My life changing journey to being AWS Certified
Tags: aws, womenwhocloud, career
Published: 2019-08-09 16:16:25

It's the usual cliché; I absolutely love to challenge myself. How else would this ex-Mainframe developer, turned Business Analyst end up **2x AWS Certified, working as a Cloud Engineer** at one of the biggest banks in the sub-Saharan Africa.
My journey to being AWS Certified began almost 3 years ago. My ex-employer’s adoption of Cloud as a strategy and subsequent partnering with AWS presented a “new, shiny thing” that made such sense to me. Cloud is very central to digital transformation, ensuring that I didn’t get left behind was very exciting to me.

**How did I learn AWS?**
I mentioned earlier that my ex-employer adopted Cloud. My job at the time however did not involve any form of cloud engineering, so a lot of what I learned is self-taught, and mostly done outside of office hours.
My early days of learning AWS were made up of countless hours of watching webinars — I still watch a lot of these because of the rate of innovation, there is always a new feature or product to learn about. I invested a lot of time reading the whitepapers too. I also opened an AWS account and started experimenting with the various services available.

**Certification**
I soon decided to validate what I thought I knew, and a quick sign up with A Cloud Guru soon followed. I registered for the Solutions Architect Associate course. I also booked my exam slot, to help keep me focused.
I wrote and passed at first attempt. The sense of accomplishment can never be put to words, getting this certification meant everything to me. I was soon to learn though that it was not a sudden guarantee of opportunities. Many rejections followed — some really crushing ones thrown in the mix too just to toughen me up a bit I guess :-).

**A Career as a Cloud Engineer**
I had made up my mind that I wanted to pursue a full-time career as a Cloud Engineer — Cloud Migration Strategies, Cloud Architecture designs being my main areas of interest.
Six months into my job search an opportunity became available at my current employer. I joined as a Cloud Engineer almost 4 months ago with strong focus on exactly the main areas of interest that I mentioned earlier.
Two months into my new job I decided to pursue the Developer Associate certification. I followed the same method I did when preparing for the Solutions Architect Associate — I also wrote and passed.
I am now studying for the SysOps Admin Associate and hoping to write this soon.

**What’s next**
I have spent the last 3 years upskilling myself and looking for opportunities in Cloud. One can never say that they’ve arrived but I am proud of how far I’ve come. I have always enjoyed helping others wherever I can, so I have now started mentoring others who are looking to embark on their own Cloud journeys.
We held an AWS Gameday at work a couple of months back where I had the opportunity to mentor a team — passion unlocked! :-)
![](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/3be4z7751si8c5sj7fw5.jpg)AWS  GameDay

**Other opportunities presented by this new Cloud Engineering role**
Earlier this year we were treated to our very first AWS Lofts when this was hosted for an entire month in Johannesburg. I attended, and had an opportunity to meet so many other Cloud geeks — it was an awesome time.
![](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/inelo01dkpss52t7ilht.jpg) AWS Lofts
It was always a dream to attend the **AWS Summit in Cape Town** — this year I had the opportunity to attend. I learned so much and had such an amazing time.
![](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/9ml1tdaobrbptbnhp21l.JPG) AWS Summit 

We recently held a Women in Cloud conference, I was one of the speakers — speaking on my journey to Cloud. I enjoyed sharing, and it’s always so worthwhile when your story motivates others. I am hoping to see so many other women join me on this journey. It has proved to be truly rewarding, I cannot wait to see all else that lies ahead.
![](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/gvbnn7tqivemr763acfj.jpg)Women In Cloud Conference