DEV Community: Andréia Gonçalves

Proud to share that I’ve completed my first AWS courses. Excited for what’s next!

Andréia Gonçalves — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 20:38:14 +0000

Hi reader! :)

It feels like I fell down Alice’s rabbit hole and stayed there for a while.Yes, I know—it’s been over two months since my last post, and I’m sorry for that. But I’ve got great news! During this time, I’ve been training and preparing myself to better share my journey—and hopefully help clear the path for you too.

1 - Use groups to support your development.

Online events – I discovered an authorized company in my country (Brazil) where I can start my cloud journey and earn certificates of participation. They offer excellent free courses that explain AWS services, allow real-time questions, and even provide AWS badges! You can find this company at Ka Solutions — however, the courses are in Portuguese and in Brazilian Sign Language.

In-person events – I'm still attending AWS free events. It's an amazing environment to hear and learn AWS vocabulary, and also to build great connections. In another post I will comment more about them.

2 - LinkedIn news
By being part of the LinkedIn community, you can gain valuable insights from AWS specialists — so make sure to follow them! That’s how I discovered it’s possible to get a voucher to take the official exam for free. I won’t write about that, but I’ll suggest the detailed post by @nikhil_nareddula instead.

3 - AWS Skill Builder and AWS Educate. I started taking free courses there and really enjoyed them. I also received certificates after completing the tests. Take a look:

Until next time! And if you need help, feel free to count on me!

Before accessing for free, understand the fee!

Andréia Gonçalves — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 16:17:44 +0000

If you really want to learn about cloud services, then don’t feel lost in this material world, like me or Madonna! Let’s do it together!

Before creating your AWS free trial account, I recommend understanding the types of services you want to explore, how long you can use them, and how many usage hours you have available. This way, you won’t be shocked by the fees!

Below, you will find some steps I'm taking to better understand this new world.

P.S. Just a reminder that my professional focus is Data Science ( Machine Learning / Data Analytics / Gen AI), and for this reason, I will tailor my topics accordingly. I suggest you follow the recipe but use your own ingredients.

1 - What is your main goal in using the cloud?

AWS can feel like a rabbit hole of endless product choices. To navigate it effectively, start by understanding your area of interest. I’m taking this first step myself and will share more details in the next post. In the meantime, take a look around and explore... >>>> https://skillbuilder.aws/

2 - What kinds of services do you need when you are experiencing the free trial?
I am studying decision trees in-depth, and I am planning to apply it using AWS Free Tier. In my case, after consulting GPT or DeepSeek (why not???), I received the suggestion that I need to use:

Amazon SageMaker: Managed service to create, train, and deploy machine learning models. Ideal for training and testing a decision tree in small projects.
AWS Lambda: Serverless service to run code, ideal for training decision trees in small projects without needing to provision servers.
Amazon S3: Scalable, low-cost storage for data used in training the decision tree.
Amazon EC2 (t2.micro): Compute instance for more control over the execution environment, useful for training decision trees with libraries like scikit-learn.
AWS Glue: ETL service to process and clean data before using it to train the decision tree.

Will I really need to use all of this? I’m not sure! To find out, I’m going to practice a bit more in the training area before creating my account. If you want to follow the same strategy, click the link >>> https://skillbuilder.aws/products#machine-learning

P.S. Apparently, I will need to create an account to access the free courses. Ok, I will ask Joss Stone to say, "Yeah! Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" because in another post, I will write about that.

3 - Create your free trial remembering why you are doing it.
Now that you have an idea of the service you need, learn how to get it for a free trial period. Use the search bar to find it, and read about the free trial option to choose the one that gives you free access. >>> https://aws.amazon.com/free/?all-free-tier.sort-by=item.additionalFields.SortRank&all-free-tier.sort-order=asc&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Types=*all&awsf.Free%20Tier%20Categories=*all#Learn_more_about_AWS_Free_Tier_Products

4 - Create your free account.

The last step is just the first again. When you create your account, you’ll fall down the rabbit hole before facing the Hatter's question, asking yourself if you're going crazy.

But, oops, wait for me! I still have a lot of work to do, as I mentioned earlier, before I can create my free trial account. See you soon!

Fear of using the cloud???

Andréia Gonçalves — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 19:38:19 +0000

I'm new to using the cloud, and this makes me very afraid of the consequences regarding performance as a user. Yesterday, I watched a video that showed a post about an error in the cloud that cost a company $70,000, overnight.

Ok, this is my first post because the best way to overcome fears is to learn about them. I'm a data scientist, and I can’t afford to be left behind in the market. It’s no longer enough that my gender and my country are disadvantaged; I won’t fall behind in any update. I’m here to learn about:

1.Security and Privacy (Where is my data going?)
2.Trust in third-party companies (If my data stays in their hands, and if they decide to interrupt the service or increase costs, what will I do?)
3.Unexpected costs (What if I make mistakes like the guy who lost 70 thousand?)
4.Internet dependence (What if I need to change cloud providers?)
5.Complexity (How am I going to learn all of this? It seems difficult!)
6.What AWS can offer me as a data scientist? (Machine learning (ML), Data Analytics, etc)

I discovered AWS through an AWS event, where I went to network with women from the technology sector. The AWSome Women Community Summit Brasil was an amazing event, and since then, I have been trying to learn more about it. At the last event (Re:cap), my new friend encouraged me to study it. She was so supportive in helping me. I'm feeling enchanted by the community. The AWS women’s community in Brazil is so welcoming! Even though it’s hard to stay in the technology sector as a woman, being part of this community makes me believe that together we are stronger.

So, I’m here to learn about AWS and overcome my prejudices about the cloud. I invite you to climb the mountain of learning with me as we talk and appreciate the beauty of being part of a community. So, put on the stereo and let it sing: "Get [onto] My Cloud!!"