Day 4 of AWS re:Invent 2023 has come to a close and it was just as epic as the other nights. The day itself was a little slower due to my Day 3 evening ending fairly late, but there’s still a good bit to share. If you are looking for a full recap, I’m going to do one soon to sort of close the loop on my 2023 AWS re:Invent experience.
Let’s dig into Day 4 of AWS re:Invent 2023.
Day 4
Just a quick recap, if you missed the previous updates.
Head on over to those links to gain some insights into my first four days. Don’t worry, this recap will still be waiting for you when you are done!
Keynote
I’m only human so of course I’m going to rank the keynotes. I must admit though that I have a good bit of bias around Werner’s presentation style, delivery and content so you can guess which of the 5 was my favorite this week.
It was a tough ask to get there this morning. But again, I liked going to the Thursday morning keynote so much that I wasn’t going to miss it.
Key Takeaways
First, he shared his principles from the Frugal Architect which highlights the ways that an architect should pay attention to cost. He then made a strong assertion that cost is equatable to sustainability.
That’s a bold take that I agree with. We are facing a rapidly approaching overconsumption of resources that will leave our planet in worse shape than we found it. And eventually, that decline will reach a point where bad things happen. As technologists, we have the power to limit that consumption by designing sustainable systems which in turn will be cost-effective.
Middle of the Day
re:Play is always a highlight of the week so I wanted to be as prepared as possible for the evening. For that main reason, I ended up doing some light chatting at the Developer Lounge and then decided to head back and grab a quick nap. The fact that I took a nap is a testament to how hard I ran the re:Invent race. I’m not a napper. It’s not in my genes or blood or whatever and I don’t nap unlesss I’m sick or exhausted like I was today.
The build-up of the week is released by the giant party that is re:Play.
re:Play
It seems like every year the venue gets bigger. I know it doesn’t as the fairgrounds don’t change in size but AWS configured things differently this year.
The food first off was really good this year. Chicken wings, tots and mac & cheese were the items I went after. There’s nothing like a night of dancing and beverages on an empty stomach, so I decided to load up the best I could.
The next thing that was different this year about re:Play was that the t-shirt was super nice. I normally give away my re:Play SWAG but this year the shirt was amazing and I’ll be wearing it through the holidays.
Once I was fed and had some drinks, it was time to dance.
Music
There were two headliners this year in Portugal the Man and Major Lazer. I’m such a fan of EDM that I ended up hanging out around the Main Stage where A-Trak and then Major Lazer ended up performing. I was lucky to connect with Andres, Allen and Kelsey and we danced for the better part of 3 hours.
Dancing and EDM is the perfect way to wrap up the week. It is a wonderful experience but you do fly from thing to thing and closing on a release is so smart!
Wrap Up
re:Invent ’23 is over. It’s hard for me to believe that the current journey I’m on all started with the willingness to be vulnerable this time last year. I’m incredibly proud of the progress and look forward to continuing to bring quality content and writing in ’24.
In closing, Day 5 was AMAZING and I’ll be happy to see my family tomorrow but sad to see re:Invent go. As they say, All Good Things come to an End. And this re:Invent has come to an end.
It’s been tough to keep up with the nightly posts, but I hope you’ve enjoyed them. I know it was hard, but I’ve enjoyed writing them.
Until next time and happy building!
