From One to Hundreds - Reflections on a Decade of Building the Trenches

Explore the long-term consequences of AWS infrastructure decisions through the unique perspective of someone who stayed at one company for over a decade. Learn from Joel Thompson's extensive experience managing AWS environments as they scaled from a single lab account to hundreds of accounts supporting multiple business units at a financial services company. Gain insights into the dual challenges of maintaining security and governance while delivering business value, drawing from Thompson's 16 years of technology experience and deep AWS expertise since 2013. Discover practical lessons about account fleet management, security considerations, and operational decisions that emerge only through sustained involvement with growing cloud infrastructures. Understand both the successes and mistakes made during this scaling journey, offering valuable perspectives for cloud architects and engineers managing similar growth trajectories in their organizations.