How I Got My 1st Tech Job (How to Get Your 1st Cloud Job)

7 min readJul 13, 2021

Are you looking to get your first Cloud Architect job? As I get ready to host our FREE AWS Networking Bootcamp, I thought I would share my story with you. The reason I’m sharing my story is that I want you to know that if you want to be a Cloud Architect and you focus on the right areas, you can get hired. There is an incredible number of opportunities for you, provided you do a few things, towards building a wonderful career.

Who am I?

Hello! My name is Michael Gibbs, CEO and Founder of Go Cloud Architects . I’ve been working in technology for well over 25 years. We are dedicated to building high-performance cloud computing careers that get you your dream cloud job and growing career. I’ve been working in technology for over 25 years, and I’ve spent 20 years of my career doing the following:

Networking
Security
Cloud computing
Teaching
Coaching
Mentorship

My backstory

Approximately 25 years ago, I was a nurse practitioner working in an internal medicine office. I had my own office where I would see patients and I really liked it. Somehow, I stumbled upon computers and networking and found that I absolutely loved them beyond anything I could even imagine. I just woke up one day and said, “I have to have a career in networking.”

So, what did I do? Everyone told me I needed a certification called an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). I took a bootcamp and got the certification but there still were no opportunities for me. Next, everyone told me I needed to learn cisco.” Which was logical, because it was networking, not systems. So, I became a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) then a CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). Eventually, I took this brutal, 10-day bootcamp for $11,000! I was there from 6:00 am — 9:00 pm. Inside of the 10 days, all of us finished our four CCNP certifications. Boy! That was a lot to learn! After I had gotten home from that training bootcamp, I became a Cisco Certified Design Professional.

Now I had three professional-level certifications and started applying for jobs. But something happened; I applied for and was rejected from five jobs. So, I stopped applying. There are those that would say keep applying and keep going. I am of the philosophy that it is insane to waste your time or efforts to keep repeating the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome.

Upon reflection, I realized all the hiring managers said the same thing to me. They consistently told me, that I didn’t have experience and that I don’t have degrees; and asked how they could hire me given the situation. I began to ponder this. While pondering, I found out about tech recruiters, and their ability to introduce candidates to the hiring managers and forego HR. This was life-changing for me.

The next thing I did was I called a tech recruiter and sent them my resume. We spoke on the phone. It was really a good discussion. And he shared with me the various areas I was lacking, which prevented him from placing me. I was thankful for this honest feedback and asked him to share with me the ideal network engineer criteria which I would need to meet given that I already had certifications.

Something amazing happened. The recruiter spent 45 minutes with me telling me all kinds of things. I wrote down extensive notes. I thanked them and sent this recruiter a nice gift. And then wondered if other recruiters feel the same way. So, I called recruiter after recruiter. By the time I was done, I had spoken to about 50 recruiters who told me the same thing. My next thought was if this is what they all desire and this is where I am now, how do I build a plan from point A to point B? I filled those requirement gaps and I got hired. Below are the key takeaways from my efforts.

What do hiring managers really desire?

Can you do the job?

First and foremost, hiring managers want someone that’s technically competent. What does technically competent mean? It means someone that can do the job. That’s much more important than the number of years you have in experience and it’s much more important than any other certifications you can describe. At the end-of-the-day they want to know: Can you do the job?

Can you be trusted?

Employers want someone they can trust. They don’t want someone that lies to them. That’s why when you interview for a position and lie on an interview or bluff your way through an answer, they can’t hire you because you can’t be trusted. A hiring manager is not going to ask a technical question they don’t know the answer to, so you can’t bluff or lie your way through an answer without them knowing you’ve done so. As soon as you do this, the interview is effectively finished and so are your chances of being hired.

Are you energetic and motivated?

Hiring managers want someone that’s very energetic and motivated. Why? No one wants a sleepy or lethargic person working for them. They need someone that’s ready to take charge, get to work, and solve their business challenges with enthusiasm.

Are you a safe employee?

Employers need to know that you “know what you know” and “know what you don’t know”. Over my 25 years in technology, I’ve seen a lot of catastrophes because people didn’t know what they knew or didn’t know at all. Some employees would go on a network and play around on a core router with things they were totally unfamiliar with causing a multitude of catastrophic outages which cost organizations money, time, and brand damage with existing and new clients. Hiring managers can tell if you are confident in your knowledge through your response to questions. Just as important as confidence in the things you know, is the confidence to tell a hiring manager when you aren’t knowledgeable in a specific area.

Can you inspire the team?

Hiring managers want to know that you can bring out the best in others. So, work on your soft skills, emotional intelligence, and empathy for others. Also, they want to know you’re willing to go above and beyond in all you do. Most organizations know that about 20% of the people do 80% of the work. They want to know you’re going to be in the top 10%. So, both technical competency and soft skills are integral to a successful career.

Assess yourself, fill in any technical competency and soft skills you need to become the cloud architect hiring manager’s desire. Build a map from point A to point B for yourself. That’s how you get your first Cloud Architect job. That’s how you can move from another industry into tech. That’s how you can go from no experience to hired in tech. Make sure you find out what someone needs, and then make sure you figure out how to get there and you will get the perfect job of your dreams.

How we can help you WITH YOUR CLOUD CAREER

Career Development Programs

At Go Cloud Architects our goal is to improve the cloud computing as a whole, by developing individuals to succeed in their roles. Our Career Development Programs are the primary focus of our efforts in this area. These programs not only provide technical training, but also the much overlooked soft skills and emotional intelligence that determine whether an individual can reach that dream career. In these group training programs, we provide a combination of live group training sessions, on-demand web-based content, and extensive labs. We also provide server access to our students, to build their own cloud architectures from the ground up. You can find more information on the programs here.

FREE AWS Networking Bootcamp

After our AWS CSA-P Bootcamp in June, we realized great demand for networking content. With this in mind we have developed an AWS Networking Bootcamp for YouTube Live. The Bootcamp will be July 13 — July 16. Please register for the event at the link below.

Our FREE Offerings Every Week

Mondays and Thursdays

Go Cloud Architects offers the “How to get your first cloud architect job” webinar twice a week on Monday at 9:00 AM EST, and Thursday at 12:00 PM EST. You can register for the next call here. We conduct a presentation in the beginning and afterward, participants can ask any questions they want. We will even help build a career plan LIVE on these free calls. We will talk about:

What employers desire
How to build a perfect resume
How to get your name out to the community
How to get hired
Things to do on your interview

Tuesdays

Every Tuesday at 9:00 AM EST we have a Cloud Architect Experience Webinar“ about getting actual cloud architect experience and competency from home that employers desire to help you get hired. You can register for the next call here. In these sessions, we provide a real-life scenario, and participants design a cloud solution in real-time. Afterward, we address any cloud architect career questions, and help you learn what you need to do to get your first cloud architect job!

With Our Compliments

Go Cloud Architects is truly excited to offer our AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate training completely free to the cloud community. That’s Right — FREE. The complete online course is posted here on our YouTube channel. We also offer a free AWS Certified Solution Architect eBook, which can be found here. This eBook includes everything you need to pass the AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate exam! We want to help everyone achieve their dreams without the financial challenges of paid training.

We look forward to you joining our Go Cloud Architects community!

Originally published at https://gocloudcareers.com on July 13, 2021.