March in the AWS Community this March: Innovate, Hack + Connect

After lots of great feedback about last month’s blog post about the February Opportunities in the AWS Community, I’m back with a post about March! This month will be packed with exciting events and opportunities in the AWS Community - will you be joining us?

As always - if you think I’ve missed something on this list, let me know via LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.

The buzz is real, and over 4,500 builders are already in the game! Join this hackathon to flex your no-code muscles by building apps with Generative AI. Entering is easy! Just dive in at partyrock.aws to create an app in one of four categories, and submit it at awspartyrockhackathon.devpost.com. While making a 90-second demo video isn’t mandatory, it’s a fantastic way to showcase your project. You can also connect with the community in the AWS Community Discord and blog about what you’ve built here on community.aws.

But - the clock is ticking! Make sure you submit your entry by the March 11 deadline to be in the running to win a share of $120k in prizes.

Mark your calendars for the free AWS Innovate Online Conference, happening on March 14th! Join the presenters for 35+ sessions about Generative AI, including live Q&As with experts, customer success stories and technical demos. There’s 5 dedicated learning tracks, so you’ll be able to find a relevant session whether you’re just starting out with Generative AI or you’re ready to dive deep into technical content.
The learning tracks include:

My big tip for events like this is to attend some sessions in your comfort zone, and then make time to attend a couple of sessions which are outside your normal building area, because these can really help you to communicate with other people you’re working with! For example, if you’re interested in MLOps, the 300 level session “FMOps/LLMOps for FMs with Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock” might jump out at you. You should definitely attend this session, but don’t sleep on 100 level sessions like “Transform responsible AI from theory into practice” because sessions like these will have some great ways to communicate about what you’re working on with your senior leaders.

There’s over 400 AWS User Groups around the world waiting to welcome you to the AWS Community! These meetups are a great way to learn about AWS - not just the tech, but also different applications for things, different ways people solve problems, and different sorts of use cases for customers. You don’t need to be an expert to attend AWS User Group Meetups (I definitely was not an expert when I first started attending AWS Meetups in Brisbane, Australia!) and they’re a great way to connect with your local community.

In March, there are a mix of in-person and online meetups in: Des Moines, Querétaro, Poznan, Yaoundé, Bhubaneswar, Valetta, Elkhorn, Caracas, Pretoria, Lima, Columbus, Sydney, Rosenheim, Manchester, Melbourne, Brussels, Florianópolis, Bogotá, Pottstown, Atlanta, Nuremberg, Lugano, Lehi, Munich, Ilmenau, Stavanger, Milwaukee, Albany, Fishers, Cologne, Guatemala, Alicante, Ljubljana and Tampa.

Also, The AWS Community Team is on the hunt for dynamic volunteers to kick-start new AWS User Groups across the United States and Canada! Watch this space for the application link which will be live soon.

Are you a student or independent learner? Get involved with your local AWS Cloud Club this month, and find a meetup near you! In last month’s post, I mentioned the Cloud Club Captain application process was starting, and thank you to everyone who applied. With hundreds of applications, the Academic Advocacy Team are working hard to triage and select the very best students to led new Cloud Clubs globally or take over Clubs from our treasured graduating Captains.

If you applied, stay tuned, we'll let you know the result in early March!

There’s so much happening in March, and I’m sure I’ll end up needing to update this post as the month goes on. There’s so many opportunities to get involved with your community, globally or locally, and I hope you all have a great month! Remember to share what you’re working on by using #AWSCommunity.

Don’t forget to stay in the loop all month long by following AWS Developers on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter/X for the latest news on AWS and community updates, tailored to you as a builder! Here’s to a magical March ahead in the AWS Community cinematic universe.

See you online or at an event near you!