An Architect's Guide to Evaluating Cloud Services

The verdict is in: Cloud is NOT a fad. If you haven't already, as a software architect you will be called upon to evaluate various cloud services and determine their suitability for your company's use. In this session, we'll examine ten key criteria that you can use to evaluate any cloud service.

During our time together we'll examine the following criteria:

  1. Economics: Price/Cost/Unit of Billing
  2. Applicability to Business Case
  3. Resiliency Requirements
  4. Scalability Requirements
  5. Security Requirements
  6. Regulatory Requirements
  7. Degree of Provider “Lock-In”
  8. Required “Undifferentiated Heavy Lifting”
  9. Differentiating Features
  10. Available Tooling

Matt Stine

About Matt Stine

My passion is taking a metaphysical approach to software engineering: what is the nature of the collaborative game that we continuously play, and are there better, more contextually-aware ways to play that game?

By day I lead a team tasked with taking a first-principles-centric approach to intentionally enabling programming language usage at the largest bank in the United States.

By night I write and teach my way through a masterclass in software engineering and architecture targeting early-career software engineers working in large-scale enterprise technology organizations.

What is the primary goal?

To win the game. More seriously: to get 1% better every day at providing business value through software.

Who am I?

I'm a 22-year veteran of the enterprise software industry. I've played almost every role I can imagine:

  • Software Engineer
  • Software Architect
  • Technical Lead
  • Engineering Manager
  • Consultant
  • Product Manager
  • Field CTO
  • Developer Advocate
  • Conference Speaker
  • Author
  • Technical Trainer
  • Technical Marketer
  • Site Reliability Engineer
  • Desktop Support Specialist

I've worked at Fortune 500 companies, a tenacious teal cloud startup, and a not-for-profit children's hospital. I've written a book, and I've hosted a podcast. I've learned a lot along the way, including many things I wish I'd known when I first got started. And so now I want to pass those learnings on to you, especially if you've only just begun your career.

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