#040 - The man who wrote the book on DynamoDB feat. Alex DeBrie

Feb 12, 2024

Alex DeBrie, author of the DynamoDB book, discusses topics such as DynamoDB's comparison with Amazon S3, benefits, use cases, constraints, and cost considerations. He also shares insights into his journey of writing the book, talks about access patterns and secondary indexes, and gives advice on pursuing a similar career.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Introduction to DynamoDB

02:08 • 14min

Surprises of Running into the Problem of Number of Connections in Databases

15:58 • 3min

Differences Between DynamoDB and SQL Databases

18:39 • 17min

Scan Operation and Access Patterns

36:09 • 3min

DynamoDB Cost and Scalability

39:25 • 9min

Engineering Hacks and DynamoDB Book

48:35 • 10min

In this episode, Lane talks to Alex DeBrie, author of the DynamoDB book. Today's talk covers various aspects such as DynamoDB's comparison with Amazon S3, its benefits, use cases, constraints, and cost considerations, while also covering other AWS and Google Cloud services. Alex also shares his insights into his journey of writing the book on DynamoDB and touches on topics like access patterns, secondary indexes, and billing modes. Alex also shares his professional experiences, including consulting vs freelancing, thoughts of entrepreneurial aspirations, and gives helpful advice for those that are considering pursuing a similar career.

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Alex's Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexbdebrie
Alex's Website: https://www.alexdebrie.com

(00:00) - Introduction
(01:27) - Who is Alex DeBrie?
(02:39) - What is DynamoDB?
(04:15) - EC2 instance
(05:50) - Amazon S3
(06:25) - DynamoDB is more like S3
(07:40) - Difference between DynamoDB and S3
(08:20) - What do we mean when we say NoSQL
(10:08) - BigQuery and BigTable
(12:31) - Some of DynamoDB's benefits
(13:15) - When to use DynamoDB
(15:58) - Constraint of number of connections
(18:06) - DynamoDB is a multi-tenant service
(19:21) - How does DynamoDB shake up against something like MongoDB
(22:22) - DynamoDB is opinionated, but it provides good results consistently
(25:54) - You can only do certain things in DynamoDB, but they are guaranteed to be fast
(26:42) - Relational Databases - Theory vs Practicality
(31:08) - How Alex came to write a book about DynamoDB
(32:15) - What happens when SQL runs, depends heavily on the system underneath
(33:57) - DynamoDB doesn't have a query planner
(36:08) - Access patterns
(38:04) - Use case for Secondary Indexes
(39:43) - Costs of DynamoDB
(40:45) - Billing modes for DynamoDB
(45:26) - Provisioning and planning for expenses
(48:40) - Super Mario 64 Hack
(49:34) - What Was Alex's Last Full Time Job
(51:02) - Consulting vs Freelancing
(52:23) - Does Alex see himself going back to a Full Time Job?
(53:07) - Does Alex have any entrepreneurial urges?
(54:01) - What you should think about before jumping into freelance/consulting
(56:01) - Authority in the consulting world
(57:11) - Where to find Alex