A few weeks ago I posted a video to YouTube titled "No, I will not mentor you".
The point of the video was to explain what someone new to cloud should do to get clarity in their own career (more on that later), rather than shooting off messages on social media asking them "will you mentor me"?
Spoiler: Doing that is (super) ineffective.
Looking for a role in cloud? You need to ask yourself these four questions...
As part of that video I shared a free PDF (you can find the link in description), with four questions that you should answer for yourself if you're looking to get into the cloud industry. Those questions are:
- What role do you want in cloud?
- What of your experiences makes you suited for the role?
- What are the five skills you’ll need to work on?
- What are the skills that you will not work on?
After I released the video, I took to social media to share the PDF with various people who had previously asked me to mentor them.
About 50 people DM'ed me to get access to the PDF. But, do you want to know how many filled it in? At first, zero.
This is not a bad thing to me, I believe a lot of those people who message me "will you mentor me" simply don't have skin in the game. So sending this PDF is proving to be a great test to see if the person I'm talking to is serious or not about their career. Most are often scared off by the idea of filling in the four questions above. If that's the case, there's no way I can even help you.
BUT, after a couple of weeks, I got the most INCREDIBLE submission from someone on Twitter who had answered the questions detailing their own cloud learning plan. I thought it was such a great example, I couldn't help but make a video reviewing the submission, and giving a bit more advice and context for someone looking to become a cloud engineer.
Learning plan for a Cloud Engineer: five skills you should consider focusing on.
Let me assume that you're a busy person, and maybe you don't have time to watch the video. One of the best parts were the five skills that this person wrote down as their areas of focus:
1️⃣ - Computer Science via CS50
2️⃣ - Python via Code Academy
3️⃣ - Linux via Network Chuck
4️⃣ - Networking via CompTIA Network+
5️⃣ - Cloud via AWS Cloud Practitioner
Aside: In the video I also mention Learn To Cloud Guide as a great source of info on things like Linux and beginner projects.
Not only did this person figure out what they wanted to learn (in terms of skills) AND made sure the skills matched the job they are going for… but they also figured out which platforms to learn from 👏 A++
If this the learning path you were choosing, I’d also suggest that you now take these five areas, and really spend 2-6 months (depending how fast you work) to really get your head down and get the skills in the bag. When you're done, then you can start to think about building projects, bulking up your portfolio, and interview prep.
If you're looking to become a Cloud Engineer, you could "steal" this learning plan and get started. I would strongly suggest that you watch the video are these the RIGHT skills for a cloud engineer too, as it gives more context to the five skills.
If you're not so keen on the idea of becoming a Cloud Engineer, I'd suggest that you watch the video "I will not mentor you" to learn more about how to put together your own cloud learning plan based on the four questions above.
If we've not had chance to meet yet, I'm Lou. I run Open Up The Cloud, to help you get your start and grow your career in Cloud! You can find me over on YouTube or on both Instagram and Twitter where I'm very active, let's hang out and chat cloud careers!
Speak soon, Lou 👋
Top comments (1)
Random nitpicking
I think you ask the right questions, especially WHY?*, but I don't think you have the right method to receive responses.
As a lazy programmer, I wouldn't enjoy filling your PDF.
If you make that a Typeform or some less expansive equivalent, yes I would absolutely respond.
(*) always start with why