Future AWS Community Builder Step by Step Guide 🚀
A guide meant for technical builders who have a professional background in Cloud Computing (preferably AWS) and want to have a step-by-step guide on how to prepare to become an AWS Community Builder.
I review hundreds of AWS Community Builder Applications every year with my colleague, Jason Dunn , the Global AWS Community Builders Program Manager. Over the past few years, I had the opportunity to see how this program has evolved; this article is written based on those experiences and observations to better prepare you before the next intake cycle.
Community Builders Japan organized a dinner leading up to AWS Summit Japan in 2024
AWS Community Builders is a global program designed to recognize technical builders who help other technical builders through talks, blogs or even by writing a piece of code and open sourcing it. As of today, there are 2.6k members across 112 countries worldwide. Those who are accepted to the program get various benefits and, in my opinion, the biggest benefit is the global network. The program selection has a high bar and typically less than 15% of those who apply are accepted to the program. Those that are in the program will be reviewed and renewed annually.
The objective of this guide is to help you understand and discover your purpose of becoming a Community Builder and help you better prepare so you can increase the chances of being accepted into the program.
Outline of the guide
- Know if this the right program for you - Deep dive into the program and program introductions from current Community Builders.
- Know what you are here for - Understanding your real need / motivation to be a part of the program and how we can help you.
- Know what you are good at - Understanding which ways you are passionate about helping technical builders and the subject areas helps to double down your efforts to contribute. This section includes detailed execution guidelines that you can start immediately.
- Know the common mistakes to avoid when applying for Community Builders Program - A list of common mistakes that candidates make when applying for the program that you should be aware of.
1/ Know if this is the right program for you
In every intake, there are hundreds of applicants who apply without knowing what's this program is about, the selection criteria, and lack the proper evidence of helping other builders and other relevant details. We've prepared two educational videos featuring Jason Dunn, the global AWS Community Builders Program Manager. I'd highly recommend watching those, so you save time in preparation. After you finish watching the videos and decide it's the right program, proceed to the next steps.
- AWS Community Builders Program explained in 5 minutes 📹
- Deep dive into AWS Community Builders Program 📹
Here are some videos and blogs by current Community Builders talking about the program.
- Latency2025 - Lightning Talk by Steve Leung
- Tips to become an AWS Community Builder by Omshree
- AWS Community Builders Program: How to join, Benefits and Tips by Fernando Pena
- Stories of AWS Community Builders by Jaymit Bohrania
- AWS Community Builders Guide in Japanese by Kosuke Enamoto
2/ Know what are you here for
Now that you've decided this program is for you, it's time to discover your real motivation. Deciphering what you are here for, what value are you trying to get out of this program can help you sustain motivation and remain consistent with the activities. I have listed a few common reasons below and how the program helps each one of them. If your motivation is not listed, comment below.
| Motivation | Matching Program Support |
|---|---|
| Career Growth and Job Opportunities | Local and global public speaking opportunities, job opportunities shared by other community builders, access to a professional network and dedicated job posting space, support from the local community |
| Improve technical abilities | Discussion forums, language specific discussions,technical briefings and pre-briefs from the product teams |
| Networking | Global slack workspace, Invitations to attend local events, meet and greets, informal community led meetups |
| Recognition | Being recognized as an AWS Community Builder on AWS Builder Center and at AWS events |
| Program benefits | Swag, annual certification vouchers, ticket discount to re:Invent , USD 500 AWS credits |
3/ Know what you are good at
Ask yourself these three questions to get an understanding of what you are good at.
- What technical challenges have you overcome related to your job, and how did you do it?
- What activities do you truly enjoy doing?
- Can you explain this topic to someone else in your own words, including at least 5 main concepts, without referring to any notes or materials?
The Dunning - Kruger Effect Chart is good tool get a sense of where you are in terms of your knowledge level and confidence based on your journey in learning a topic.
Source - Reddit
Here are the common ways that you can help other technical builders. These contributions can happen in any language and in any platform.
- Writing a technical blog about how you built something / solved a problem using AWS.
- Give a technical talk in public in person or recorded.
- Write a piece of code and open-source it.
- Organizing company internal brownbag sessions, talks that you have given at internal tech forums on AWS helps too.
- Organizing technical community events
Here is a roadmap for each area:
Contributing to Open Source
| Area | Resources to get started | Examples from CBs | Execution Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writing Technical Blogs | How to write technical blog posts - talk by Quincy Larson | How to start a successful Tech Blog | Kiro Agentic AI IDE | Execution plan |
| Giving a talk in public | 5 Public Speaking Tips to Speak with Confidence | 4 essential body language tips from a world champion public speaker | Lightning Talk by Steve Leung | Execution plan |
| Giving a talk Infront of a camera | How to talk infront of a camera | You can follow the same steps as giving a technical public speaking with additional focus on logistics mentioned in the video here | |
| Contributing to Open Source | Getting started with Open-Source Contributions | This getting started video gives you a good overview of how you get started in contributing to Open Source | Here are the projects that are maintained by AWS | Managing contributor relations | Best Practices for maintainers | |
| Organizing meetups | Organizing Technical Communities | Execution plan |
4/ Know the common mistakes to avoid when applying
Here are some of the common mistakes to avoid when applying for the Community Builders program:
- If you are a student, you're encouraged to explore AWS Cloud Clubs as a first step. The Community Builders program is mainly aimed at professional developers (though exceptions are sometimes made).
- Do not use generative AI to write answers for you or write the blogs.
- Do not submit other people's work or plagiarize.
- The content that you have created for technical builders should have the same name as yours.
- Links you provide should be able to be accessed publicly.
- Blog posts or articles written by you as part of your day job are not considered community contributions
- Links to social media posts and/or links to your certifications are not considered as community contributions.
Final Action Items
Congratulations on reading this far! Plan well as it takes time to prepare to become an AWS Community Builder. Here are three things you can do immediately👇
#1 The best way to keep up the enthusiasm and engagement is to join your local AWS User Group which you can join any time.
#2 Join the Future AWS Community Builders Space at AWS Builder Center to connect with like-minded individuals and existing community builders from the link here -> AWS Builder Center
#3 If you found this guide to be useful, please mention you used this guide when applying for AWS Community Builders Program intake in January 2026. You can join the waitlist from here
Let us know in the comments section if you have any questions or comments on how to improve this guide
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