Building an AWS Lambda function in isolation is simple. You write some Java code, deploy it to AWS, and it runs. But in the real world, Lambda functions rarely live alone. They need to process events from an event stream, store data in DynamoDB, publish to SNS, and participate in complex workflows across different (AWS) services. That’s where the real challenges begin: partial batch failures, missing trace context, duplicate event handling, and debugging across distributed systems.
This talk will introduce you to AWS Lambda Powertools for Java, an open source library for serverless best practices. It helps you build serverless functions faster based on best practices. Through real-world examples, we’ll explore how to add structured logging, distributed tracing, and custom metrics with almost no boilerplate. We’ll also look at several utilities for handling large messages, processing event batches safely, and making your functions idempotent. And there is much more!

By the end of this session, you’ll know how to move beyond “hello world” functions and start building production-ready Lambda functions that integrate reliably with other (AWS) services.