Thank you GoCloud for all that you did, I was able to learn a lot, work with great people
work hard and got cloud hired.
My name is Jawad Irshad.
I am from New York originally lived in Queens for a while, moved to New Jersey and have
been living in New Jersey for about more than 16 years.
So currently, I am a Solutions Architect at AWS.
And my position is basically helping my customers with their challenges, you know, analyzing
what they're actually going through now finding pain points and working with them to figure
out the best solutions, and guiding them through the cloud journey.
My previous roles, while I've held multiple roles, that started from anywhere from desktop
support to operations, IT operations.
And my most recent role right before joining AWS was the Cloud Architect slash engineer
role.
In that role, I was mostly meeting with clients and working with their challenges to provide
the best solutions that can actually help with the pain points.
But with that role, I also did a lot of engineering work, meaning going into their accounts with
their permissions and helping them throughout, you know, setting up some of the servers and
other resources.
So my compensation has more than doubled.
I am actually now focusing on what I love to do, which is to design and work on the
architectures right with the customers.
So from coming from the more of the hands on engineering background, which is also good,
but now I get to focus on my design skills.
So I've always been a, you know, I try to I guess I've gotten many trainings before,
from platforms like Udemy, or, you know, some other self paced programs.
But there was a lack of community, there was a lack of live training, there was a lack
of architecture design in those programs, where people can come together and actually
share their experiences and learn from each other.
Just you know, everybody has their own strengths.
And what's good about go coders, people come from a database background, people come from
a networking background, or operations, or some people have a business background, so
we can all talk to each other, right and learn from each other and actually fill in those
weaknesses or, you know, some some of the stuff that we need to work on.
So that's a great thing about go club that other programs lacked today, of course, and
that was the biggest strength for this program.
So I was searching for, I was searching for a role that I can focus on more of the, like
I said, more of the architecture design.
And we're more focused on on the cloud, cloud architecture, to be specific.
So in searching for that role, I decided to looking at many videos online, I used to just
go to YouTube and watch many videos to do labs and just upskill myself.
And I stumbled upon Mike's videos.
And I learned a lot of things from there, because Mike has a way of explaining things
in a simple language, which is easy to comprehend for anyone doesn't matter if you have experience
or not.
So that actually got me really excited to watch more videos, I started watching multiple
videos in a week.
And, you know, just learn a lot from there.
So I reached out to go cloud architects, you know, career page there, I reached out to
the number that was on the page and just got in touch with the team and wanted to join
the program to take advantage of everything that Mike has to offer.
I'll reread the answer again.
So I've always been a self learner.
But you know, in order to do that, I used to go to YouTube, I used to go to many other
websites to find any labs that I can do, just to make sure that I can upskill myself.
But you know, there was a lot of uncertainty and sometimes harder to understand the services
because of you know, the marketing of the services and somebody's just talking about
the service by the name that somebody's given given the given the service.
So I wanted to understand the technologies a way the technology is from the from the
bottom of the The fundamentals.
But I wasn't getting that anywhere.
And once I found Mike's YouTube videos, I actually got more interested in it because
he was actually talking about the technology for the technology is, and then he was putting
no different marketing terms for that technology to let you understand that how other vendors
use it.
So that actually got me really interested, I started watching many videos that Mike had
on his channel, and the local art on the global channel, and I called the number to be a part
of the program.
So the Go Club career programs actually helped me with my weaknesses, right, which were,
well, I was good at some things, but then other things needed more work.
Like, for example, presentation skills, for example, right?
I had to work on my presentation skills, make sure I can be comfortable with presenting
any technologies to a customer, make sure I can actually get those executive presence,
make sure I can, you know, learn some architecture design and a complex level that might teach
you this in the local classes.
So that was really integral for being more comfortable with the position.
Well, let me talk about it from before the program, right.
So before the program I had been actively interviewing or just looking for opportunities,
right.
And it was hard to connect with a lot of those opportunities.
Whenever I got a call or a phone screen, you know, just to talk about things the right
way.
Just to talk about the right, right, put the right words together, basically.
Right.
So I'm gonna rephrase that to figure out.
So before the program, you know, I was actually speaking opportunities, and couldn't connect
the dots on a lot of things, right?
Because there's a difference that comes with speaking the right way, and to be in the right
way.
But after joining Google Cloud, was actually able to, you know, learn the right ways to
talk about the services that technologies, even the the way to speak about behavior questions
or, you know, leadership questions.
So that gave me a big advantage and actually got more opportunities, by, you know, networking
with the right people and learning things in the cloud community.
What makes Google Cloud program stand out from other programs is the community.
I mean, that's the biggest asset, the community of people that are on the same journey, looking
for the same stuff and helping each other grow.
Right, everybody comes from a different background, whether it's nursing, whether it's business,
whether it's tech, whether it's any other background that come from, and we're able
to connect with each other, and help each other learn things from each other and make,
you know, make each other stronger, right?
The community is awesome.
The live architecture classes that are given, I haven't found in any of the program, the
know the material that's given to you within the program, as well, there's a lot of material
that's always up to load every week.
You know, so you're getting a lot more than what you're paying for, to be honest.
So this program is great.
I've made a lot of friends from this program as well.
So go cloud architects program has actually impacted me in many ways.
First of all, I've been able to, you know, I've been given opportunities to participate
in helping other people all over the world.
So to contribute in writing a book, which is an Exam Guide, it was, you know, I was
humbled and I was very happy to help others.
Because giving is very important to me, I practice and realize every day, so that was
a great opportunity.
And I'm really happy that I got the chance to do that.
Other things that were, you know, gaining friends, that were awesome, genuine people
that are there to help them when they need it.
And some of them actually talk to every day, even outside the program, they have become
really good friends.
And you know, I've got to meet many people from the program as well.
Just last week, I met a couple of people from the program and we had a great time.
So that's the thing, right?
A, it's like a family.
So it has impacted me in a way where so many people that care for each other and just sit
there for you.
So you feel comfortable, right?
There's always an uncertainty when you're doing something alone.
But when you do something together, it's so easy and just gain a lot of comfort from that.
So when I joined the program, I was expecting for it to be a self paced program.
You know, having those two live classes a week, but I got a lot more than I expected,
there was a Slack channel that's always running, everybody's talking about different use cases,
different things they've learned.
So you get to learn from the community, you actually get all the free content like bootcamps,
that Mike and the team creates.
And these boot camps are like full week long boot camps that you can actually take part
in.
They include topics like networking, or you know, the going over your cloud associate
to help you get them associates, you also get to contribute, actually, you know, to
be a co author, and many of the things right, like articles, blog posts, or just call during
an exam guide, like I was able to do with the team.
So there's, there are a lot of opportunities that you don't expect until you join the program.
So definitely, definitely a great program.
So to the people that are currently in the program, you know, I, I would like to suggest
that take advantage of network, right, network with each other.
Networking is a very important thing.
And Mike does stress that a lot.
Make sure you are working together to help each other, you know, upskill help each other,
you know, with the weaknesses, right?
If somebody has something that, you know, they know more than you, why not get together
with them, help each other with your journey.
And make sure to set your goals right, set your goals, weekly goals, whether you have
monthly goals, where you want to be like Mike makes you do a timeline initially, right?
Where we want to be three months later, what do you want to be six months later?
What do you want to be a year later, these goals are very important.
Because that's something that helped me a lot to stay focused on my goals.
I had my goals written, I visualized them.
And this kept me focused on you know, I didn't procrastinate because we can easily procrastinate.
And say we'll do it another day.
But once you once you have a goal, once you have the end, you know where you want to be,
it's easier to stay focus and discipline.
So that's for the people in the program.
Now, for the people that are looking to join the program, I would say you will get a lot
more than you.
You're actually hoping from that program.
So definitely try it out.
There's no loss there, especially for under $1,000.
For what you get is a steal in my opinion.
You know, there's no program that offers that much under what they're offering you, right,
they really care about making you successful, and they're there for you and generally there
and I can say that because I was in the program.
And you know, I like I like keeping it real and this is the real advice from my end.
So good luck with everything.
I wish you guys the best.
Just networks that your goals, help each other out and go