Get hired in cloud? I asked 5 engineers !

I asked five people who either hire, or got hired in cloud / tech about how they landed their job. We talk about the entire hiring process, from resumes to interviews.
A big thank you to Alex and Mariah who I met through shesharp.co (‪@SheSharp‬) a non-profit foundation for women and non-binary in the tech industry. They run some great events and a community, definitely check them out ! They are also running a Hackathon, so get involved:
www.shesharp.co/hackathon-2023
Abhishek also kindly offered to help out and mentor folks looking to get into the cloud. You can find his topmate account to book and setup sessions here:
topmate.io/abhitnc
Connect with the guests:
* / rishabk7
* / alemosie
* / cirpo
* / mariahlaqua
* / abhitnc
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▶ A PRACTICAL START WITH CLOUD / AWS
I highly recommend Stephen Mareeks AWS courses. If you’re a total beginner I recommend the “Certified Cloud Practitioner” otherwise the “Associate Developer”. If you plan to take the exam, I also highly recommend Jon Bonso’s practice exams:
geni.us/bonso-practice-exams
geni.us/stephane-mareek-ccp
geni.us/stephane-mareek-dev
Why I recommend Stephane and Jon’s courses:
openupthecloud.com/aws-exam-b...
▶ WRITE A CLOUD RESUME THAT LANDS YOU THE JOB
There is no better book which explain Tech Hiring and how to write a resume that passes tech screening processes than “The Tech Resume: Inside out”. I am referenced in the book and my review (Twitter) is on the homepage. It’s free if you’re unemployed and is priced based on your location.
geni.us/techresumeinsideout
▶ BUILD YOUR RESUME (AS A PROJECT) USING CLOUD TECHNOLOGY
The “Cloud Resume Challenge” is a 12 step project. I love the challenge, I’m an active member of the Discord, and I have a whole playlist on KZbin to help you complete the challenge. There is a book (it’s optional), but I strongly recommend it. Get the “Cloud Resume Challenge” book:
geni.us/cloudresumechallenge
▶ CLOUD BOOKS & COURSES COURSES
For my full set of recommended cloud books, courses, best monitors, keyboards and everything else, check out:
openupthecloud.com/recommende...
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FIND OUT MORE:
Website: openupthecloud.com
About Me: openupthecloud.com/about
LET'S CHAT
Instagram: / openupthecloud
Twitter: / openupthecloud
Twitter (personal): / loujaybee
Legal Disclaimer: These videos are for education purposes only. I am not responsible for any incurred costs or damages from following any of these tutorials. Follow the tutorials at your own risk, taking necessary precautions for cost management, security, etc.

[@openupthecloud]

Yo team ! How did you find the video? I tried to get some more interviews with real folks working in the cloud. Was that helpful for you? What were the most useful insights of the video and where would you like to hear more? Let me know in the comments 👇

[@techfixer1543]

Thank you Lou! Another insightful video-- especially how Maria reached out to the recently hired engineer, who later interviewed her. That was a smart proacitve move.

[@openupthecloud]

Yes !! Was really great to hear that. I'm often recommending people do similar networking, was great to hear her share how that lead to success, and a more concrete example of how "networking" can look like, as sometimes that's an abstract term or idea !

[@user-mq5yy6qw2x]

Many thanks, Lou! Watching this gave me a much brighter approach to my next interview. Communication and passion will weight more on their decision. Keep up the great work!

[@abdi-rizaqdirir4129]

This is such a different channel to others. You deal with topics that people dont normally discuss and you provide solutions from real life examples. Great work mate

[@alledevops]

amazing content Lou! i really like those videos including opinions of peoples from various roles! realistic yet motivating🤟

[@openupthecloud]

Also, don't miss the She Sharp Hackathon that's on this weekend: www.shesharp.co/hackathon-2023 Get involved! More details in the description !

[@Xarishher]

Im currently studying for my A-Levels and want to pursue a career in the Cloud Industry. As of what I have done so far, I completed CS50s Introduction to Python, Im probably going to start a "foundation" course specifically related to Cloud, but don't know which to choose or where to start from there.

[@BB-tl9vv]

Thank you Lou!

[@openupthecloud]

You're very welcome !

[@pramod1591]

Thanks for the video Lou. I would like to ask one thing here: Is age discrimination or career gap a factor when it comes to shortlisting candidates for a position? I have had quite a long career gap after I quit my previous experience of 12 years in software development. I now plan to switch my career to cloud engineering

[@openupthecloud]

Hey! I would try not to focus on that too much... as long as you have a good story about why you took the time off you should be okay. You've got 12 years of experience, which is amazing! So, I'd suggest to remind yourself of tthat wealth of experience you can carry through - your experience is a strength, and not a liability !

[@pramod1591]

@@openupthecloud Thank you!

[@jim5526]

Yes. Age discrimination is real. Tell the hiring manager you are trans or at least LGBTQ+

[@NamaDoodoo]

Is there a supply glut in cloud in the UK? On Linkedin theres hundreds applying for a single position

[@openupthecloud]

A couple thoughts... 1. I wouldn't pay too close attention to those numbers of applications, they're often very incorrect. 2. I've heard stories of people with no qualifications at all applying for cloud roles. 3. There is some market hesitancy, companies are filling recruiting pipelines but are hesitant in hiring. Companies are still working, roles are still open, all the same rules apply: 1. Focus on a specific area, job title or role. 2. Build as much evidence as you can. 3. Apply a lot, keep putting yourself out there. Just keep pushing and the good news will come !

[@NamaDoodoo]

@@openupthecloud thanks for your detailed answer! Really needed this video, 50 rejections deep but gotta keep going!

[@wilklinsnyatteng4987]

💯👍

[@openupthecloud]

🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@dracoreeper]

applied to over 400, still nothing.

[@maxfrischdev]

Are those just clips patched together taken from other sources, or why don't you just show the interviews? Maybe it's just me, but I like an interview or discussion to be well.. interactive between two or more parties 😅🤷🏼‍♂️

[@openupthecloud]

Interesting feedback, Max ! I have thought about publishing the full interviews. Was there anything you felt you missed from the longer conversations? If it helps, the thinking is... 1. Makes content more dense, by condensing 5 hours of conversation into 30m or so. 2. Puts interviewee's more at ease, meaning I can interview a wider range of folks than your typical "speaker" types.

[@ukemzySkywalker]

No black person in the interviews

[@openupthecloud]

Appreciate the feedback @ukemzySkywalker ! The reason I started doing videos that incorporate other people into them (besides myself) was to get more diverse in terms of thoughts, opinions and experiences, etc so that will only continue to improve over time! It's a topic close to my heart, anything you can do to help + support in this goal is useful! Thanks 🙏

[@oyajitricker]

What difference does that make?

[@dickgrayson4237]

Loved the video mate! Not related to the video, but what got you interested to the cloud? I am asking cause I am kinda confused about which specialization to pursue, I have some experience in front end but the work is really mundane to me. AI, cloud and Cyber are the trendy jobs it seems rn

[@openupthecloud]

Glad you liked it! Cloud + Cyber are great careers right now. Maybe I'm biased, but certainly some of the best choices in tech if you were starting right now. Frontend is a typical entry point for a lot of folks. The path is well paved. For cloud... not so much. But there are perks and benefits, it's really down to what gets you excited. Remember you can always pivot and adapt once you're in. As my story shows... 1. University (Comp Sci + Info Management) didn't think I'd like coding but liked tech generally. Learned to code in university (and a bunch of other stuff). 2. Applied for ANY job I could get. Got lucky, and landed a 1 year placement as a software engineer. Company took a chance on me and that gave me my start. I used AWS at the time actually (10 years ago), but had no idea what it was or why it was useful. 3. Went back to university and invested HEAVILY in my final year project (it's still on GitHub! github.com/loujaybee/survivorsunited) and centered my learning around the MEAN stack, which was hot at the time. 4. Worked some other jobs, focussed on being a better developer and ended up on a team working again closely with AWS around the time that AWS Lambda came out. 5. Got REALLY excited about AWS Lambda (for some reasons mentioned here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYGmoWB6l9dkrNE just the abstractions and the power were like WOAH, this is going to be big. I was captivated, really really wanted to work on and in AWS. 6. Took a job working in a more backend-oriented job working in a very AWS focussed and AWS Lambda focussed company. Around this time I started writing lots about AWS and cloud on openupthecloud.com (which later became this KZbin channel) as a way to learn more about cloud. 7. Got the opportunity to move to the companies Platform Engineering department and started working on internal developer tools, and loved speaking to developers and users. 8. Now I work as a Product Manager in the developer tools space... and the rest is yet to be written 😀 If you're curious, I also made a video on my own journey a bit on the channel (it's quick, I should make another) and also I did an interview with @rishabkumar7 where I explain my story in a bit more detail, focussing quite a lot on step 3 and/or landing my first job ! Hope that helps ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKiWaZ1peKZ7gZo kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpK8mamkipiradk

[@dickgrayson4237]

@@openupthecloud Damn I did not expect such a detailed reply. Reading this has really put a perspective on things and a little motivation as well. Thank you a lot for taking your time on a random guy I guess the most I am worried about is finding the field which I am passionate or interested about. Right now I am planning to move along and get a decent grip on full stack (MERN) and I guess move from there. If you have read this far then do you think there is a stigma for field changing in tech? Like moving from swe job to cyber sec

[@obaidliaqat2845]

Lou you arr amazing , your chanel should be on top for helping people get in to cloud, great job man 🫠

[@openupthecloud]

That is super kind of you to say, thank you so much ! There are some great other channels out there, a few highlighted here: www.youtube.com/@openupthecloud/channels And here's actually an export of my own (tech/cloud) subscribers, feel free to steal some ideas :P github.com/openupthecloud/cloud-youtube-channels