AWS for Full Stack Developers: Core Services
Amazon Web Services powers a large share of production full stack apps. Knowing a focused subset of services beats memorizing the entire catalog.
Essential Services
| Service | Use case |
|---|---|
| EC2 / ECS / Lambda | Compute |
| S3 | Static assets, uploads |
| RDS / DynamoDB | Databases |
| CloudFront | CDN |
| IAM | Permissions |
| Route 53 | DNS |
A Typical Architecture
React on S3 + CloudFront, API on ECS Fargate or Lambda behind API Gateway, PostgreSQL on RDS, secrets in Secrets Manager, logs in CloudWatch.
Cost and Security
Use IAM roles-not access keys-on compute. Enable MFA on root. Set billing alarms. Prefer managed services until you have a clear reason to self-operate.
Conclusion
Start with the Well-Architected Framework pillars: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance, and cost. AWS certification paths (Solutions Architect Associate) formalize this knowledge-worth it for career growth.