A few years ago, I met a subscriber at an AWS event in London.
He had multiple AWS certs but employers weren't calling him back.
Here’s what I told him:
Certs are like a gym membership.
You can sign up but unless you actually train everyday and eat well, you're gonna look and feel the same.
He could tell me what S3 was but couldn't explain a real decision he'd made or troubleshoot a problem.
That's what employers actually test you on.
Everyone's got certs now.
In 2026 you have to prove you can do the work.
And the best way to do that?
Build hands-on projects that solve real problems.
31 - 0
The most expensive mistake in Cloud learning is believing you can figure it all out on your own.
And I get why people think this.
There's more free information available now than ever.
Tutorials. Documentation. ChatGPT. Articles. YouTube videos.
So you tell yourself you'll piece it together.
Find the right combination of resources.
Figure out the correct order.
Build your own curriculum.
And technically that's possible.
Some people have done it.
But you could also walk from New York to Los Angeles if you wanted to.
It's technically possible.
Or you could get on a flight and be there in a few hours.
Both get you to the same destination.
But one costs you something you can never get back.
Time.
The do it yourself path feels FREE but it isn't.
You're just paying with a different currency.
Months spent learning things in the wrong order.
Weeks stuck on problems someone could have explained in 10 minutes.
Energy wasted on things that don't matter for getting hired.
Take a moment to honestly reflect.
If you keep doing exactly what you're doing now, where will you be in a year?
Are you closer to becoming a Cloud Engineer than you were six months ago?
Could you apply for a Cloud role tomorrow and be confident you'd get it?
If the answer is no, something needs to change.
Not more effort in the same direction.
A different direction entirely.
63 - 2
Here's a pattern I've noticed after watching thousands of engineers prepare for AWS certifications.
The ones who pass fastest aren't the ones who study the most hours.
They're the ones who figure out what they don't know earliest.
Most people start at Module 1 and work through everything linearly.
Networking. Compute. Storage. Databases. Security.
Weeks of content.
Feels productive.
Then they take a practice exam and score 54%.
Devastating.
Because they spent 60 hours on material they already understood and 2 hours on the areas that actually needed work.
The fastest path to passing isn't covering everything equally.
It's identifying your specific knowledge gaps on day one and attacking those gaps with precision.
Here's what that looks like in practice.
Before you open a single module, take a diagnostic.
Find out where you actually sit across every exam domain.
Not where you think you sit.
Where you actually sit.
Then rank your weakest domains.
Study those first.
Ignore the stuff you already know.
Revisit it for 20 minutes the week before the exam.
Most people study like they're painting a wall.
Even coats everywhere.
That's slow.
The people who pass fast study like a surgeon.
Precise. Targeted. No wasted time.
Your study plan should look different from everyone else's because your gaps are different from everyone else's.
14 - 0
"I'll start learning cloud tomorrow."
You said that last week. And the week before. And the month before that.
Meanwhile, someone who started 30 days ago with no plan, no perfect course, no idea what they were doing, just deployed their first project.
The gap between you and them isn't talent.
It's not intelligence.
It's not resources.
It's that they opened their laptop and you opened TikTok.
Here's what 30 minutes today looks like:
Spin up a free AWS account.
Launch an EC2 instance.
SSH into it.
Break something.
Fix it.
That's it. That's day one.
It's ugly. It's confusing.
You'll feel lost.
Good.
That's what learning feels like.
The people who land cloud jobs aren't the ones who planned the hardest.
They're the ones who started the earliest.
--
👉 Grab my free Cloud roadmap here lnkd.in/e_AkfiXw
164 - 3
If you've been "planning" to learn cloud for more than 3 months, I need to be honest with you.
You're not planning.
You're hiding.
I've seen this pattern hundreds of times.
You're comparing roadmaps. Reading Reddit threads. Watching videos about which certification is best. Searching for the perfect course.
And it feels productive.
Every video feels like progress.
Every article feels like you're getting closer.
But here's what's actually happening.
Research has become procrastination.
Every hour comparing roadmaps is an hour you're not building anything.
Every article is another delay before facing the uncomfortable reality of doing the actual work.
And the clarity you're searching for?
It doesn't come before you start.
It comes after.
You will never research your way to certainty.
We've helped nearly a thousand people break into Cloud Engineering.
So many of them were stuck in research mode without realising it. T
welve months gone with nothing to show for it.
The people who actually made it didn't have a better plan.
They had a worse plan that they actually executed.
At some point enough is enough.
Close the tabs.
Open an AWS free tier account.
Break something.
Fix it.
That's day one.
It's supposed to feel messy.
Start.
16 - 0
First week of 2026 and my feed is flooded with people starting new roles.
New jobs. New companies. Promotions. Career pivots.
Funny how that works when the headlines keep telling you "tech isn't hiring" and "the job market is dead."
Here's what I've noticed.
The people getting hired aren't reading those articles.
They're too busy applying, building, and showing up.
The people stuck are the ones who read a headline, felt anxious, and decided to wait until things "get better."
That's the game.
The headlines are designed to keep you clicking.
Anxiety drives engagement.
Fear keeps you scrolling.
Meanwhile, the people who ignore the noise and actually try are finding out something interesting — it's never been easier to stand out.
Because your competition is doomscrolling TikTok with brain rot.
They're paralyzed by headlines written to generate clicks, not inform.
They've convinced themselves there's no point in trying.
So they don't.
Which means if you actually put in the work ie build skills, create projects, reach out to people, show up consistently, you're already ahead of 90% of the market.
The bar is on the floor, and most people can't be bothered to step over it.
You can pivot. You can get hired. You can make more money.
Not despite the market. Because of it.
The opportunity is there.
The question is whether you're going to let a headline written for clicks decide your future.
Or whether you're going to ignore the noise and go get it.
18 - 3
Difference between $100K engineer and $250K engineer isn't technical ability.
It's communication.
Can you explain your architecture decisions to executives in terms of business impact?
If not, you're capping your income.
39 - 1
Job titles in tech are about to change fast.
Every role will have AI attached to it.
Cloud Engineer will become AI Cloud Engineer, Cloud Architect becomes AI Cloud Architect, Security Engineer turns into AI Security Engineer.
Software Engineers who adapt will evolve into AI Engineers.
As AI integrates into every layer of technology, distinctions between Software, Cloud, and AI Engineers will start to blur.
New roles will emerge too, think AI Agent Engineer or AI Agent Architect.
Eventually, it might just be “AI Engineer,” where you’re expected to handle the entire stack from design and build to deploy, scale, and operate.
Job descriptions will keep getting messier, and many companies still won’t fully understand what roles they’re actually hiring for.
If you already know how to design and build end-to-end systems, you’re in a strong position.
By 2026, working in a tech company without understanding how the technology actually works won’t cut it.
That includes sales teams, product managers, and program managers.
It’s no longer enough to just write requirements, manage timelines, or talk strategy.
You need to understand how software is built, how AI reshapes the business, and how tech platforms fit together.
The people who can prototype ideas, collaborate closely with engineers, and think in systems not just processes will define the next generation of successful tech leaders.
Everyone in tech now needs to know tech.
35 - 1
Joined 22 April 2019