The Change in My AWS Mindset

When I heard about the AWS opportunities available to students, it was framed like this: earn all of the badges in order to get the AWS credits and the $100 certificate credit. So that was my mindset while setting up my account on the platform, treating the badges as a checklist.

However, as I've gotten familiar with the platform, read some badge requirements and skimmed some articles, I've realized that that was just a surface-level look at what the AWS builder center has to offer. The point of the badges isn't just to check a box, but rather to encourage users to participate and build community.

To some people, these interactions may seem a little forced. When I was first reading articles, I was surprised how many likes and comments there were. But once I saw that it was part of badge requirements, it started to make more sense. Despite how this may seem "inorganic", I think it's helpful to those who aren't used to posting articles or think-pieces. If I were to write my first article and get 0 interactions or likes, it would be very discouraging, and I think that's one of the problems that badge requirements address.

I also appreciate how each badge isn't just a one-time achievement or a set of tasks you can fulfill in a week. When the AWS Cloud Club president at my university was explaining the badge process, one of my peers complained that they didn't have time to wait 90 days to fulfill all of the badges and get the certification. And while this is quite the commitment, I think the delayed gratification is a way to both weed-out those who won't fully benefit from joining the community, and allow those who are nervous about joining to ease in while still receiving benefits.

Although this is my first day on the platform, and I haven't explored all of the benefits that AWS has to offer, I'm very excited to have access to this resource and the knowledge contained within the community.