Forem: Bridie Letford

So. Why did I decide to AWS fangirl? And why don't I regret it?

Bridie Letford — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 18:23:25 +0000

A little background. I'm from Adelaide, and when I left high school, for a million reasons, I went to work not Uni. I am however an OBSESSIVE learner.

Thus, around the late 1990s (yes, old, quiet you), I started the collect em all certificate game. With the whole series of Microsoft Certified Preinstallation Specialist, and highly coveted Cisco exams. Now, these weren't hard, because I am who I am, I did find them frustrating. It wasn't about understanding. It was about memory recall on the Microsoft way.

Many years later, I find myself at a MSP. By this point, I've worked a lot of your usual IT roles, and I've basically settled in the SDLC/Analyst/Change/Transformation space. I'm not a Dev. Or a network admin. My technical experience and background don't totally suck though. I can muddle my way through a fair bit. When you're on staff at a partner, and enjoy working on innovative greenfields goodness, with sick new toys, you're encouraged to certify. It wasn't quite pick a team, but.

Now, in good old rads, we didn't yet have an AWS office. We did have a Microsoft office. However, it was the AWS reps flying over from Perth so we could co-host diversity friendly days like #she-builds. It was the first rounds of #cloudU that opened eyes to the fact I could go further than foundational certs, and that even I could build cool things. Having ABSOLUTELY been a minority when I entered tech, I adored the active encouragement for people to engage in study, growth, career pivoting etc regardless of where they were at career-wise.

While I'm an AWS fangirl, I'm also a huge Microsoft Teams fan, have extensive experience with and understanding of best practices and guiding organisations through design and implementation of a stack of 365 tools. One of my favourite projects was also a Virtual Assistant for Teams. I believe their organisation collaboration and comms packages can be absolutely transformational. I think the GraphAPI is pretty sick, and the power platforms, and viva lots are cool as.

Because I'm an obsessive leaner, I'm certified in IBM, HPE, Google, Azure, and AWS Cloud platforms. I'm a member of a bunch of innovation programs, engagement programs and champion programs.

AWS, IMO, BY FAR, invest more in community engagement. Now we have an office, we have access to an amazing team of super talented experts. Who, delightfully, are, within reason, just ok educate and engage rather than hard sell constantly.

The range of resources for AWS is insane - between A Cloud Guru, Cloud Academy, and Skills Build, you can cram for free. The Usergroup here is active and fun. The organisation obviously invests in programs like #AWSCommunityBuilders - with everything from tools, staff, merch, free exams, more virtual events than you could wish for, and summits.

They support the #AWSUserGroupADL Usergroup 💯 - we have access to a hardware library, support, they show up, represent, and engage.

From a testing perspective, once you understood the product names etc, and had a clear grasp on core concepts, you can logic through things. It's not two ways to do the same thing, they're both right, now tell me the way we told you to do it.

I'm not a blind fangirl - I'm married to someone who detests Amazon. I'm a pretty big fan of #GCP and there are use cases where #azure is a great fit.

But none of the other organisations have given me 1/10th of the opportunities that AWS have........ And continue to do, although I'm no longer working for a partner, with a direct line to feed their sales pipeline. Even my Amazon hating husband is shocked on the regular.

#AWS You get some free training! And you get some free training! Day One: The GOAT AWS Skill Builder

Bridie Letford — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 11:15:37 +0000

There is loads of #AWS training around - over the last 12 months, I committed to completing 1,000 digital badge or certificates - most of which were free.

It's a thing.

Here's hoping with this list you can start with the great ones, rather than getting stuck with garbage!

Stop 1. Always. AWS - https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/signin

Totally free, you can get your mittens on:

500+ on-demand Courses
Learning Plans
AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner

Not only is the content here the bomb, it's a nice easy to use UI, and better yet, you can collect these bad boys:

View the set here: https://www.credly.com/organizations/amazon-web-services/collections/customer-learning-programs/

You can also have a blast with the quests,

The most cost effective way to hit the quest trail (and you want this, it's super fun) is a monthly subscription. At just $29/mo (AUD), you get:

100+ AWS Builder Labs
3 AWS Certification Official Practice Exams
3 exam prep courses
10 AWS Jam Journey challenges in security
4 more AWS Cloud Quest roles AWS Industry Quest

Happen to work for a Partner? Make your boss, and your credly/LinkedIn resume cheers with the partner badges:

View the set here; https://www.credly.com/organizations/amazon-web-services/collections/aws-partner-program/

On top of all of that, there's the the exam prep goodness - you don't want to skip this if you're looking to hit that exam centre:
https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certification-prep/

I do warn you - the badge collection thing is 100% addictive - it's the best fun.

In coming days, I'll outline some of my other fav options, including:

Cloud Academy
A Cloud Guru
Future Learn
AttackIQ As well as some other more interactive and community based options, with a rundown of how they work, how much fun I had on them, and that one story where I got hit by a bus. As a single list, I'll also cover off some of those I loved a little less ;p

Stats taken from: https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/pages/59/subscriptions

Make the most of year 1 of the #AWSCommunityBuilder program

Bridie Letford — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 17:06:08 +0000

A long long time ago, ok, it was last year, I was infinitely excited to become a member of the #AWSCommunityBuilder program (as the first representative I'd known!). Links at the bottom 🦄♥️

I filled the form in on a whim, genuinely thinking that as I've got no dev experience myself outside of some basic tweaks/prototyping etc, chances weren't great.

Obviously the excitement only ramped up when I was accepted! I've also just been accepted for my second round. So. Excited.

Firstly, the community is give and take - give what you can back to the community, even if the difference is just your background and approach - everyone likes to read experiences of people like them. On top of that, you get AMAZING access to support people, the Community Builders Team, who are super helpful.

Back to the story - a room in my house caught on fire, I changed jobs, and there was about 12 months that was an absolute write off.

Heading in to my second round, and with the little experience I did get to sneak a taste of, My advice to new members is:

Set a goal. I've smashed out nearly 900 digital badges over the last year - I'm going to pivot that, and based on time, should be able to slot in my Solutions Architect exam, and the Associate Developer exam. So that's goal number one.
Utilise supporting programs, such as SheBuilds(Now Cloudup for her - Cloud Practitioner), CloudU and the Skills Builder - these are generally free (though there is a premium path for the Skills Builder). While you're over playing with Skill Builder, score yourself some neat digital badges free. I've currently got about 10, including these:

You're going to get a subscription to Cloud Academy - I started on it a few days back, and I don't think I've absolutely disgraced myself yet. I've committed to at least 4 hours a week on a combination of Skills Builder and Cloud Academy - calendar appointments are your friend.

Be very excited about your incoming swag - my thermos cup keeps ice in my drink for about 14 hours in Australia, and I am yet to break my funky cable. Enuff said. They're nice additions to my daily carry.
Work out how much time you want to spend in webinars, and then make sure you spent it! This is chance to learn from people you may never otherwise have access to.
When you're ready, lock in that exam voucher and get that cert!
Celebrate. Celebrate joining. Celebrate your wins. Celebrate the wins of those in the community! Using the hashtags (on LinkedIn especially) guarantees you some love.
Encourage someone to join - maybe someone who doesn't think they're technical enough. Or who is jumping back in the pond, or an intern, or someone with sooo much sage advice and wisdom to offer - there's honestly loads of benefits for everyone.
Set a reminder. Check slack. I have notifications off for almost everything, so this means I don't wake up in two weeks realising I have no idea what's happening and I've missed some amazing sessions.
Don't be scared to write and share. Honestly, my first task once I get my creds is going to be to smash up a site for my gallery if urban exploration photos - I know it'll take me all of about half an hour, but fingers crossed it helps someone else on the journey in to the AWS Universe
If you can, rope in a mate to study/cram/enjoy the ride with ♥️
Make friends with your user group - ours in #adelaide is particularly fine, award winning in fact - thanks mostly to Rick, Andy and Steph as I've been AWOL (remember that fire/sick cat/suck rellies sitch, with the new job etc?) https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/amazon-web-services-user-group-adelaide/ #AWSUserGroupADL
Some workplaces give staff paid exam leave - double check if yours does!

Also. Yes. Fangirl. Not sorry.

Join the program next intake! https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/community-builders/

AWS Cloud Up for her: Cloud Practitioner: https://pages.awscloud.com/cloudup-for-her-cloud-practitioner.html
Solution Architect Digital Learning plan on Skill Builder: https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/public/learning_plan/view/1044/solutions-architect-learning-plan
Digital Badges Overview: https://aws.amazon.com/training/badges/
AWS Training on Future Learn: https://www.futurelearn.com/subjects/it-and-computer-science-courses/aws
AWS Training on Cloud Academy: https://cloudacademy.com/library/amazon-web-services/
4 week Cloud Practitioner Accelerator for Partners: https://pages.awscloud.com/GLOBAL-other-GC-traincert-partner-AWS-Cloud-Practitioner-training-2021-reg.html