4 ms·

Not sure what happened to your associate but this sounds way, way out there. I run a fairly resource intensive SaaS on AWS (lots of background jobs generating d

by tnolet 7y ago

Not sure what happened to your associate but this sounds way, way out there. I run a fairly resource intensive SaaS on AWS (lots of background jobs generating data) and we barely go over $600 a month. People should not be scared of by these anecdotes, however true they may be. It’s perfectly possible to run a very cost effective business on AWS.

C14L 7y ago
That's great. But you are always just one unfortunate bug or mis-configuration away from having it happen. Sure, to most people it will never happen. But the risk is always there. Reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias
Mirioron 7y ago
It's possible to write bug-free code, but would you bet your financial future on your ability to write bug-free code?
- D2187645 7y ago
  Starting to think the reason we arnt working for google/aws is we make mistakes. Whereas engineers at those companies just dont make mistakes, therefor they assume that billing caps are not necessary. Such is our lot in life.
  - Mirioron 7y ago
    I think the bigger difference (other than a potential skill difference) is rather that they're more willing to take these risks. The ones that are good at it and succeed will rise to the top!
- tluyben2 7y ago
  Bug free is a not realistic but if you are a programmer and definitely if you are a tech founder you definitely should be willing to bet your financial future on writing reasonably low bug code. If you are a programmer, I kind of find the comment puzzling; maybe I am reading you wrong, but you seem to be saying that you are writing code for some company while being happy to commit it and not care if the company loses money if your code is bad? As you would not bet on your work yourself, but you do not mind your employer paying you for it and as such betting some of it’s financial future on your work? Sorry if I misunderstood your comment.
  - Mirioron 7y ago
    When you work for somebody else (or with somebody else) then you try to do as good of a job as possible, but the ultimate responsibility still lies elsewhere - might be your boss or could even be the group. There will be other people who interact with your code and might spot errors. There will be people who are trained, in some capacity, to figure out ways to mitigate against accidentally generating very large bills. It is exceedingly unlikely that these points hold true for a solo developer working on a main project, let alone a side project. Even if you are hyper competent and can probably get all of this correctly, you can't rest easy. You simply don't know whether you did everything correctly or not. Just one dumb mistake can saddle you with an enormous bill. This is just like gun safety: don't point your gun at anything you're not intending to shoot. Mistakes happen and the consequences of it can be catastrophic.
    - tluyben2 7y ago
      You are right, but at some level you are thinking 'you can do it' right? Otherwise you would be pretty miserable I would imagine. But I agree with the rest you wrote. You meant it slightly more nuanced than I read it!

by tnolet 7y ago

C14L 7y ago

That's great. But you are always just one unfortunate bug or mis-configuration away from having it happen. Sure, to most people it will never happen. But the risk is always there. Reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

Mirioron 7y ago

It's possible to write bug-free code, but would you bet your financial future on your ability to write bug-free code?

D2187645 7y ago
Starting to think the reason we arnt working for google/aws is we make mistakes. Whereas engineers at those companies just dont make mistakes, therefor they assume that billing caps are not necessary. Such is our lot in life.
- Mirioron 7y ago
  I think the bigger difference (other than a potential skill difference) is rather that they're more willing to take these risks. The ones that are good at it and succeed will rise to the top!
tluyben2 7y ago
Bug free is a not realistic but if you are a programmer and definitely if you are a tech founder you definitely should be willing to bet your financial future on writing reasonably low bug code. If you are a programmer, I kind of find the comment puzzling; maybe I am reading you wrong, but you seem to be saying that you are writing code for some company while being happy to commit it and not care if the company loses money if your code is bad? As you would not bet on your work yourself, but you do not mind your employer paying you for it and as such betting some of it’s financial future on your work? Sorry if I misunderstood your comment.
- Mirioron 7y ago
  When you work for somebody else (or with somebody else) then you try to do as good of a job as possible, but the ultimate responsibility still lies elsewhere - might be your boss or could even be the group. There will be other people who interact with your code and might spot errors. There will be people who are trained, in some capacity, to figure out ways to mitigate against accidentally generating very large bills. It is exceedingly unlikely that these points hold true for a solo developer working on a main project, let alone a side project. Even if you are hyper competent and can probably get all of this correctly, you can't rest easy. You simply don't know whether you did everything correctly or not. Just one dumb mistake can saddle you with an enormous bill. This is just like gun safety: don't point your gun at anything you're not intending to shoot. Mistakes happen and the consequences of it can be catastrophic.
  - tluyben2 7y ago
    You are right, but at some level you are thinking 'you can do it' right? Otherwise you would be pretty miserable I would imagine. But I agree with the rest you wrote. You meant it slightly more nuanced than I read it!