builders program in 2023, and finally reaching the full set of certifications in 2025. Based between Spain and Dublin, Ivan shares what drove him to pursue this challenge, how he stayed motivated, and which certifications pushed him the most—spoiler alert: networking and machine learning were no walk in the park. We also dive into his favorite study techniques, what it’s really like to sit through the exams, and how these certifications have impacted both his confidence and his career. If you're thinking about starting your own AWS certification path—or you're in the middle of one—this conversation is full of practical advice, community insight, and inspiration. Plus, find out what the golden jacket moment was really like.

With Ivan Casco Valero, Principal Solutions Architect

AWS Certifications

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Rick Ochs from AWS as we explore the powerful capabilities of AWS Compute Optimizer. Discover how this free tool changes cloud resource management by leveraging machine learning to deliver precise recommendations for EC2 instances, EBS volumes, and more. Rick shares insights on how Compute Optimizer analyzes historical utilization data to help organizations optimize both cost and performance, while respecting customer privacy through opt-in features. Learn about the tool's evolution, its integration with auto scaling groups, and how it handles everything from basic resource sizing to complex performance management decisions. We also dive into the future of cloud optimization, exploring upcoming AI integrations and discussing how AWS builds trust in its recommendations. Whether you're managing a small deployment or a large-scale infrastructure, this episode offers valuable insights into maximizing your AWS resources while maintaining optimal performance and cost efficiency.

With Rick Ochs, Senior Manager, Cloud Optimization

Getting started with AWS Compute Optimizer

In this episode of the AWS Developers Podcast, Sebastien Stormacq is joined by Giuseppe Battista and Kevin Shaffer-Morrison for a deep dive into Agentic AI and the Model Context Protocol (MCP). They explore how startups are rapidly adopting generative AI and the business and technical hurdles they encounter along the way. The conversation covers how AI agents are integrated into workflows, the role of orchestration technologies, and how tools enhance the planning capabilities of AI models. The trio unpacks the MCP framework and its potential to standardize communication between large language models and tools—drawing a compelling analogy to how USB transformed hardware interactions. They also discuss the complexities of tool orchestration, including resource management and security, and what the rise of ‘tool definition engineering’ means for the future. From integrating MCP with platforms like Amazon Bedrock to rethinking the role of software engineers, this episode looks at how AI is reshaping the foundations of modern software development.

With Kevin Shaffer-Morrison, Senior Startup Solution Architect ; With Giuseppe Battista, Senior Startup Solution Architect

Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Amazon Bedrock

Running MCP-Based Agents (Clients & Servers) on AWS

The multi-agent orchestrator

The podcast where we talk about the multi-agent orcuestrator

Agent Orchestration: CrewAI

Agent Orchestration: Pydantic

Smolagents

Swami's post on Linked about MCP

In this episode of the AWS Developers Podcast, we sit down with Trevor Rowe, Senior Manager of the AWS SDK team, for a deep dive into the evolution and inner workings of the AWS SDKs. We explore how the SDKs scale to support over 320+ AWS services, the importance of maintaining backward compatibility, and the role of developer experience in shaping the SDK design. Trevor explains how the team uses Smithy to automate code generation, ensuring consistency and efficiency across different programming languages. The conversation touches on the growing adoption of modular architecture, community contributions via GitHub, and the team's efforts to improve performance, define better schemas, and simplify migrations. Whether you're building cloud applications or maintaining complex integrations, this episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at how AWS builds and evolves its core developer tools.

With Trevor Rowe, Sr. Software Engineering Manager, AWS

The AWS SDKs, API for 320+ services in 13 programming languages

Smithy code generation from API definition

Current retry strategy in the AWS SDKs

Blog post: AWS STS service endpoint and Retry Strategy

AWS Common Runtime for the AWS SDKs

In this episode of the AWS Developers Podcast, we welcome Christian Bonzelet to discuss the art of prompting in software development. Together, we explore how PromptZ.dev helps developers structure and share their prompts to maximize efficiency. Christian shares his insights from hands-on workshops, the challenges engineers face, and the importance of community feedback. The episode also delves into the technologies used to build the platform, including Amplify Gen2, DynamoDB, and Cognito, as well as its integration with Amazon Q. Finally, they discuss the impact of AI on developers' workflows and the future of PromptZ.dev.

With Christian Bonzelet, Solution Architect, Bundesliga & AWS Community Builder

Bundesliga

PromptZ

Amazon Q Developer

In this episode, Chris Betz, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at AWS, introduces the Trust Center, a new essential resource for understanding security and trust in the cloud. He explains how AWS helps businesses navigate the challenges of compliance, data protection, and security best practices. Betz also shares practical advice for developers, enabling them to seamlessly integrate security into their projects and leverage the available tools. He highlights the key role of Nitro technology in optimizing security and emphasizes the importance of visibility in maintaining customer trust. A must-listen episode for anyone concerned with cloud security.

With Chris Betz, Chief Information Security Officer, AWS

AWS Trust Center

Introducing the AWS Trust Center - The blog post

AWS Nitro architecture

AWS re:Inforce 2025

In this episode of the AWS Developers Podcast, we explore how Duolingo—the app with 100 million monthly active users—optimized its CI/CD infrastructure to handle builds for 300 pull requests every week. Sharanya Viswanath and Murtaza Javaid explain how their platform engineering team reduced build times from 50 minutes to just 16 minutes by migrating to Amazon EC2 Mac and implementing advanced autoscaling and caching strategies. We also discuss the importance of modularization, macOS and Xcode version management, and automation with Fastlane to make the process more robust and efficient. An interesting discussion on the technical challenges and solutions put in place to ensure resilience and stability for iOS builds at scale.

With Sharanya Viswanath, Senior Engineering Manager, Duolingo ; With Murtaza Javaid, Software Engineer, Duolingo

DuoLingo

Amazon EC2 Mac

Jenkins

XCRemoteCache

Bazel

Fastlane match, to manage your signing materials

AWS CodeBuild for macOS

Hosts Tiffany Souterre and Sebastien Stormacq sit down with Rajesh Pandey to explore the critical role of events in AWS Lambda. They dive deep into how events trigger Lambda functions and how AWS has built infrastructure to ensure high availability while optimizing costs for customers. Rajesh explains the various event sources supported by Lambda and discusses important considerations around streaming data, latency, and performance. The conversation covers essential topics for developers including message handling, at-least-once delivery guarantees, and the developer's responsibility in tracking and managing messages. The trio explores advanced features such as event filtering—a highly popular capability that has evolved rapidly—and batching configurations that can significantly impact application performance. They also discuss observability best practices essential for successful service integrations and recent innovations with Kafka that offer ultra-low latency options. Whether you're new to serverless or an experienced Lambda developer, this episode provides valuable insights into building resilient, cost-effective, and high-performing event-driven architectures on AWS.

With Rajesh Pandey, Principal Software Development Engineer, AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda Polling events

Firecracker, the open source micro VM

Amazon EventBridge Pipes

Using Lambda with self-managed Apache Kafka

In this episode of the AWS Developers Podcast, we welcome Greg Wilson, Director of AWS Documentation, SDK, and CLI. Together, we dive into the world of AWS documentation, its evolution, and the challenges it presents. Greg shares how his team is restructuring content to improve accessibility and make it easier for developers to find the information they need. He explains how customer feedback drives improvements and how AI is beginning to play a role in optimizing and generating documentation. We also discuss the new Decision Guides, designed to help users choose the right AWS services based on their specific needs. Finally, Greg gives us a glimpse into the priorities for 2025 and beyond, including enhancing the user experience and integrating personalized recommendations. A fascinating conversation for anyone who relies on AWS documentation in their daily work.

With Greg Wilson, Director Doc, SDK, and CLI, AWS

AWS documentation home page

AWS Documentation update — progress, challenges, and what’s next for 2025

AWS Decision Guides

Corey Quinn re:Caps re:Invent in the AWS Developers Podcast, episode 142

The Encyclopedia Britanica

Commodore 64 and Amazon Q Developers, Ricardo Suerias on the AWS Developer Podcast, epsiode 145

Amazon Q Developers to chat with the AWS documentation

Bedrock code samples

In this episode, I'm joined by Lakshmi Peri, Solutions Architect Specialist for in-memory services at AWS, to explore the landscape of in-memory database solutions available on AWS.

From the history of ElastiCache to the latest developments with Valkey and MemoryDB, this conversation covers everything developers need to know about leveraging in-memory technologies for their applications. Lakshmi explains the evolution from basic caching solutions to today's sophisticated in-memory databases that can handle complex data structures, vectors for AI applications, and geospatial information.

Whether you're starting a new application or optimizing an existing one, this episode provides valuable insights into choosing the right in-memory solution for your specific needs, with guidance on balancing performance, durability, and cost-effectiveness.

With Lakshmi Peri, Senior Specialist Solution Architect, AWS

ElastiCache

Memory DB

Valkey