DEV Community: Junior Severe

PSA for non-native English speakers pursuing AWS Certifications:

Junior Severe — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 16:19:34 +0000

Did you know you can get +30 extra minutes on your exam?

It's called the ESL (English as a Second Language) accommodation. Here's how:

1- Log into your AWS Certification account
2- Go to your profile settings
3- Request the ESL accommodation
4- It gets permanently linked to your account ,applies automatically to ALL future exams

No re-approval needed each time. Set it once, benefit forever.

If English isn't your first language, use every advantage available. This one's free and official.

AWSCertified #AWSCommunityBuilders #CloudComputing #AWSCertification

From Failure to Certification: My AWS Cloud Practitioner Journey

Junior Severe — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:06:36 +0000

I failed my first AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam on February 9, 2026.

At first, I underestimated the exam because I thought it was one of the easiest certifications in cloud computing. That mindset led me to prepare with less seriousness than I should have.

In March 2026, I changed my approach. I studied with more discipline, consistency, and commitment , and I successfully passed the exam.
This experience taught me an important lesson: in technology, knowledge alone is not enough. Whether you are learning cloud, programming, or any technical skill, success requires discipline, focus, and continuous effort.

Every failure can become a step forward if you are willing to learn, improve, and keep moving.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: achieved through persistence and dedication.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner - Credly

Earners of this certification have a fundamental understanding of IT services and their uses in the AWS Cloud. They demonstrated cloud fluency and foundational AWS knowledge. Badge owners are able to identify essential AWS services necessary to set up AWS-focused projects.

credly.com

How I Overcame My Fear of Open Source and Made My First Contribution?

Junior Severe — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 18:52:47 +0000

I used to wonder constantly about how open source works. It felt like a massive wall to climb. After spending hours studying, practicing, and learning, I finally succeeded today.

As a Full-Stack Developer & Cloud DevOps Engineer, open source is becoming a vital part of my professional journey. Proud of this milestone!

firstcontributions / first-contributions

🚀✨ Help beginners to contribute to open source projects

Read this in other languages.

First Contributions

This project aims to simplify and guide the way beginners make their first contribution. If you are looking to make your first contribution, follow the steps below.

If you're not comfortable with command line, here are tutorials using GUI tools.

If you don't have git on your machine, install it.

Fork this repository

Fork this repository by clicking on the fork button on the top of this page. This will create a copy of this repository in your account.

Clone the repository

Now clone the forked repository to your machine. Go to your GitHub account, open the forked repository, click on the code button, then on SSH tab and then click the copy url to clipboard icon.

Open a terminal and run the following git command:

git clone "url you just copied"

where "url you just copied" (without the…

View on GitHub

From Agricultural Engineering to AWS Solutions Architect: My Cloud Journey So Far

Junior Severe — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 23:35:00 +0000

I didn't start in tech. I hold a Bac+5 (Master's-equivalent) in agricultural engineering from the State University of Haiti. A year ago, I made the decision to fully pivot into cloud and software engineering ; and I want to document that journey publicly, mistakes included.
Where I started
I began with the fundamentals: completed CS50W (Harvard/edX) to build a real foundation in web development, then earned the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification to understand the AWS ecosystem end to end ; compute, storage, networking, IAM, billing.
What I'm building

To make the learning concrete, I designed and deployed a full-stack school management system using Django and React ; handling authentication, role-based access control, and a relational database for student records and scheduling. It's live, and the repo is public: https://github.com/JuniorSEVERE-WEB/college_quisqueya-version2-.
Where I'm headed
I'm currently deep in AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA) prep ; working through VPC design, high availability patterns, and cost-optimized architectures. Terraform and Kubernetes are next on the list, since infrastructure-as-code and container orchestration are non-negotiable for the DevOps roles I'm targeting.
Why I'm sharing this
Career transitions are hard to do in isolation, especially outside the usual tech hubs. I'm based in Léogâne, Haiti, and I've found the AWS learning ecosystem (Skill Builder, Cloud Quest, Jam) invaluable for structured, hands-on practice without needing a team or a classroom. I'll be posting updates as I go, SAA exam results, what tripped me up in Terraform, and how the school management project evolves.
If you're on a similar path-career switcher, self-taught, building in public . I'd love to connect.