AWS COST OPTIMIZATION - Interview With The Participant

The conversation was warmly conducted across 2 offices from the Ho Chi Minh City office to the Hanoi office, revolving around their lesson learnt and the correlation between product mindset and cost optimization of the tech team.

At Money Forward, we believe that engineering excellence is defined by more than just features; it is about building products that are robust, valuable, and sustainably efficient. Our recent internal AWS Cost Optimization contest wasn't just a challenge—it was a catalyst for reinforcing a core philosophy: a strong product is always a cost-optimized one.

Their personal journeys, shared below in their own voices, reveal the innovative thinking driving our teams.

Theon, Senior Software Engineer

I've learned a lot of things related to AWS and infrastructure in general. How to choose some parts of the system with the best performance and at the least cost possible is something I'll carry forward. Product mindset and cost optimization should go hand in hand. 

There are some big decisions that we need to make at the beginning that must be both cost-optimal and beneficial for the product.

Alan, Senior Software Engineer (Golang)

I wanted to gain more hands-on experience with AWS and test my problem-solving skills under pressure. I learned the importance of prioritization; working under a tight deadline forced me to identify the critical path and focus on stabilizing core services first before optimizing for performance. I believe they are deeply interconnected. 

A strong product mindset isn't just about features; it's about delivering value sustainably. If an architecture is technically brilliant but too expensive to run, the product is not viable.

Marvyn, Senior Software Engineer

I participated in the contest to strengthen my AWS cost optimization skills, gain hands-on experience with real use cases, and learn how to design more efficient and cost-effective cloud architectures. 

Product mindset drives teams to prioritize user value and business outcomes, and cost optimization ensures those goals are achieved efficiently.

Dino, Software Engineer (Frontend)

I participated in the AWS Cost Optimization contest to gain hands-on experience applying AWS best practices and to better understand how architectural decisions impact cost and efficiency. 

It was a great opportunity to learn through a real-world challenge - I learned that cost optimization in AWS is not just about reducing expenses, but about making the right architectural choices. The contest helped me understand the importance of rightsizing resources, selecting appropriate pricing models, and continuously monitoring usage to balance performance and cost. 

Product mindset and cost optimization are closely connected because both focus on delivering maximum value with efficient use of resources. By understanding user needs and business goals, I can avoid unnecessary complexity, make cost-aware architectural decisions, and ensure that optimization supports long-term product growth rather than limiting it.

Phil, Software Engineer

As a developer, I spend most of my time writing code to solve functional problems, but I rarely see the 'receipt' for the infrastructure that code runs on. 

This contest helped me close the loop between deployment and dollars. I saw it as a 'Level Up' moment. I learned that knowing what to do (like right-sizing an instance) is only half the battle; navigating the AWS Console to find the specific metrics in CloudWatch or Cost Explorer is a specialized skill. Thus I realized that in development, we often over-provision 'just in case' we scale. The contest taught me that 'just in case' is the most expensive phrase in cloud computing. 

Coming from a developer background, this contest shifted my perspective. I now see Cost Optimization not as a finance task, but as a technical requirement. High costs eventually lead to higher prices for users or less budget for new features. Therefore, optimizing cost is directly linked to product health. Moreover, we usually define 'Done' as 'the code works and passes tests.' A product mindset adds a third pillar: 'The code runs at the optimal price point.'

Glory, Senior Software Engineer (Ruby on Rails)

I joined the contest to learn more about AWS cost optimization and gain hands-on practice. I gained valuable insights into cost optimization and gained hands-on experience with services I had never worked with before. Teamwork will be the key to our success in the contest and in real-world scenarios. A product mindset focuses on delivering value to users, which ultimately benefits the company. 

Cost optimization also benefits the company by reducing waste and ensuring we maximize our resources.

Nim, Engineering Lead

I joined the AWS Optimization program to deepen my knowledge, apply it at work, motivate my team to participate in company events, and strengthen our engineering culture. The contest helped me understand AWS’s event organization, learn techniques for infrastructure cost optimization, and develop my mindset and knowledge about sustainable engineering practices. 

A strong product mindset makes cost optimization meaningful; cost optimization, in turn, makes a product mindset sustainable.

Harold, Senior Software Engineer (Golang)

Being a Backend Engineer, it's really important to pick up AWS skills, but it's not always easy to find time for self-improvement or real-world practice. The contest gave me that structured environment. Through this contest, I've learned that I should pay more attention to resources I no longer use or those that are set up in excess of my needs, as these often lead to the biggest waste. 

I think both Cost Optimization and Product Mindset are very important. Cost optimization tries to reduce costs as much as possible, while the product mindset ensures that the cost reduction does not negatively impact the product's value proposition or quality.

July, Senior Software Engineer (Ruby on Rails)

Once in a blue moon I got a chance to interact with many new services and learned how they work, connect, and see the overall image.

I think a product mindset always include the cost optimization. When you have a strong product mindset, you're naturally focused on what actually delivers value to users - and that means you're not wasting resources on things that don't matter.

Walter, Engineering Lead

As an SRE engineer, cost optimization is always a fundamental factor in delivering a reliable system. This is not only a chance for us in a hands-on contest but also a day when we can meet our teammates all over the group company to share and learn from each other. Teamwork is the key to gaining knowledge. We can learn from teammates with some AI's help faster than just doing it on our own. There were also some nice items where we had to dig in to solve it together. 

At the end, we cannot just focus on product development without caring about cost optimization. And we should consider both to give the best product experience to our customers.

Efficiency as a Core Product Feature

The enthusiasm and depth of learning from all our engineers showcase a vital truth at Money Forward: we optimize for value (cost included). Every architectural decision, every resource choice, is viewed through the dual lens of delivering an exceptional user experience (Product Mindset) and ensuring the long-term viability of that experience (Cost Optimization).

Our AWS Cost Optimization contest was more than a competition; it was a testament to our engineering culture that embraces continuous improvement and views resource efficiency not as an afterthought, but as a fundamental pillar of product quality. This commitment is what allows us to build with confidence and deliver products that are robust, valuable, and sustainable.