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Welcome to our new series of ‘A Face In The Clouds’ where we meet with Reginald Jones from our Atlanta Hub, who shares his experience working as an Associate Cloud Systems Developer (as part of our Talent Academy!) and gives us some pretty cool insights into what it’s like being a Cloudreacher! Check out our last Face in the Clouds blog here.

 

Tell us a bit about your background – why did you join Cloudreach?

Reginald: Before coming to cloudreach I had 3 years of experience in the tech field which included IT and IT Security experience.

Cloudreach had a program called the talent academy that focused on hiring unrepresented talent in the cloud space. After doing some research on the program and the company I knew that Cloudreach was a company I wanted to work for.

I decided to join Cloudreach because I saw that they were truly committed to diversity and inclusion and not just talk. In the Talent Academy they truly seek the success of all the individuals in the program.

 

Tell us a bit more about who you are, Where are you based?

Reginald: I am currently working remotely in Texas within the Professional Services team and have been for the last 8 months!

How would you describe Cloud Systems Development to someone unfamiliar?

Reginald: I help customers migrate their current infrastructure to the cloud!

What does your typical day as an Associate Cloud Systems Developer look like?

Reginald: A typical day for me starts at 8 AM where I get my coffee (mandatory haha) and log into my customer’s AWS environment. I like to take that first hour to map out how I want to tackle my work for the day and get a head start on it before I have my daily scrum meeting. After giving my updates at my daily scrum meetings I usually work on my infrastructure code for about 3-4 hours before taking my break. On my break I try to get out of the house and I go run 4 miles in my neighbourhood. This gives me my second wind to finish the day strong. Once I come back from my run I usually spend the rest of the day validating that all the resources I deployed in the customers account are configured correctly and assist any app developers with any immediate changes that need to be made. 

How has your role evolved over the years?

Reginald: Even though I have only been here 8 months I feel like I have grown so much in my cloud knowledge and become more acquainted with working in a consulting environment!

What is a challenge you recently had to overcome in your role?

Reginald: A challenge I had to overcome recently was  on my current project where I had to learn a new infrastructure-As-Code tool from scratch. On my current project it was a requirement for all engineers involved to use the AWS Python CDK. Even though I had a background with python this would be the first time I ever used it to build infrastructure. Thanks to my amazing team I have been able to pick up this new tool and add it to my arsenal of skills!

What part about your role do you find most exciting?

Reginald: I love that this role encourages continual learning!

What’s your favourite tech tool / software?

Reginald: My favourite tool right now is the AWS CDK

What is your favourite Cloudreach Slack channel?

Reginald: My favourite channel is the announcements channel. I love how it keeps  up to date on the things going on in our company and allows room for us to celebrate it together as a team! 

How would you describe Cloudreach in 3 words?

Reginald: Supportive, Challenging and Rewarding

Why would you recommend Cloudreach as a future employer?

Reginald: Cloudreach is a place where you are given room to learn and grow. They really care about their workers’ success and continual development.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

Reginald: When I’m not at work I love spending time with my lovely wife, serving at my church and running races!

What advice do you have for people hoping to pursue a career in Cloud Systems Development?

Reginald: Take your time learning everything. Working in the cloud field I feel requires not only knowledge about Cloud services but understanding of other technologies such as linux, windows, IAC, python,  etc… If you can learn all these other technologies along with the cloud services you can definitely go far in this field

What industry trends are you most excited about?

Reginald: I love seeing how the cloud continues to evolve over time. I am curious to see what the cloud will look like in 10 years from now.

What crazy futuristic technology do you think we will see realised in our lifetime?

Reginald: I would love for someone to create a flying car! Maybe Tesla will come up with something wild like this one day.

If you’re looking to start a career in Cloud,  you can see more about our Talent Academy and live roles – check it out here!