Mistakes I've Made in AWS
I&#x27;ve made it a habit to absolutely avoid any and all AWS services for any side projects, unless it&#x27;s on the employer&#x27;s dime. I&#x27;d rather pay a bit more per month for a flat-fee Digital Ocean droplet. Maybe I&#x27;ll end up paying a few dollars more than I would with the equivalent AWS setup, but I&#x27;ll rest easy knowing I won&#x27;t get a surprise bill thanks to the opaque and byzantine billing. I mean, there are consultancies whose entire premise is expertise on AWS billing, so the chance of AWS newbie-me running up many thousands because I forgot to switch off service A or had the wrong setting for service B is non-zero.<p>And the general advice is &quot;don&#x27;t worry, call their customer support and they&#x27;ll refund you&quot;. Um, seriously? If I want to spend a morning on hold to deal with a huge unplanned bill I&#x27;ll call my local tax office, thank you.<p>Which sucks as I learn best by building things in my spare time, but AWS makes that learning process a bit more stressful than I&#x27;d prefer.