A holiday story of cloud builders, this is the Alex Radu edition, check out the other posts from my fellow AWS Community Builders on why they love the program and learn more about them too!

What surprises you most about the community builders program?

The AWS Community Builders program never ceases to amaze me with how it provides a space for such a diverse and caring cloud community. We have thousands of members from very different backgrounds, locations and experiences, and yet, we all continue to support, grow and partner with each other!

What’s your background and your experience with AWS?

I come from a non-traditional tech background and started my career in tech 6 years ago, when I first did an internship with Activision Blizzard King, the makers of Candy Crush. After that, I decided to move into a more established technology company, and work in FinTech, where I also did a part-time MSc in Computer Science and finally moved into the public cloud space in 2020. Now, I am a Public Cloud Product Adoption Lead for one of the biggest banks in the world and love my job, supporting and engaging our 50.000+ technologists to migrate to cloud.

What’s the biggest benefit you see from the program?

The opportunities to learn from the experts AWS has and that come to share their insights with us, connect with other builders and cloud enthusiasts, as well as the opportunity to stretch into new areas that I have minimal experience in. The Cloud Academy license, free certification voucher and swag are pretty sweet too, but the human connections and learning opportunities take the first place!

What’s the next swag item that you would like to get?

I'd love to get a cable organizer case or pouch, to help me with getting my travel cables sorted as the world open up again!

What are you eating for dinner today? Share the recipe!

I'm actually on my way back to Scotland from NYC, so think it's going to be airport lounge food, so far I'm eyeing the sushi bar, and I actually enjoy making sushi with my partner at home so will share a recipe I followed in the beginning when we were learning how to do it!

Is there anything else you would like to say about the community builders program in 2022?

I'm incredibly thankful to the AWS Community Builders' program and even more grateful to our fearless leaders, Jason, Lily, Ernesto and their entire program lead team for such an amazing opportunity to meet, grow, build and have fun together with other cloud afficionados!

This year's re:Invent community gathering was the best part of the conference for myself, as well as the opportunity to have speak in the Dev Lounge and I am excited for many more adventures together!