In order to increase my ratio of AWS-related work, I started with a three-points plan. In this blog-post, I want to explain to you, what those are and why I’m taking those steps.

Point 1: Increase Certification Level

The more you’re certified, the easier you can prove your technical track of record and abilities. I’m currently preparing for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional certificate, for which I scheduled a certificate date in mid-November.

My perparation is currently split in two parts. One is getting practical training and reading all lot of AWS Whitepapers. The second part is a three days training from the US-based company ExitCertified on Advanced Architecting on AWS.

Point 2: Start Teaching on Cloud Computing / AWS

Getting good and practical training is a highly important part of professional progression. As I did receive that kind of training, I do want to share my knowledge with our people, too. Therefore, I started a position as a private lecturer at Nuremberg Institute of Technology for a Master of Engineering in Software Engineering. The topic of the lecture is Scalable Web-Applications in the Cloud. Unfortunately, the lecture material is only available in German for now. After the translation from German to English, I’ll make the content publicly available on this blog.

Point 3: Getting Listed at Toptal

When working in an environment with highly skilled people, you’re increasing the speed of learning. This means that you’re learing-curve is going to get steeper. For that reason, I chose to look for freelancing work at Toptal. On the first look Toptal might just look like any other freelancing portal. However, they do real freelancer pre-screening and only take the top 3% of applicants. By this they can ensure that the listed freelancer are top-notch experts. This means also that you’re going to work together with high-class customers and teams, which on the other hand will increase your learning speed on any new topic. In case you’re also looking into working as a full-time / part-time freelancer, I highly would recommend an application at Toptal Web Development Network.