On one side there are the Kubernetes corporate enthusiasts that are probably exactly doing what this post i saying: try to remove the advantage that AWS has over all the other vendors. On the other, we are also plagued by AWS shills/fanbase that hate Kubernetes exactly because of that (they are trying to push you toward serverless with Lambda). In the middle ground there is probably the truth, where AWS had a programmatic API that enabled automation for years, and that Kubernetes *is* hip, it adds even more automation to the game and helps attracting/retaining talent in the current hot market. But technically you could totally have a working startup, mid-size or big company without using Kubernetes.
> they are trying to push you toward serverless with Lambda
With bare metal code written in modern memory-safe languages, serverless/FaaS could easily become a cross-cloud abstraction much like k8s. AIUI, there are already some experiments along these lines. It turns out that the main cloud services differ slightly in how they account for resource utilization, etc. in serverless deployments, but not in a way that would make a cross-cloud abstraction useless.
I don’t think k8s is the draw that you say it is. Anecdotally my wife and I heavily penalize jobs that have migrated from serverless to k8s. My current work uses kubernetes but it’s a step in the right direction from where they were before.
