AWS re/Start x Generation

My experience with the course

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Overview

AWS re/Start is a free 12 week bootcamp to kickstart your career in tech as a Cloud Support Practitioner — run in collaboration with Amazon Web Services and Prince’s Trust.
Free training and qualification: You’ll learn all you need to be successful in a cloud technology career – from the coding languages & technical knowledge of cloud computing to the employment skills that will help you achieve your potential. At the end of the programme you’ll be ready to take your AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification.
Connect with employers: At the end of the programme, Generation will connect you with employers hiring for cloud and devops engineer roles, support you through your application, and help you transition into your working life.
Mentor support: Mentor support is available during and 6 months post programme.

Background

What I did before I joined

Before the programme, I had completed my A-Level. As part of the scheme at my Sixth Form, we created our UCAS applications and I applied for university to study Computer Science. While doing this, I was too looking for apprenticeships relating to Computer Science studies. Whilst I did get accepted into City University, I chose to look at apprenticeships over going to university as I preferred to learn on the job and get practical experience when using the actual technologies while working.

Why I applied and joined

At a local careers fair, I saw this programme being advertised and researched upon it to see if it was the right fit for me. Although this programme was not an apprenticeship, it guaranteed to teach all technologies needed as a junior cloud role from scratch, and in addition employability skills, two interviews with potential recruiters and mentorship. These points are what sold me to go ahead and apply for this role.

My Review

This was the best jumpstart to my career!

I cannot recommend this course enough! Everything about it was a great experience, from the instructor, mentor, and my fellow cohort. We were located in the awesome AWS London offices in Holborn, where we had our travel and lunches fully reimbursed. The facilities and resources provided aided all of us to learn the topics efficiently. The AWS sandbox accounts allowed us to play and experience their services, without any worry about charges being incurred. There was also an immersion day where the employees from the AWS office had visited us to teach us how to create an application using the AWS services. On the two employer days, we had a opportunity to network with recruiters and employees from great tech companies with potential roles. The Prince's Trust and Generation team were always working with us to ensure we had a great experience and connect us with interested companies to be employed at the end of the course. At the end of the course, I was extremely glad to be accepted by Sainsbury's in the role of a Data Engineer.

Curriculum

Here is what we were taught in this course. All topics were taught from scratch, so even if you are a complete novice, you will still be able to understand them!

Not just tech!

This course did not only teach the tech skills, we were also taught Behavioural and Mindset skills, helping us to increase our employability skills. Here are some of the skills that were taught:

	Growth Mindset		Persistence
	Personal Responsibility		Future orientation
	Proactiveness		Teamwork
	Communication		Time Management