Pete Brar works as a cloud platform engineer in the financial sector. He’s had 10 years of experience as a SysAdmin and started getting his feet wet in the cloud three years ago.
What are your experience and goals in the cloud?
Pete’s first cloud-specific work was with Azure, where he was able to get a position through his own independent study. After getting more experience in Azure, he became a lead, and his next goal is to get more proficient in the AWS cloud.
To work toward his AWS goals, Pete started with the Cloud Practitioner Certification. He passed the exam and really credits this to the ability to dive into labs, learn quickly, and then bring those skills into his job and show his colleagues.
Since he already has plenty of SysAdmin experience, Pete’s next goals are to explore and learn more around DevOps, building pipeline, and infrastructure as code — that’s the general area where he sees himself in the future. The AWS Solutions Architect – Associate cert will be a perfect choice for him to encapsulate all those skills he’s aiming for.
What features help you the most?
It’s a simple one, but first and foremost, Pete loves the search functionality within Cloud Academy. Not only are the courses organized logically, but search allows him to drill down to any piece of content, even specific quiz questions or lab steps.
Labs are another key favorite in Pete’s training. He loves having the environment built instantly and knowing that he can’t break anything in the sandbox. His strategy is to redo those labs again and again so he feels strong in his skills.
Do you have a favorite instructor?
Since he’s been focusing on AWS lately, Pete’s favorite instructor is Stuart Scott. He loves the fact that Stuart has tons of experience, is concise, and presents his lessons in an easy-to-digest format. The courses are so easy to listen to that Pete enjoys using the mobile app to just grab a five-minute break with a lecture, not even paying attention to the video.
