Being an AWS Community Builder
This month I was selected to participate in AWS Community Builders program, for a period of 12 months. It’s a super exciting opportunity to be invited to!
The whole program is still pretty new and since some people ask me what is it like to be in the program, let me share some details in this post.
What is this program all about?
In short: get better at the cloud and help others improve. But to sum up, here it is what I get, apart form the glory and fame ;) :
- Access to AWS product teams
- Mentorship from various subject experts
- Opportunities to connect with other Builders, AWS employees and AWS Heros
- Promotional credits for the personal AWS account and certification exams and free swag
Along with me, there was about 300 other people from all over the globe that were accepted in this cycle, which constituted only 26% of all applicants.
Because the builders are proficient in a specific category, they are assigned to one of various program topic like:
- Management, governance and migration
- Dev tools
- Machine learning
- Data
- Serverless
- Security
Each group has its own channel where all participating people can discuss on the specific topic.
I was selected to Dev tools topic but it doesn’t mean I need to focus only on that category. I can participate in other topics as well by joining the exclusive events and discuss with others to deepen my knowledge in more areas!
How I ended up getting it?
I was getting encouragement from my friend Leandro Damascena, as well as from my employer ThoughtWorks to apply for the program. Although I was not able to get in just when the program was announced, I managed to get in on the second try.
When filling in the application, I basically listed my recent project and activities:
- Working on more popular Open Source projects like terraformer and cloudiscovery as well as less popular like awsenclave
- Participation in AWS User Group Singapore (here you can watch my recent presentation on AWS Nitro Enclaves)
- Moderation of an AWS Discord server
With those activities listed, I was able to get into the program.
How everyone benefits from it?
I get chance to talk with a group of over thousand people. Often am able to help other builders too with answering issues they raise.
I looks like a good opportunity as well to team up on building some new tools as the group provides mentorship program!
All builders are invited to exclusive events to get to know AWS services in depth and what are features of the services to be released. I really enjoy this part as I can ask questions about things I want to know directly to Program Managers.
Because of this insiders knowledge, I also deliver my day-to-day work better as can reach out to another group of professionals to ask about various AWS-related questions. The main one is still the ThoughtWorks hive mind, with many subject specific groups that can help in discussions on a wide selection of problems.
What if you want to be a Builder?
The applications are reviewed twice a year, so can go to the main program page to either add yourself to a wait list or apply for the program if the applications are open. If you want to add to a waitlist, try to work of an area you are interested in, to prove you are a true community builder!
If you want to start with the work of building the community, it’s best to start with joining one. Personally I encourage joining AWS Discord server that has over 2 thousands people from various fields and level of experience, from people starting the journey with the cloud to field experts to AWS employees. I been participating this server for over 2 years and it taught me a lot!
Don’t get discouraged when you won’t be accepted, diligence and perseverance is the key! If you won’t make it one time, you may get more lucky next time.
