From Zero to SQS Lambda in 15 Minutes
Source: Dev.to
My AWS Journey
I started my AWS journey when I joined my current organization. Before that, I was perfectly happy using VPS and bare‑metal servers.
Long story short, after a call with a friend and being impressed by what AWS had to offer, I opened an account and jumped in. Bit by bit, my Next.js and Node.js apps moved to EC2. Then came Lambda, CloudWatch, S3, EBS, and more. The most recent additions are SES and SQS. I’d tried them before, but the setup frustrated me so much that I gave up after five minutes.
Using AI as a Co‑pilot
This time was different—I had the perfect co‑pilot: ChatGPT. It was incredibly helpful at spotting mistakes, explaining what went wrong, and guiding me step by step just from the error messages.
With that assistance, I set up API Gateway → SQS → Lambda → SES in about 15 minutes—no coffee, no headache.
P.S.: I never use AI to code directly or let it take the driver’s seat. What’s the fun in that?
How I Use AI Today
- Infrastructure suggestions – I’m not an expert yet, and AI helps me understand trade‑offs.
- UI form generation – I know how to build them, but I’d rather spend my time on business logic and learning something new.
- Figma MCP – Converting Figma designs to design‑system components.
- Centering a div – Yes, the struggle is real, and I’ll take it to my grave.