I started exploring ways to go from "consuming" to "producing".
I consume knowledge. It's like I was going for a lot of ingress, without allowing traffic to go out.
Goal is to put knowledge to work. To produce outputs.
The intent for 2026 will be just that.
Produce as much as possible.
What can I go deep on to deploy, and make actual outcomes happen?
Well, for today, I will focus on a simple start. The AWS Builder Challenge documented here.
AWS Amplify
This website is actually hosted on GCP. The day of deploying it, I had an immediate blocker. Whatever I was updating on the website, it would not reflect fast enough on my website. In other words, cache invalidation wasn't completing. I had to work with Claude to create an invalidation script. Whenever I update anything on the website, it appears almost instantly.
But then, while doing the AWS Builder challenge, I came across AWS Amplify.
It must be common knowledge for many. But a first for me!
I was familiar with the concept, thanks to GitHub actions.
Amplify takes care of setting up an S3 + CDN combo, automatically for my website.
You simply direct it to your GitHub repository, and it takes care of the rest.
And most importantly, it does automatic cache invalidation.
Which makes total sense. If I am a company, running a static website, I want my content automatically updated. Kinda like CI/CD, right?
About to jump into the next little challenge
Making the website interactive. Let's see how it goes.
Quick thought: The concepts are easy, yet insightful. I think I know a LOT of things, until it's time to put them into action. It just shows how our brain requires both ingesting and digesting. I mean, if the body requires it, so does the brain.
Back to the challenge now.