How do you wrangle the chaos of AWS cost tools and live presentations? In this episode of Screaming in the Cloud, Corey Quinn is joined by AWS’s Bowen Wang and Matt Berk to break down their re:Invent talk and everything that almost went off the rails. From surprise tsunami alerts to last-minute feature changes, they explore the anxiety and art behind presenting at scale. They also look at how power user feedback shapes tools like the AWS Pricing Calculator, why storytelling matters more than specs, and what it’s like co-presenting with notes that say “make the rabbit joke.” They also discuss AWS’s internal planning process, how customers can get involved in talks, and where to catch them next.

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(1:38) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(2:35) The importance of collecting feedback before launching a product

(4:52) The difference between the intended use of a product and how it’s actually used

(8:52) How Bowen and Matt were able to be so prepared for their presentation

(13:01) What many people don’t realize goes into practicing for a presentation

(17:14) How having a storyline helped Bowen and Matt facilitate better breakout sessions

(18:26) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(21:02) The importance of being able to go with the flow during presentations

(22:42) Why knowing your audience is essential for having a good presentation

(24:32) Choosing between breadth and depth when giving presentations

(25:05) Bowen and Matt’s advice for people who want to have their opportunity to give a talk with an AWS service team

(34:22) How to keep up with Matt and Bowen

About Matt Berk

Matt Berk is an AWS Principal Technical Account Manager at based in Brooklyn who's passionate about storytelling, cloud technologies, and FinOps. When he's not solving customer issues, Matt can be either be found in nature with his dog Ollie, at popular NYC restaurants, or at home planning his next trip to a theme park.

About Bowen Wang

Bowen Wang is a Principal Product Marketing Manager for AWS Billing and Cost Management Services, where she focuses on enabling finance and business leaders to better understand the value of the cloud and ways to optimize their cloud financial management. In her previous career, she helped a tech start-up enter the Chinese market. When she's not helping customers optimize their cloud costs, you can find her cheering for F1 races with her husband or juggling life as a mom to an energetic toddler and a playful poodle.

Links

• AWS Cloud Financial Management Blog Channel: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/
• AWS Twitch Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/aws
• AWS Tech Tales: https://community.aws/livestreams/aws-tech-tales
• The authenticated AWS Pricing Calculator is now generally available: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/the-authenticated-aws-pricing-calculator-is-now-generally-available/

What’s going on with Infrastructure as Code? On this episode, Corey is joined by Firefly CEO and Co-Founder Ido Neeman to discuss the findings of the State of IaC 2025 report. Throughout their chat, Corey and Ido discuss the evolution of IaC adoption in enterprises, the challenges of managing multi-cloud and multi-IaC environments, and the importance of disaster recovery as code. The conversation also touches on the rise of open-source projects like Open Tofu and the significant role of automation in cloud cost optimization. This episode not only reflects on recent trends, but highlights the importance of robust cloud governance and the continuous need for innovation amidst increasing cloud complexity.

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(0:59) Firefly sponsor read

(1:29) Firefly's semi-pivot to AI

(2:54) The findings of the State of IaC 2025 survey

(5:40) How are people working in multi-cloud environments

(8:14) Is there a responsible way to use Helm charts?

(11:21) The currrent state of Pulumi

(12:46) Problems that can be encountered with large enterprises

(18:07) The continuum between innovation and optimization

(21:51) Firefly sponsor read

(22:31) Are companies actually adopting infrastructure as code?

(28:49) The most interesting ways that Ido has seen enterprises use IaC in production

(33:40) What's stopping companies from fully leveraging IaC?

(41:06) Where you can find more from Ido and Firefly

About Ido Neeman

Ido Neeman is CEO and co-founder of Firefly, and the former CEO and co-founder of Nuweba, the fast and secure serverless platform. To the diversity of roles he has held, he brings more than a decade's experience in the elite Israeli intelligence corps, and later led the technology portfolio at a hedge fund. Today, he is focusing on helping organizations tackle cloud chaos through Infrastructure as Code.

Links

• Firefly’s website: https://www.firefly.ai/
• The State of IaC 2025: https://www.firefly.ai/state-of-iac-2025
• Ido on Twitter: https://x.com/idoneeman?lang=en
• Ido on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ido-neeman/?originalSubdomain=il

Sponsor

Firefly: https://www.firefly.ai/

How does one manage to simplify the complexities of the NAT Gateway? In this episode of "Screaming in the Cloud," Corey Quinn interviews Malith Rajapakse, a DevOps engineer who has recently received acclaim for his blog post discussing the Managed NAT Gateway. Where AWS lacks in its documentation, Malith is a NATural at breaking things down. He’s so great at it that Corey had to invite him on the show! Malith shares the story behind his popular post, his creative process, and his use of interactive diagrams and engaging content. He and Corey also discuss the challenges of documentation and making technical subjects more appealing. Thankfully, Malith has already done that in written form, so enjoy this episode as he speaks it into the world!

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(1:24) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(1:58) Malith's background before his blog post

(4:21) Why Malith wrote about the Managed NAT Gateway

(5:38) Corey's problems with Managed NAT Gateway and why Malith's blog post impressed him

(10:05) The interactive elements of Malith's blog post and how they were made

(12:21) Maltih's front-end experience

(14:47) Transitioning from front-end to DevOps through JavaScript

(16:20) The juxtaposition of Malith's blog post vs. AWS's official documentation

(18:05) How AWS's documentation of the managed NAT gateway isn't user-friendly

(22:27) Why Malith went all out for his first blog post

(23:17) Corey's constructive feedback for Malith

(26:05) Where you can find more from Malith

About Malith Rajapakse

Malith is a Devops engineer creating visualisations at https://malithr.com/.

Links

• Malith’s blog: https://malithr.com/
• Interactive AWS NAT Gateway: https://malithr.com/aws/natgateway/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malith-rajapakse/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/malithr.com
• Twitter: https://x.com/malithraj
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/mdilraj/
• Sam Rose’s blog: https://samwho.dev/
• Benjamin Dicken’s blog post on IO devices and latency: https://planetscale.com/blog/io-devices-and-latency
• Josh W Comeau’s blog: https://www.joshwcomeau.com/
• Killed By Google: https://killedbygoogle.com/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com