Cloud Questions ! ☁️

[loujaybee]

One of my goals with Open Up The Cloud is to try to answer every question a career switcher, or newbie to the cloud might have. I have a ton of content already on the blog and YouTube, but sometimes I think finding the answer in and amongst everything can be hard. I'm always answering questions in private, but it's so much more useful if we answer questions in public! The chances are that I've actually already answered your question somewhere.

Drop your question here, and I'll point you to the best piece of content that I know! 🚀

[loujaybee]

From LinkedIn:

I want you to share your experience and what do you think is the right thing to do ....I want to have a career in aws ... I would highly appreciate your response

I put out a ton of content for folks like you. There's a bunch of stuff that you can go read/watch.

Here's an overview of some different roles:
https://openupthecloud.com/cloud-roles-explained/

And here's a quick start, places to go to start reading and basic things to get you started.
https://openupthecloud.com/where-to-start-cloud-computing/

Aside from the blog, I also put up a bunch of stuff on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/OpenUpTheCloud

[loujaybee]

From LinkedIn:

Hi Lou!I was going through the AWS article you wrote for beginners and I wanted to reach out to understand how should SAP functional resource move ahead with AWS if they don’t have coding experience and would like to stay that way. I’d love to understand which role should I focus on AWS. Thanks

Interesting question, some less-coding cloud roles off the top of my head:

• Solutions Architect
• Product Management (me!)
• Sales engineering
• Scrum Master / Agile Coach
• Community (Dev Advocacy, etc)

[loujaybee]

From Twitter:

Hi, my name is [REDACTED] and I’m an accountant of 18 years. I’m not looking to go back to school for a particular degree at the moment, but I am always wanting to learn. I have never stopped since I graduated college or passed my CPA exam. I have been down a rabbit hole researching AWS for the past two days, and I don’t know why, but it’s calling to me! I don’t know if it’s because I loved studying for the CPA exam like a weirdo, or if it’s just because I like to study to gain knowledge, not just to pass an exam and then forget and/or not use what I’ve learned. Would I be crazy to read some of your recommended books and your articles and attempt to take the first AWS entry level exam? Would it seem like a foreign language to an accountant? If there are related entry level college courses that are related and that you think I should take first, I would be open to taking those, but don’t want to waste money if I could learn online and from the study materials. Lastly, do you think there is a place in the AWS world for a CPA, or is it only for people with IT related degrees and backgrounds? Any help is greatly appreciated, as I plan to spend a LOT of time on your page in the next few days, weeks, or months until I learn all I can about AWS.

---

Thanks! Wow, firstly, thanks so much for the context! Most folks don't bother, and that can make replying a pain! Also kudos for reaching out, lots of people just lurk before just asking.

"Would I be crazy to read some of your recommended books and your articles and attempt to take the first AWS entry level exam? Would it seem like a foreign language to an accountant?"

AWS / Cloud is a very varied career. I tried to run through some of the roles in this article (below). These are just some of the more obvious ones, though. There are many other roles, and so many different flavours! Different companies are all just so different. I tend to think there is something for everyone! Whether that's visual and design, or more mathematical, data-focused or people. Could serve as the start of your search. https://openupthecloud.com/cloud-roles-explained/

"I don’t know if it’s because I loved studying for the CPA exam like a weirdo, or if it’s just because I like to study to gain knowledge, not just to pass an exam and then forget and/or not use what I’ve learned. "

Yeah, tech is changing all the time. It's why I really like it, it keeps me on my toes. There are pro's and con's to that, as you have to be careful not to burnout, and sometimes work / life balance can be a challenge. But let's just say that if you're a learning buff, then you're in the right place !

"Lastly, do you think there is a place in the AWS world for a CPA, or is it only for people with IT related degrees and backgrounds?"

Yeah, for sure. If you want to stay in that world, there are plenty of companies in the finance/accounting space, you could combine both your skills, that'd be a pretty neat skill stack to be honest. I can imagine that being a really useful.

I did write an article about this question, specifically: https://openupthecloud.com/learn-aws-and-get-certified-no-experience

"If there are related entry level college courses that are related and that you think I should take first, I would be open to taking those, but don’t want to waste money if I could learn online and from the study materials."

I don't think college is the right answer (if you want vocational tech skills). College for networking and getting the prestige sure, but I'd recommend a bootcamp, or similar if your intention is just to learn.

If you're looking for a place to start I'd suggest:

1. Start with the "AWS Cloud Practitioner" exam. There's a bunch of free stuff online to learn it. AWS is the current biggest cloud provider, GCP and Azure are not bad choices, but if I had to choose, I go with AWS, on the grounds of their market share, employer demand, etc: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SOTamWNgDKc

2. Start to look into some of the roles. Start to try and figure out where you see yourself fitting. Don't get too pigeonholed by the things you read online, sometimes they focus on the more "obvious" stuff. Shop around, message people, etc. As I say, the industry is very varied.

If you're looking for other reading, this article has proved popular with folks trying to wrap their head around the main things inside of AWS https://openupthecloud.com/start-learning-aws-beginner/

Not sure if I missed anything, or if you have more questions, more than happy to help out where I can !

[loujaybee]

From Twitter:

I've been getting into the whole Cloud and Devops ecosystem for a while now. I'm currently a placement student and will be undertaking his final year next September. I'm writing to you as I wanted to ask you if you had any challenging ideas that would be fit for a dissertation project. I wanted to do something more focused on development rather than research but since I'm still rather new to the scene I don't know what type of scale might seem too ambitious. Would love to hear your input!

Hey Dom! That's great to hear! Also, congrats on finding/getting a placement, that was a pain for me, so good to hear you got over that hurdle! My undergrad dissertation was also technical, it's still up on GitHub (not sure how useful it is, mostly nostalgia for me!): https://github.com/loujaybee/survivorsunited

"I wanted to do something more focused on development rather than research but since I'm still rather new to the scene I don't know what type of scale might seem too ambitious. Would love to hear your input!"

If you're into development, a full web app would not be totally unreasonable, that is what I did after all, in the link above.

There are a couple of challenges in Forrest book actually which might give you some inspiration. If you can't afford it, give me your email and I'll send you a copy: https://cloudresumechallenge.dev/book/

There are also quite a lot of AWS tutorials online: https://github.com/aws-samples and https://workshops.aws. It might be worth spending some time sifting through those to see that gives you any ideas...

[loujaybee]

From LinkedIn

Hey Lou, this is [REDACTED]. I completed Forrest's Cloud Resume Challenge, got my AWS Solutions Architect Associate cert, and am now interviewing at a few places for cloud engineering jobs. How would you advise me to ace these interviews?

Hey [REDACTED]! First, congrats on finishing the CRC!! And the cert, that's awesome!

For situational questions:
I'd suggest you write down 3-5 situations where you've dealt with something difficult, associate some words from each situation, e.g. "dealing with complexity, managing stakeholders, etc". For each of these situations, practice telling the story of the situation, then when you get a question like: "Tell me about a time that you showed leadership" you can pick up one of the stories from your planning and just tell it like you practiced, emphasising the attribute that they're testing you for. Rocket

For whiteboarding / DSA type interviews:
Firstly, I personally recommend avoiding those types of companies, for reasons described here:
https://daedtech.com/the-whiteboard-interview-adulthood-deferred/

BUT, if you're really into FAANG and you wanna do it, I think this book is probably your best shot for DSA type interviews. There's a few online platforms online where you can practice that stuff too, but as I say, I discourage it, so I don't bother too much with it personally. But for FAANG etc you might have no choice!
https://amazon.co.uk/Cracking-Coding-Interview-6th-Programming/dp/0984782850

Generic tech questions:
You can't really predict what tech questions you're going to get asked, there's some collections of questions that you can find online that I'd recommend taking a cruise through, e.g.
https://github.com/bregman-arie/devops-exercises

Other:
The best thing you can do is have some really strong projects. Hopefully most questions you get asked, you can keep linking them back to your projects. Cloud Resume Challenge, is a great start. But think about how you can now start to tailor that challenge based on the types of companies and roles that you're applying for.

[loujaybee]

From Instagram:

But would you have any suggestion about where to look in order to build real projects ?

I do need more content on this topic. There's some example content online, e.g.:
https://github.com/aws-samples
https://workshops.aws/

Or you could start with an existing challenge like:
https://cloudresumechallenge.dev/

I did a whole series on the challenge on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEk97Q5Nj5oesA1WNk7DzaUpZUnCsQFVQ

I also have a series about more "advanced" things you can add to your projects:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEk97Q5Nj5oezIxXf1B6WT481Q0vmAiAl

I wrote about serverless beginner a while back:
https://openupthecloud.com/serverless-beginner-project/

We ran a Twitter space on the topic of projects recently, I think it could help (the link will expire):
https://twitter.com/openupthecloud/status/1469672673886322688?s=20

The learn to cloud guide also has a bunch of example projects 🙏 🚀
https://learntocloud.guide/#/
https://github.com/learntocloud/learn-to-cloud

[loujaybee]

From Twitter

Hi Lou a quick question please, where I can found a good link to learn Terraform? Thank you.

Over the years, I've written a bunch about learning terraform, some stuff is better than others:
https://openupthecloud.com/what-is-terraform-used-for/
https://openupthecloud.com/how-long-to-learn-terraform/
https://openupthecloud.com/what-is-terraform/
https://openupthecloud.com/terraform-best-practices/
https://openupthecloud.com/best-way-learn-terraform/
https://openupthecloud.com/learn-terraform-before-cloud-computing/
https://openupthecloud.com/the-six-fundamentals-of-terraform/

But since then, Terraform has released their own certification, and there's a bunch of free resources on their website, that's probably one of the best places to start:
https://learn.hashicorp.com/collections/terraform/certification

I also highly recommend the book Terraform Up & Running, it's great (make sure it's the 2nd edition):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Terraform-Running-Writing-Infrastructure-Code/dp/1492046906

It's one of the books I recommend for folks who are new to cloud:
https://openupthecloud.com/recommended-resources/new-cloud-books/

Hope that helps 🙏

[loujaybee]

From 100DaysOfCloud Discord.

Would be great if you can help. I am willing to start AWS certification. Was confused if should take cloud practitioner or developer associate. P.S. have completed all azure certs.. Would be great if anyone can advice here

The following two resources should sufficiently answer this question:
https://openupthecloud.com/which-aws-certification-first/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIAVK7Ks91c

[loujaybee]

I know you have probably been asked this a billion times. But coming from no computer background what's the best route to start learning. Do I need to learn python or sql? I want to take the aws cert exam and even that is confusing. What I thought I could do was go through the cloud essentials, do cloud quest, then do the exam. Is there anything that I should add onto this. Oh I also wanted to take the udemy course for the cert. Prep. Any advise with the route I'm taking would be helpful. I was also looking at data analyst and that route so learning excel python. Etc.

In terms of "getting started today" I wrote this: https://openupthecloud.com/where-to-start-cloud-computing/

Which is my high-level advice on where to start.

Do I need to learn python or sql? I want to take the aws cert exam and even that is confusing.

I do strongly suggest you start by finding a role that you want, and working back from there. There lots of roles in cloud, they all differ, if you start tech first and then role, it can be tough. That said... there is value in "just starting" and picking up something.

For cloud I often recommend:

• AWS
• Python
• GitHub Actions
• Terraform

I'd suggest to start with the first two, e.g. get your head around cloud generally (AWS specifically). And think about hacking a little on a programming language to get the feel for it. I suggest AWS since it's the market leader, and Python because it's used for web development, cloud and data. Lots of free content on YouTube for both of these for example:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQrJ0TkZlc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOTamWNgDKc&t=1s

You don't have to intensively do those courses, but I think watching them through, even if you skip parts is going to give you a better idea of: what the cloud is, and some fundamentals around programming more generally.

I want to take the aws cert exam and even that is confusing.

Yeah, the important part to remember here is those certs are also a marketing tool for vendors. They're not strictly an educational tool, and they don't necessarily guarentee a job. They can be good to get your head around the topic as a guide but thats where focussing on a specific role comes in.

I was also looking at data analyst and that route so learning excel python. Etc.

There's lots of great jobs in data: data science, data engineering for sure. A great career to be made there. If you go the data route yes, certainly Python is a good area of focus. Maybe worth experimenting a little deeper as you start to mull over if you think data is the right path for you. But it's really great that you have that as a thought for your direction.

It's a lot to take in!