Ep. 40 | AWS VP of Engineering Wayne Duso on Managing ⅓ of the Internet's Cloud Storage

Moore's Lobby: Where engineers talk all about circuits

A huge amount of the internet—up to a third of it, in fact—is run by Amazon Web Services. But the cloud, as Wayne Duso puts it, is not magic pixie dust. It works because of the blood, sweat, and tears of engineers. Hear all about it in this Season 3 finale of Moore's Lobby.

Wayne Duso is one of the leading minds behind AWS, someone deeply familiar with the technical challenges and heavy responsibility of handling a third of the internet’s traffic and data. AWS runs some of the top online services on the planet, including Netflix, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

In the last episode of 2021, we welcome Wayne to talk about AWS’s astronomical growth, Amazon’s “working backward” philosophy, and why data storage never gets boring. Wayne also explains what caused the internet to “burn down” recently when AWS servers went down and the mentality of approaching such a crisis like a firefighter.

Also included in this can’t-miss episode:

• How Wayne ended up in the data storage business (i.e., looking up “C for computer” in the phone book and more jokes about clam bakes than you’d expect)
• An inside look at AWS’s world-conquering success (including stories about Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and clearing up rumors of AWS’s origins)
• Stories from the early days of the internet (Who the heck are the Four Horsemen of the internet?!)
• Which one patent Wayne keeps on his wall when he threw away the other 35+
• Why hardware engineers are more important than ever in a software-driven world