Conversation with a Cloud Solutions Architect at AWS[Storytime Saturdays]
How to succeed in cloud computing, get into emerging tech, and much much more.
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I’ve got something very special for you,
As some of you may know, I had a conversation with Muhammad Sajid, a Solutions Architect at AWS Nordics (the branch of AWS that operates in Denmark, Sweden, and other Scandinavian countries). Aside from his work at Amazon, he speaks regularly at several community and company events and conferences about cloud, architecture, and cloud-native software development. We covered his experiences, his suggestions for establishing yourself to have a strong career, and how to get into emerging tech fields (amongst many other topics). I’ll be covering and expanding upon some of the most important points in that conversation. You can find the full, unedited conversation below. Turns out I really need to work on my camera presence. I’ll be better next time. But if you can overlook that, the conversation was amazing and has received a lot of positive reviews (mostly because of Sajid).
Key Highlights
The post will be covering the following points-
Emerging Tech needs boring skills- How does one get into an emerging field? Sajid is one of the OGs of Cloud Computing. At his time there were no certifications and no personal projects in Cloud Computing that you could do. How did he pivot into this field? By showing his skills in basic software engineering. By showing himself to be a top-tier developer, he demonstrated his ability to build scalable and robust solutions. Being a good cloud/VR/AI/Metaverse developer is much easier when you’re a good developer.
Everyone should start Mentoring- Sajid is a mentor (more on how you can reach him later). He firmly believes that everyone should start mentoring, regardless of how good they think they are. I agree. If you’re at level 1, you’re at the best place to help the person struggling on level 0.
Building knowledge is essential to a software developer- At the start of our conversation, Sajid talked about Audiobooks, and how he enjoyed listening to them. He also said that as soon as you think you can stop learning, your career is done. Which is super in line with what I have been writing about. Definitely, something I vibe with.
How to filter for the right kind of information- The problem with the internet is that even if you want to learn, there are too many sources. And not all of them are good. I’ve already covered how many huge creators scam their audience by lying about Machine Learning here. Sajid has simple criteria for picking the best sources- they must be paid, they must offer refunds, and they must have great testimonials. I promise you I did not bribe him to say that. We’ll cover my suggestions on finding the best sources.
This is going to be a great time. Let’s get right into it.
Emerging Tech needs Boring Skills
As I’ve already mentioned, Sajid got into Cloud Computing before cloud computing was a thing. And many of you are reading this newsletter, while harboring aspirations of getting into Block Chain, Cryptocurrencies, De-Fi, AR/VR, the Metaverse, and other such new fields. How can you do that?
Turns out riding new waves requires tried and tested skills. Sajid mentioned that while Cloud does have a lot of nuances, the fundamentals of the technology operate very similar to the older in-house solutions. Similarly, while Crypto might seem extremely novel, read through the history of money and you will see many similar systems to it. Having a strong understanding of the basics will never let you down since you can transfer over to new domains quickly.
Remember the 80-20 principle that we cover many times in this newsletter. This holds extremely true for software engineering. You will notice that when we discuss software solutions and analysis of successful coders/projects. There are many recurring ideas and themes. These are based on the fundamentals. Spend time mastering them, and you’ll never struggle to adapt to any situation/context. All the hot fields will open themselves to you. As they say in Boxing- You can become a champion of your jab.
As a tangent, if someone preaches things like ‘7 ways to master X’, ‘How to become an expert in 7 months', etc.- avoid them like the plague. They are false prophets, who will waste your time and resources to make a quick buck. There are tricks and techniques you can use to achieve mastery of something specific quickly. But that requires a very strong foundation, built from consistent effort over a significant period of time. The basics are only mastered with deliberate practice over time. More on this in our section on finding the best resources. Onto the next part.
Everyone should mentor
Sajid is a big believer that everyone should start mentoring. There are a lot of benefits both to yourself and others. Here are some of the major ones-
Mentoring people will help you understand things better. Remember, as you’re teaching something, you’re also relearning it. Once I started covering Machine Learning, my understanding of many ideas shot right up.
You help someone out.
You’re networking with more people, which has a lot of benefits.
You put yourself out there, and are forced to develop your communication and presentation skills.
You have something interesting to talk about.
You document your expertise.
You get to learn from the experiences of others.
Last year, I wrote about how Writing changed my life even though I had failed to achieve any of the traditional metrics of success here. At that time I didn’t even have a plan for monetization. Things are looking very different for me, less than one year from that. Just goes to show you, that when you put yourself out there for a good thing, you will eventually gain something from it. Even if it takes some time.
Mentorship is something that Sajid actively participates in. He is a mentor as MentorColor. MentorColor matches job seekers with interviews from FAANG. For readers of my work, they will offer a 30% discount if you use the promo code CODING-INTERVIEWS-30. You can use that to get discounts on potentially life-changing mentorship sessions with Sajid or any of their other top mentors. His mentor profile can be found here.
You don’t need to be ‘an expert to mentor people (remember in our field, there is no such thing). You have been through challenges, learned lessons, and navigated through things. You’ve had life experiences that only you will ever truly appreciate. Your journey will have value to someone else. Share it, and you never know who you touch. The last thing I expected when I started writing was for a Director of Analytics at LinkedIn, someone who heads billion-dollar projects, to become a reader of mine. If you want to learn more about our conversation, read this.
If any of you want to come and talk to me, I would be happy to. Just reply to this email, drop a comment or reach out to me on my social media links. I’m sure you’ve got a story to share, and it would be my honor if you would share it with me. If you ever want some pointers on sharing your story, you know who to reach out to.
Building Knowledge is Key as a Software Developer
Another point where I vibed with Sajid. Sajid preaches the importance of constant education in various domains. The reason that this newsletter covers finance, stories, and ‘unrelated’ topics is so that you can build a more complete picture, instead of just being a glass cannon only good at a few things.
Sajid shares a very interesting model of knowledge- called the reverse pyramid. Here you pick an area to go deep into (AI for me, Cloud for him) and go into the other ones with a lower intensity. This is something I always share. By customizing the domains to your liking and interests, you will build up a knowledge base that is uniquely you. That is your competitive advantage, your blue ocean.
As engineers, I recommend the following list of subjects (technical and non-technical) that you must know about-
Math and Theoretical Computer Science
Coding
Economics and Finance
Philosophy + Logic
Writing.
To know about some sources I recommend, and how to use them, check out my post How I got a USD 100/hour offer at 21[Storytime Saturdays] linked here.
However, as you start educating yourself you will have to wade through a lot of hay to find your needles (good sources). Let’s cover that next.
Filtering to find the best resources
Sajid has a really good set of criteria to find the best sources. As I’ve already mentioned, any sources Sajid uses- must be paid, they must offer refunds, and they must have great testimonials. And yes, this Newsletter matches all the criteria. No I did not make Sajid give these criteria.
This is a generally good rule of thumb when it comes to finding the best of the best resources. People giving you free resources won’t be able to give you detailed customized plans on how you can best utilize them, and what you need to focus on. That being said, there is a lot of value in the amazing free resources available online. I share a lot of them on this NL. So I would make a slight tweak to the first part of his critera. Instead of paid, the source must have some credentials of making money in a related field. Over the long-term (scammers get away with amazing short-term returns). Even when I was not making any money from my articles, I had proof that I had worked in Machine Learning and delivered the results. Any good source will have the same. They will be able to show the receipts.
To those of you interested in learning more about Sajid and his mentorship- Reach Sajid’s LinkedIn here to talk to him more. If you’d like to reach out to me, use the links below.
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Stay Woke. I’ll see you living the dream.
Go kill all,
Devansh <3
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