AWS Cloud Resume Challenge
"It should be possible to explain cloud technology to a barmaid..."
Blog post: 05/12/2025
I passed my practitioner exam last week on Monday (24-11-2025).
I spoke to my teacher on Tuesday and he discussed this challenge with me. He has agreed to offer assistance if I need it but my goal is to conquer this without the use of AI or direct human interaction (that is to say, stack overflow etc are allowed, getting the answers off my teacher or being spoon fed off YouTube is not).
Hi, my name is Patrick. I have spent most of my career as a hospitality worker. You know the type: misguided youth, no formal education, started working in a cafe to get by and next thing you know I’m getting visceral flashbacks when I watch an episode of ‘The Bear’ (by the way, great show, strong recommend).
In 2023 I finished a web development bootcamp. Full stack. I was promised that would make me a veritable unicorn as far as developers go.
Then ChatGPT came along.
While I found AI useful for checking my homework, and if I’m being honest, for putting notes into my code last minute when I forgot that requirement, it ended up being my downfall. Who on earth is going to hire a 39 year old junior web dev in a shrinking economy when you can just vibe code your way through life? There was hope in the beginning but as the AI sharpened up and my skills got rusty, I began to lose hope.
Finally I got a job in tech. A help desk situation of course, but it thought me that I was interested in the security side of things as well as the networking aspect, and after that job became untenable and I continued getting rejections I spoke to a career counsellor who informed me of the cert IV in cyber security offered by VU.
There I met my teacher, Wasif, who greatly emphasised the importance of learning cloud technology, particularly AWS. The man has an extensive career in the industry and really seems to know what he’s talking about so if he says it’s good I’ll give it a go.
It’s going to be work, I know this, but I’m a hospo worker… You can’t overwork a bartender, that’s just not how we’re programmed, plus I’m already a step in front as i’ve done the exam, right?
Right. I got this.
NEXT STEP: Create an HTML Resume
