My 5 years at AWS: Modernising the Education system

Originally published on LinkedIn

I joined AWS 5 years ago, where I have been working in the South African Public Sector team, primarily with Education customers. With Customer Obsession being one of the core Leadership Principles driving my daily work, I’ll highlight the work I have done, and the impact AWS has had on everyone involved in education: students, teachers and lecturers, researchers, faculty, and IT and admin staff.

In AWS Education, we imagine a world where education is always available, personal, applicable, and lifelong for everyone. Over the last 5 years, I’ve literally had the privilege of impacting the lives and experiences of hundreds of thousands of students, through working with many Higher Ed and EdTech customers, including the University of Limpopo, Tshwane University of Technology, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Johannesburg, Stellenbosch University, University of Pretoria and Regent Business School.

We’ve helped multiple institutions Technology Transfer Offices, like UCT, to generate additional revenue, by helping them commercialise their research on AWS.

Working with students directly, I have been involved with hackathons and other events with the AWS Cloud Clubs at Wits and UCT, advised Grade 10 to 12 school learners via AWS Amafu, and delivered lectures to students at Stellenbosch. For many years, AWS has worked with TUT on the TVH hackathon, and just last week I presented at the launch of the TVH 7th annual hackathon. I’m also an AWS Authorised Instructor (AAI) through which I deliver official AWS training.

I’ve had the pleasure of publishing five AWS blogs, that discusses DevOps and Architecture, the operational benefits of moving the Wits LMS to AWS, how to scale Moodle LMS on AWS, meeting the challenges of UL and TUT when moving their SIS to the cloud, and how UJ improved the student experience with their AI-powered chatbot.

I’m also on the UP Department of Computer Science Advisory Board, where together with other industry players, I provide insights into how to better prepare grads for the working world.

For many years, I’ve also been a technical advisor to many startups via the AWS EEIP program, that is building, training and funding South Africas innovators. I’ve also advised customers that were part of the Halcyon Africa Fellowship, where I worked with customers across Africa, some doing very innovative applications like space programs using satellites for Earth observation.

I’ve spoken at multiple AWS events including the 2022 Pop-up Hub, the 2023 and 2024 Johannesburg Summits, where I usually speak on AWS Serverless, - which I’ve written about, as well as published serverless patterns and other sample code for.

After 5 years, this is my longest stint in a single role, across my 20 year career, which I definitely owe to the trust and ability to innovate that I get from AWS and my managers. But most importantly, its the impact that I can have on students and institutions. I’ve had CIOs tell me that prior to migrating to AWS, their systems often fell over during student registration periods, causing students to stand in line for hours and then have to come back the next day. Improving their systems has an impact of increasing the funding that institutions can receive. An EdTech tells a story of how their upgraded system on AWS allows institutions to complete certain admin processes in hours that used to take weeks, which has resulted in classes starting earlier, and thus the increased teaching time that students are exposed to has increased student performance. Its extremely satisfying working with students during a hackathon, and based on the skills they gain, they get employment with AWS (or other employers). Overall, improving the lives of students, and the country as a whole.