Emma Button, COO at nubeGo highlights 5 key incentives for technology leaders to train your team in AWS skills.
As a Software Development Manager before I founded nubeGo, I understand the importance of keeping my team’s technical skills up to date. About 4 years ago, I was first introduced to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and encouraged to offer AWS training to my teams of engineers to help prepare them for platform migration and cloud-native development. Over the past few years I have really come to appreciate the value of the cloud skills we learnt and I’d encourage engineering leaders to invest in Cloud technology training. In this blog post, I reflect on the real business value of AWS training that I have seen in my teams to hopefully inspire you to offer training to your teams too:-
Cloud Foundations
Structured introductory training in Cloud computing concepts gives everyone on your team a head start with a set of baseline AWS skills and helps to accelerate adoption of new technologies. In my teams, everyone in every part of the organisation is encouraged to gain a business or technical foundation in AWS concepts to underpin their everyday work - it helps them to become more effective with the cloud, quickly.
On my development teams, I’ve seen developers at all levels blossom after having sat AWS training - gaining that broad knowledge of the different cloud native technology options available to them has opened their eyes to new ways of working, new solutions to existing problems and has helped to boost technology innovation. A foundation in AWS has become so important to us that we encourage all of our new starters and our interns to achieve AWS certification in their early days on the team.
Common Language
Building on that foundation of Cloud computing basics, it’s great when everyone on your team can talk a shared vocabulary when it comes to cloud. Using official AWS training helps ensure that we’re using the same terms for architectural concepts or design approaches. Over the past year at nubeGo I’ve met a number of developers and SysOps engineers who have been the pioneers of cloud within their organisations; These AWS specialists, having accompanied their team members on training courses, have shared their relief that now they won’t be the only person to know a certain tool, or the only person who knows what a “resource policy” is. Having a shared language that we can all talk to in our design meetings and code reviews helps build efficiency and co-operation.
We are All Architects
I cannot over-emphasise how much of a transformation AWS training has made to my development teams in the past. Within two separate organisations, I’ve seen the take-up of training in AWS skills completely revolutionise the architectural approaches of two very different software teams. An appreciation for cloud architecture solutions injects a massive boost of innovation into both development and infrastructure teams. Even where more junior engineers or application engineers may not think that they have a need to focus on architectural concepts, the Architecting on AWS training helps us to understand fully the architectural patterns and best practices of the platforms in which we work, helping us to improve the quality of the systems we design, build and operate.
Best Practices
It is fair to say that you can learn AWS skills on-the-job, in fact I would encourage people to do so (a training course without the subsequent hands-on experience isn’t going to cement those newly-acquired skills!) That said, when I’m working with development teams up and down the country, I meet enthusiastic developers who have rapidly embraced the cloud and are now concerned that they may have missed some of Amazon’s own recommended best practices when it comes to architecting for performance, reliability, security and cost-management. Each of Amazon’s official training courses is shaped by their “well-architected” framework and the courses feature an abundance of tips for embedding best practices, built from Amazon’s own wealth of experience. There is something about hearing the recommendations directly from Amazon that helps to instil these good practices in students and it definitely opens people’s eyes to the considerations and approaches, particularly around security.
Employee Engagement
Every technology leader knows that engineers like to learn! Enthusiastic developers, architects, infrastructure specialists and security specialists want to keep their skills fresh and to be working with the latest and greatest technologies, solving even more complex challenges. Offering technical training in Amazon Web Services can really help you to motivate and inspire your teams to learn and grow. With a path of courses for many different technical roles, employees know that they’ve got a roadmap ahead of them for personal challenge and growth which they could choose to supplement with an AWS certification.
nubeGo are AWS Training Partners and offer a range of AWS courses and Exclusive Paths.
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