AWS is calling for Python and Java developers to join the BugBust, starting on 29 November. SEE: CES 2022 preview: Crowds set to return to Las Vegas, but digital element remains The BugBust isn’t offering big cash rewards like Microsoft’s and Google’s security bug bounties. But there is a $1,500 cash prize for the person who earns the most points squashing bugs. Other prizes include hoodies, fly swatters and Echo Dots. AWS explains that bug finding is a labour-intensive challenge, which it’s helping alleviate with ML tools like its own CodeGuru issues spotter. “620 million developer hours are wasted each year searching for potential bugs in a code base and patching them before they can cause any trouble in production – or worse yet, fix them on-the-fly when they’re already causing issues,” notes AWS’s Sean Tracey in a blog post. AWS will shine the light on “a myriad of open-source projects” that developers can help patch throughout the two-day event. Once the issue has been resolved, the patched software is released back to the open-source projects. In pre-pandemic 2019, AWS re:Invent attracted 60,000 attendees. It went virtual for 2020, of course, and in 2021 it will be a hybrid event, with sessions and talks hosted in Las Vegas. But don’t expect to get past security at re:Invent 2021 if you haven’t been double vaccinated for COVID-19 and don’t have a certificate to prove it. Masks will be mandatory, too.
