Getting into Cloud (ft. Forrest Brazeal)
Guest interview with Forrest Brazeal, AWS Serverless Hero and creator of the Cloud Resume Challenge, one of the most passionate cloud advocates in the world.
This week we have another guest interview with the multi-talented Forrest Brazeal (site, twitter, newsletter) who is one of the most passionate cloud advocates in the world. Definitely check out A Cloud Guru's Cloud Resume Challenge if you or someone you know is interested in getting into the cloud, and stay for his hot takes on mid-century children's literature!
0:00 - Intro & Background
1:55 - Cloud Resume Challenge
- a child of the pandemic
- https://twitter.com/forrestbrazeal/status/1254822417203113986?s=20
- https://cloudresumechallenge.dev/
- https://acloudguru.com/blog/news/introducing-the-cloudguruchallenge
5:57 - Success Stories
- Hall of fame https://cloudresumechallenge.dev/halloffame/
- Pay-as-you-go cloud made this much more affordable
9:17 - Community & Cohorts
- Join the Discord https://discord.gg/2PTwAth
10:09 - Employers
- Most people don't even need Forrest's network
- You learn real knowledge going through the projects
- Being able to grow inhouse talent is a competitive advantage
- We need more internships and rotations in the industry
14:23 - Cloud Specializations
- Monthly challenges are themed
- Kesha Williams Machine Learning Challenge https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/cloudguruchallenge-machine-learning-on-aws
15:20 - Career Advice
- Be careful about general advice - we all start from different places
- What DOES work is sharing your network and privilege
16:58 - The Value of Networks
- Don't play Resume Roulette - spray & pray
- Networking is not beneath you
- This is you evaluating the industry as much as the other way around
- Giving the gift of your network and referrals does way more than advice
19:15 - The Right Way to Get Referrals
- always see if you can get a referral when applying
- "How do you know this person" - Cold DMs for referrals don't work
- engage in the community, write blogposts, try stuff out, tag the creator
- Pick Up What They Put Down
22:16 - Why Own Your Content
- Its fine to start on Dev.to or Medium
- But eventually it's important to own your domain/mailing list
23:45 - Specialization vs Megatrends
- Didn't choose the Serverless life, Severless chose me
- Can't forecast 10 yrs ahead - just listen to megatrends
- Generational trends - Lindy effect
- Hypergrowth trends - capturing big % of population every year
- Text Editor wars -> VS Code
26:41 - Mid-century Children's Literature
- Perceptions of reality
- Virginia writing alternate history of the Civil War
- Japanese WW2 equivalent
- Subjective vs Objective Reality
29:05 - The Read-Aloud Cloud
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51645863-the-read-aloud-cloud
- explain Cloud to non-technical people
- people don't have an intuitive model for why Cloud exists
- helps them ask the right questions
----
Speaker Links
- Forrest Brazeal (@forrestbrazeal): Site, Twitter, Newsletter, The Read Aloud Cloud
- Randall (@randallkanna): The Standout Developer
- Swyx (@swyx): The Coding Career Handbook
- Discuss this episode on Circle
0:00 - Intro & Background
1:55 - Cloud Resume Challenge
- a child of the pandemic
- https://twitter.com/forrestbrazeal/status/1254822417203113986?s=20
- https://cloudresumechallenge.dev/
- https://acloudguru.com/blog/news/introducing-the-cloudguruchallenge
5:57 - Success Stories
- Hall of fame https://cloudresumechallenge.dev/halloffame/
- Pay-as-you-go cloud made this much more affordable
9:17 - Community & Cohorts
- Join the Discord https://discord.gg/2PTwAth
10:09 - Employers
- Most people don't even need Forrest's network
- You learn real knowledge going through the projects
- Being able to grow inhouse talent is a competitive advantage
- We need more internships and rotations in the industry
14:23 - Cloud Specializations
- Monthly challenges are themed
- Kesha Williams Machine Learning Challenge https://acloudguru.com/blog/engineering/cloudguruchallenge-machine-learning-on-aws
15:20 - Career Advice
- Be careful about general advice - we all start from different places
- What DOES work is sharing your network and privilege
16:58 - The Value of Networks
- Don't play Resume Roulette - spray & pray
- Networking is not beneath you
- This is you evaluating the industry as much as the other way around
- Giving the gift of your network and referrals does way more than advice
19:15 - The Right Way to Get Referrals
- always see if you can get a referral when applying
- "How do you know this person" - Cold DMs for referrals don't work
- engage in the community, write blogposts, try stuff out, tag the creator
- Pick Up What They Put Down
22:16 - Why Own Your Content
- Its fine to start on Dev.to or Medium
- But eventually it's important to own your domain/mailing list
23:45 - Specialization vs Megatrends
- Didn't choose the Serverless life, Severless chose me
- Can't forecast 10 yrs ahead - just listen to megatrends
- Generational trends - Lindy effect
- Hypergrowth trends - capturing big % of population every year
- Text Editor wars -> VS Code
26:41 - Mid-century Children's Literature
- Perceptions of reality
- Virginia writing alternate history of the Civil War
- Japanese WW2 equivalent
- Subjective vs Objective Reality
29:05 - The Read-Aloud Cloud
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51645863-the-read-aloud-cloud
- explain Cloud to non-technical people
- people don't have an intuitive model for why Cloud exists
- helps them ask the right questions
----
Speaker Links
- Forrest Brazeal (@forrestbrazeal): Site, Twitter, Newsletter, The Read Aloud Cloud
- Randall (@randallkanna): The Standout Developer
- Swyx (@swyx): The Coding Career Handbook
- Discuss this episode on Circle