Are you looking to build the ultimate cloud architect career? Are you looking to earn
more money in your career and are you looking to have recruiters come to you to hire you instead
of you working so hard to find your first cloud architect job? Well, if so, this video is for you.
Hi, my name is Michael Gibbs and I've been working in technology for over 25 years. I've worked in
networking. I've worked in security. I've worked in cloud computing. And during all of these years,
I've been mentoring technology professionals to find their first job or the next best job.
And helping them all throughout their career. And today we're going to talk about building
your professional brand. Why would you build a professional brand? Well, you would build a
brand and a professional brand for the same way a business builds a professional brand.
When you have a strong brand, people come searching for you.
It's sort of like this. If you want a computer that's very easy to use,
user-friendly that's reliable, most people think of Apple. Why? Because the operating system
works good. It's simple to use and people like them. When people think of Mercedes,
they think of a strong, durable, reliable car with lots of power, performance, and safety functions.
Why? Because that's the way they've been built and that's the way the brand is built.
So I want you to build a brand that says you are a really capable cloud architect.
You're the person that can walk in the room and raise the energy in the room.
You're the person that can take a customer problem and solve them and you are a person
that's just an absolute pleasure to work with. Why? Because then the world's going to come to
you and your value will be raised. So we're going to talk about how to build a brand
because when you have a great brand, demand for your services is going to be there.
It's going to help you with raises, promotions and definitely will have a big impact on your salary.
And when people know your brand and they trust your brand, you will always be in high demand.
So let's talk about ways to build your brand. What does your brand say about you? So in general
when you build a professional brand as a cloud architect it really should say a few things.
People should know your area of expertise. What are you known for? They should know that you're
capable. They should know that you're responsible, trustworthy. They should know you've got a good
personality and have lots of energy, enthusiasm, and you can bring out the best in others. Why?
Because in our experience, that is the perfect plan and the perfect brand for a cloud architect.
We've done thousands of interviews in our careers. We've spoken to numerous hiring
managers, numerous recruiters and these are the assets that they tell us that we want.
So we want you to build your brand based upon the ideal hiring manager's dream hire.
So let's start first about establishing an expert brand. Experts or people that are
highly knowledgeable are always in demand. So how do you make your brand look like an expert? Well,
for one thing, you have to be an expert. And in order to be an expert, you're going to need to
focus your training, your certifications, and all of your expertise on one area.
You can't know everything about everything and anybody that thinks they can is kidding
themselves. When you see people that have 10 and 12x AWS certifications, they know so little about
cloud computing that they don't even know what they don't know. They just know how to answer
questions, how to use the management console. But an expert in cloud computing can really basically
look at a situation, obtain customer requirements and design a solution that will work. And a
solution that will be cost-effective a solution that will meet an organization's business,
legal and technical requirements. That's what an expert does and we want you to be an expert.
So get real expertise and make sure your resume shows that how your past experiences
are building towards your area of expertise, because you want to be known as an expert,
be seen in specialty environments, be seen in working groups for example, there's all
these inner working groups. Be seen and work in groups that are there in your area of specialty.
Go to conferences and go to trainings in your area of specialty. Be seen in your area of specialty
and sooner or later, especially if you can deliver, the world is going to know that's your
brand. That's your area of expertise. Maybe it's a networking. Maybe it's IIM. Maybe it's insecurity.
Maybe it's in DevOp. It doesn't matter. It's based on what you desire to do, but build your brand.
But how else are you going to build your brand? Well, you have to know and be able to
tell everyone what you're doing. So we like to say when you're building your brand, create at least
three engaging high-quality social media posts per week. And in that post, what you should do is
you should deliver things that show that you're an expert. So they should be well done, well-written,
well-spoken, well-researched. They really are going to show that you're the industry expert
and that's what you're looking to do, and you're looking to build that into your brand at all time.
Now, when you have resumes and you have social media, I want you to remove anything
that doesn't match your perfect professional brand. Why? Because it's a brand distractor.
If you are an expert, everything you have will be aligned.
Take a martial artist competing for a contest. What does their day look like?
They have a stretching routine. They have a metabolic conditioning or cardio routine.
They have a power training routine. They have a strength training routine. They
have a martial arts training routine. Everything they're doing is all geared towards one thing.
Now compare that to what I call the 12x AWS certified. Little DevOps in the morning, a little
security in the afternoon, a little database is over here, a little networking over here.
You can't build depth that way and everybody knows it. So if you're going to build a brand,
focus, focus, focus on your being seen as the industry expert. So if you are an addict expert,
you're also going to have to be capable. And how do you show your capability, especially
when you're new? Well, for one way, you actually write a lot of content in your area of expertise.
When you write this content, you make it great. You make it perfect. You make it the
best thing you've ever written in your life. Make it well-researched and share it to the world. When
you write great content, the world comes to you and says, "Oh man, oh my God. Wow. Look at you."
And I will tell you when I write a good paper or make a good YouTube video,
almost every time someone offers me a job. Why? Because it's hard to find qualified
capable people and my brand is someone that can take the complicated and make it simple.
My brand is someone that knows networking, security and cloud computing.
And my brand is known for someone that can take people and bring out the best in others,
whether that's teaching them, coaching them or leading them in a team. That's my brand.
And therefore when I deliver on my brand and my messaging matches my brand,
I get constant job offers. Well, the same thing can happen to you. Granted,
I have 25 years of experience and over time my brand's gotten better, but I had to build
my brand somewhere. And this video is about how to start building your perfect professional brand. So
I had mentioned adjust your social media profiles, even adjust your resume. Everything that you
have should show capability, capabilities, capabilities. Prove that you're capable. The world
cares about capability and competency. And when you show this, boy your brand will raise in value.
Now let's talk about responsible. A good brand of an architect is highly responsible,
someone you can count on, someone you can trust. So how do you build your brand and
being responsible for one thing? Do the following. Everything you do, deliver excellence. And when
you promise to do something, deliver it on time, on budget. And if you can't for some reason,
make sure that you explain it to the people along the way the challenges they're going to have.
If someone gives you a project and you can't finish it on time, call the person and say, "I'm
struggling to finish this project on time. Could you give me some additional resources or could I
deliver it a day or two later?" But at least let people know you're still working on their problem.
Never, never ignore someone when you don't have an answer. Always get back to them and say,
"I'm working on an answer." Even that's fine, but just never ignore someone.
So the next way to be seen as responsible and I can promise you this will be a huge help in
your career is to return calls, text messages, emails, messages, as fast as reasonably possible.
If you can't get to something, sometimes you're super busy. Like for example,
if someone sends me a text while I'm in the middle of a call, I'll send them a quick text back,
"Sorry, I'm in the middle of the call. I'm pretty busy today. I can
call you at 6:30 PM or something." Just so they know that I got their message.
People like to know you've heard them and I've let them know they've heard them. When you return
calls, texts, and emails as fast as possible you become someone that's part of the dependability
program. Someone that, for example, imagine you're managing a network and you've got three engineers.
One, you can send a message to and it gets back to you in two minutes. One takes an hour,
one takes 12 hours. In a crisis, who you're going to call? The person who's going to call
you back first assuming they're equal quality. Be seen as a responsive, responsible person.
Next with everything you do, I mentioned deliver with excellence, but also attention to detail. I
grew up with a lot of military folks and here's what I was brought up with. Attention to detail,
lack of it will get you killed in war. I'm going to say that again. Attention to detail and lack
of it will get you killed in war. Business and your career is war. Attention to detail,
lack of it will kill your career. So attention to detail, focus will assist your career.
And one other thing of being seen as responsible. When you're using other
people's money, say you run an expense account. Be responsible with their money.
Use someone else's money at least as judiciously as you would use yours and
maybe be even more thrifty with their money because it's not yours. People will notice
that. They will see how responsible you are and they will love to work with you.
Trustworthiness, part of a good brand. How do you build trustworthiness?
Always do what you say you will. Do the right thing. Don't lie. Don't cheat. Don't
steal. Don't insult others. Don't damage anyone's property. Just do the right thing.
And here's a key. This is what separates the long-term career success people from the
short-term people that come up rapid success and then crash to burn. Don't ever sacrifice
someone else just to get ahead. It won't work for you. It'll work in the short-term, but you'll get
a brand that's so bad and so toxic that will crush your career, it's just a matter of time.
And if people tell you things in confidence, don't repeat them, maintain people's confidence. And you
know what? Don't gossip either. That's a negative trait and it will definitely damage your brand.
Be seen as someone that's trustworthy, someone that's responsible and someone that's capable.
Now, personality wise to build the perfect cloud architect career brand, we're looking
for someone that's going to be pleasant, easygoing, happy, optimistic, ideally serious
enough to get the job done. But if possible and it's not always possible, someone that can just
let things roll off their back and laugh about things and doesn't get offended easily.
Personality trait that's critical to a cloud computing career, a cloud architect career or any
career, be non-judgemental at all times. Everybody comes from a different background. Everybody has
a different set of circumstances. Emotional intelligence is probably the biggest factor
affecting your career. And empathy is probably one of those critical things as it pertains to
emotional intelligence. And if you can see things from another's perspective, you'll never be
judgmental. And if you're not judgmental, people will always give you information. And guess what?
As a cloud architect, the better information you have, the better you will do in your career.
Also, be known as the person that doesn't get angry, is easy to please,
don't walk around being miserable. So be that optimistic, happy person.
Be the person that everybody loves to be around and watch your career go up.
Energy. So people pull don't want someone that's going to come walking into work looking like this
every day, "Yeah, I'm here. I'm working to my desk." They want someone to stare at that can
take charge that's excited about work, they're ready for the day. So being known as someone
that's always ready. The U.S. Marine Corps have this philosophy Semper Fidelis, which
means always faithful. The coast guard uses Semper Paratus, which means always ready. You know what
we're talking about here? It shows the world that our brand is we're ready no matter what the task.
Well I'm telling you, I want you to have that same brand.
Maybe not Semper Fidelis, but one I want your brand as energetic, enthusiastic capable person,
and that's what the world wants. How do you have more energy? Well, take care of your health. If
you're unhealthy, you won't have energy. Eat right, think right, train right. If you do
all those things in life, you're going to be very helpful. So eat right, think right, train right.
And you know when you walk into a room, look alive, stand tall, say hello to everybody. What
a difference it makes in the workday for everyone and what a difference it'll make for your career.
Now, enthusiasm is also key. People love energetic, enthusiastic people. It's one of
the traits that hiring managers desire most. How are you enthusiastic about life? For one thing,
we recommend that you practice what we call gratitude every day. Every day, wake up and
be thankful for all the wonderful blessings you've received. Trust me, I've been all over the world
and I've lived through hardships and I've seen people that struggle every day. And I promise you,
the majority of the people watching this video have so much luck compared to others in the world
just by being able to even watch this video. Because that means you have internet access
and access to a computer. There are people that don't have that. Find a way to be thankful every
day for the great things you have in your life. You'll be more enthusiastic. You'll be happier,
which will make you more emotionally intelligent and you will do better in your career.
So also as a rule if you want to be enthusiastic you have to find something that you love.
So that's why we work with our students and basically in the beginning, before we even find
a focus, it's like, "Can you tell us exactly what you like? Can you tell us what you're passionate
about? Can you tell us what your dreams are?" And then we build them a plan based upon their goals
and dreams. Because if you don't know the goals and dreams, you can't build a plan, but I need
people to be enthusiastic about everything they do. Because if you're enthusiastic,
it's infectious, the whole room gets happy. Highly desired by hiring managers, they'll
pay you more and they'll hire you more likely. And it's a good thing to build in your brand.
So if someone asks you to do something a work you say, "Yes, I got this." Could you imagine the
difference from a manager perspective? "Can you do this?" "Yes, sir." "When do you need it done?"
Manager's happy. "Can you do this?" "I don't know, I got a lot of stuff going on."
What do you want your brand to be? Somebody asks me a question. Can you do it? Absolutely, when do
you need it by. That's the brand I want to build. And that's the brand that I suggest for you.
Now, you know how to build the optimal cloud architect career brand. Let me tell you about
some free offerings from GoCloud Architects. Every Monday and Thursday morning, we have a free
get your first cloud architect job webinar. During this webinar, we will teach you what
hiring managers desire, how to become the hiring manager's dream, things to do on an interview and
ways to build competency and get cloud experience at home so you can get hired. It's free. We have
them every Monday and every Thursday. You can sign up. The link is in the description below.
I also wanted to let you know that we provide a free AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate
ebook. It's literally everything you need to pass the AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate
exam and it's completely free. The link is in the description below. We also have free AWS
certification mentoring every Monday. We take people from all around the world. They ask us
questions related to the AWS Certified Solution Architect Associate exam. They bring us their
questions. We answered them in real-time. We do live mentoring. We do group presentations.
It's a service we provide for the cloud architect community and is completely
free and it's every Monday. Please sign up. The link is in the description below.
Thank you so much for watching this video on building your professional cloud architect brand.
We look forward to seeing you in a new video next week. Thank you so much.