Is 3:00 PM September 29 in Washington DC and I am almost leaving the AWS Washington DC Summit held at Walter E. Washington Convention Center in the US Capital of a great country. First of all this post is neither about technology nor any AWS service created by brilliant human beings you have empowered with your company. What you have created is one of the most impacting and inspiring organizations worldwide. If you have not noticed yet, you have not built a technological company, what you have accomplished is the creation of a company where people are empowered to give the best of their skills and abilities. Your company is not about EC2s, Cloudformation, Route 53, Direct Connect, RDS, S3 and many more services which I am pretty sure you have no idea how to use and configure them. Your company should be one of the most studied and analyzed companies for all Ivy League schools, is about the model you have created and the values associated with that impact in a positive way to our society. I am the parent of 4 kids, immigrant like you and still working to get them educated. Here are some ideas and memories I wanted to share with you from the last two days in Washington DC:
Education: please spend more money on Education do not wait for the Government to spend tax dollars on this and BTW this message is for all Corporate America. There are many kids that need computers with 64 GB RAM and at least 1 TB HD and the most powerful CPUs. Create new software for education, help to improve the quality of internet connectivity and more. Your corporate crew may say we are already "investing" in Education but put this way: Education should never have a limit on your company budget.
Think globally: I know you already think that way but change the perspective, think globally with the best positive impact your company can do with a social approach. The kids are your future employees and you need the kids from all countries so think globally with a positive social impact in the future lives of those kids who AWS will hire in the future. You have no idea how you can change other human being lives if you provide the main directions to your corporate folks. Don't forget, there should not be limits on this line item of your budget.
LATAM: I was very happy when one of your VPs announced the expansion of operations in South America, as an immigrant with Peruvian and Venezuelan roots and now living more than 20 years in the US that was a good new. Repeat the model you created in the US for those countries and you are going to receive all the rewards sooner or later. You made my day with this announcement.
Karen Knausenberger US Air Force CIO: Wow, this is the type of human beings you have to bring for this type of Summits, what a brilliant lady !!! Honestly I am biased on this because I wanted to pursue a career in the air force but it was a truncated dream. Now I have 25 years career in what is called "Corporate America", I do not complain but again keep bringing more people like Mrs Knausenberger. Just one suggestion, also invite people that are not in the top of your organization, I mean invite mid management and even lower levels from AWS to the big audience who are the real stars of your company.
Technology to empower people: I think this idea is not new at all for you and your folks at Amazon but as you may know there is always room for improvement specially in a company like Amazon, put the best brains to work on ideas that can radically change this. Yesterday when I was driving back home from DC to Northern Virginia where I live, I was thinking on a kind of "Brain Technology Map" idea but this is just a blog so I don't want to write a long boring post on this idea.
Critics: Well you know many people are critics of your space adventure but what you can do? just keep moving and do what your common sense and brain guide you for your next challenge. On this I just have one suggestion don't forget your roots and remember you are not a lucky man you are a human being that was at the right time in the right place with the right people so don't forget your roots.
Fernando Catacora - AWS Community Builder
REDContable.com Founder
First Spanish Speaking Professional Community for CPAs, founded in 1995.
Top comments (2)
Good photos Fernando! - thanks for keeping the Community Builders that could not go in person aware of these good lectures and topics on AWS
Hi Andres,
Actually I was thinking on people who would loved to attend this Summit, there was plenty of room to talk, chat, attend labs etc etc and share ideas, knowledge and connect with other people. Next is going to be held in May 24-25 and I will come back to DC, anyway thanks for the comment !!!
Fernando