Ruben’s Road to becoming a Certified AWS Cloud Practitioner

Getting started with a new technology can be quite overwhelming at times. Ruben Dehenau, a freelance IT consultant who wanted to start learning the AWS Cloud from scratch, experienced this first-hand.

At The Campus, we always strive to give (future) students tailored advice on how to achieve their goals. This article tells the story of Ruben’s journey into the AWS Cloud, and how The Campus helped him find his way through the broad offer of AWS certifications and training courses.

Ruben’s background

Ruben worked as a tech support in Scotland a couple of years ago. The building next to the office where he worked was the Amazon building, which left a certain impression. During his time in Scotland, Ruben discovered one of his colleagues was learning AWS, with the goal to obtain an official certification. This colleague told Ruben all about his experience with AWS, and at a certain point, he said: “If you really want to make it in life, you need to start learning AWS”.

When his contract in Scotland ended, Ruben moved back to Belgium. He continued working as an employee for a while, but he soon decided to become a freelancer. “I’m currently more of a generalist, a jack-of-all-trades”, says Ruben. “I mostly get hired as a system engineer or as a help desk engineer. When I contacted The Campus, I had decided it was time for me to specialise in a certain area of expertise. I wanted to learn a skill that is in high demand, and that would at the same time help me realise my dream to work remotely and move abroad again. Thinking back on the conversations I had with my ex-colleague, I chose to specialise in AWS. Cloud is the future, after all.”

Ruben started looking for opportunities as a junior AWS engineer, but with no luck. “There weren’t that many opportunities available for junior AWS Engineers at the time, so I started looking for AWS training courses instead. There is no broad offer of AWS training courses available in the Benelux, so I quickly stumbled upon The Campus on LinkedIn”, Ruben explains.

Finding his way in the world of AWS

Ruben visited The Campus’ website, on which he found information about the available AWS training courses. “The information on the website was clear and to the point, but since I had no Cloud experience whatsoever, it was difficult for me to figure out which course I had to take to start learning AWS”, says Ruben. “I used the contact form on the website to get in touch with The Campus, and to receive personal advice on what to start with.”

Joy Buelens, our Managing Partner and IT Learning Architect, provided Ruben with the necessary information to help him kickstart his journey into the AWS Cloud. “All the available information, learning paths and training courses can be quite overwhelming for those who want to take their first steps in AWS”, Joy confirms. “In Ruben’s case, I advised him to start with the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials training, since he has no prior knowledge of Cloud computing and AWS. He indicated he would like to continue in SysOps or DevOps, so I also provided him with practical information and useful links for both of these learning trajectories.”

The result

Ruben followed Joy’s advice and completed the AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials training. The result? He took the official exam and became a Certified Cloud Practitioner! “What I really appreciated was the personal contact I had with Joy”, says Ruben. “She was able to assess my situation correctly, and guided me towards the training I needed to get started with AWS. I also appreciated the fact that she provided links to free assets from AWS as well, instead of immediately trying to push me into a paid course.”

Ruben is currently looking for a job in AWS, but he noticed many companies demand a Solutions Architect Certification. This will be Ruben’s next step in the AWS Cloud, and he let us know he’s interested in booking the necessary training courses at The Campus. Cheers to that!

We wish Ruben the best of luck with his new career path, and with all of his future endeavours!