Developers Summit 2020

Park your tech stack in the AWS cloud

Tech scale-up PARK NOW is part of an inspiring lineup of speakers, masterclasses and workshops at our third Developers Summit. The Dutch company known for its parking app, will give a two-hour workshop about cloud computing called: “Zero to production with serverless in AWS.” We had a chat with Software Engineering Manager Emre Kucukayvaz about his vision on technology, the transformation to the cloud and the importance for developers and engineers to develop skills on this topic.

Why a workshop about serverless in AWS?

“There is an interesting transformation going on in the IT industry. As a result, many companies want to switch completely to the cloud, to go cloud-native, to organize their IT infrastructure more efficiently. Which means the business for developers and engineers also changes and it is valuable to have knowledge about these technologies. We are happy to share our knowledge and experiences on this matter. PARK NOW has been working on this transformation for a few years. That sounds like a long time, but a transformation like this consists of phases. In the first phase, we converted a few stacks to the cloud just to dip our toes in the water. This way we got to know the possibilities and limitations of the cloud, without risk. In the second phase, we converted more and more stacks, discovering more and more about Amazon’s services as we did so. We saw Amazon had a solution for all the problems we tried to solve ourselves. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We now reach a stage where we’re going all-in on cloud native. This allows us to focus on our end product.”

What can visitors expect from the workshop?

“It will be a hands-on workshop at medior level. Of course, they need to know what cloud technology is, what it means, and its recent developments. We’ll walk them through the process of integrating serverless at PARK NOW, how we use it and why this works for us as a company. But the main goal of the workshop is for people to get to work with the building blocks themselves. The workshop, called ‘Zero to production with serverless in AWS’, is a workshop from ideation to implementation. At the end of the session developers know how to use the technology and how to apply it to their (future) employer.”

What is unique about serverless technology from AWS?

“The uniqueness of the technology is that it helps new businesses expand. You don’t need all the knowledge and experience at the company. For instance, you can set up an e-commerce website with your focus entirely on the Front-end for a fluent user experience, without having to worry about the Back-end infrastructure or the payment system. A cloud-provider can deliver the other components very well.

Serverless simplifies the IT landscape. The biggest benefit for company is reduced maintenance. It is cost efficient. Also, DevOps, or owning what you run on production, becomes much easier. You no longer have to worry about peripheral matters such as the functionality of the servers or your network. Amazon, or another provider, is taking care of the infrastructure. You can focus on your core business.”

Does this technology entail risks?

“All technology involves risks. You must be prepared for failure. Even Warner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, said ‘Everything fails. Design for failure.’ That’s why we have different Service Level Agreements for different services in different cloud regions.”

What do you think will be an important tech trend for 2020?

“The cloud computing transformation will continue and get more mature quickly. An increasing number of companies will shift to cloud provided services. And Amazon and its competitors will offer more and more services on their platform, such as Machine Learning. They want the companies to build the business on their foundation. If you go along with this as a company, it speeds up your Go-To-Market.”

Why do you think PARK NOW is an interesting company to work for?

“First of all, we have a huge customer base, more than 18 million users in Europe alone, which brings some interesting tech stack to work on and interesting issues to solve. You won’t find that easily in other, smaller companies. PARK NOW is an international scale-up, we are growing at a rapid pace. Serving people in different countries and working with different cultures is a challenge. We are a pioneer in cloud computing and work with skilled people who bring each other to a higher level. All this makes it quite a learning curve to work at PARK NOW. Also, you work on a tech solution that is used by many people around you.”

Furthermore, happiness is important to us. That is why I ensure people in my team get the opportunity to develop personally. For example, by sharing their knowledge at public events such as this. Not only from a business perspective, but also from a personal perspective. They must be able to grow as a professional as well as a person.”