AWS Community Builders Holiday posts 2022
Tags: cbchristmas2022, awscommunity
Published: 2022-12-24 04:20:32

A very warm welcome to all the CBs. The motivation to write this blog came from this [post] (https://dev.to/aws-builders/a-few-personal-stories-from-reinvent-2022-4g09) by @lockhead 🙂

I'm adding one more question to all the questions Johannes asked to CBs 🙂

**What drives you to become an AWS Community Builder ?**

When you have a passion to do something, then it gives you the energy & enthusiasm to work towards achieving it. My passion to work on AWS and helping the tech community with my experience & knowledge drives me a lot.

This is how my journey to AWS Community Builder started off in 2022. I was awarded as an AWS APN Ambassador in 2021 but as I left the organization in the same year, the title was also off boarded with it. I remember talking to Katreena Mullican about other programs I can be associated with and continue my contributions in the tech community. Upon knowing about the AWS Community Builders program, I immediately applied it but got rejection. 😒 I then deep dived into the program objectives and started working on contributing to the wider community through blogs, answering queries in the Global AWS Certified Community forums/platforms and many other ways which eventually resulted in my application getting accepted in March 2022 ☺️
I told the world about it [here](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/somesh-srivastava-5a746113_awscommunitybuilders-activity-6953736043544137728-6bzZ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop)

While wrapping the year 2022, if I recall my first year journey as an AWS Community Builder, I feel incredibly proud of the contributions I made:

- written 4 articles
- delivered 3 talks
- organized & led one in-house online quiz event
- answered many queries in the Global AWS Certified Community forum
- Leading the AWS upskill program in Barclays, across India locations while working very closely with AWS T&C team, TAMs and SAs
- joined the AWS User Group Pune as a core organizing team member
- co-organized and contributed in an in-person AWS Community Day Pune 2022 event

**What surprises you most about the AWS Community Builders program?**

The diversity of people, skills and resources this program has. Another thing which really surprises me is the amount of contributions the CBs are making, sometimes I really think how do they get time to do so many activities, blogs, talks etc. and whether I contributed enough :)


**What's your background and your experience with AWS?**

Well I'm thinking on writing another blog on it 🙂 but I'll keep it short here. I started off my career in 2007 and have played many roles in my 16 years of career ranging from Test engineer, Payments domain SME, Blockchain architect, AWS solutions architect. Currently working in Barclays (Pune, India) as a Cloud Engineering Lead and Lead Cloud Solutions Architect for the business unit called Corporate Digital Banking.
My AWS journey started in 2015 when I was setting a Blockchain node on a linux server without knowing it was an EC2 instance :D I got to know from the person who was provisioning the infra, that it was an EC2 which is an AWS service. I started exploring & learning AWS since then and took my career ahead in AWS. Have migrated applications & servers to AWS, architect many AWS solutions which helped customer in their cloud adoption journey. I now possess 6 AWS certifications including 1 professional & 2 specialty.

**Whats's the biggest benefit you see from the program?**

Availability and access to the contents & resources, opportunity to learn & upskill yourself, contribute and sharing knowledge with tech communities. 
Another benefit is that, it increases the brand value of a person. I really felt it in last few months; but it also increases my confidence and boost my moral to do even more for the community.

**What’s the next swag item that you would like to get?**

Talking about Swags are incredibly important :) I loved the swags I have received till now from the program. More stickers please!😉 My laptop flap still has free spaces. 😀

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/1f1m1joy54pqadtpizu2.jpg)

**What are you eating for dinner today? share the recipe!**

Matka Paneer Biryani 😋 (Cheese Biryani in clay pot)

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hp4rg0ujl7bohkokxgqa.jpg)

Follow recipe [here](https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/paneer-biryani-recipe/)

**Do you have anything else to say about the AWS Community Builders Program in 2022?**

Keep learning, collaborating & contributing! 🙂
Thank you @shafjag, Taylor Lucy & Jason Dunn for this opportunity and the lovely swags! :)

Happy Holidays Everyone! 
Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!