My Accidental Journey from Teacher to AWS Cloud Architect

I often describe my journey the tech industry as something of an accident, and in many ways, I truly think it was. I actually started my career in 2014 as a high school teacher when I graduated with a teaching diploma from from the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Melbourne. Growing up, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that I loved learning and helping others so a career in teaching seemed like the right choice. 

After graduating I accepted an offer to move to Queensland to teach in a remote Indigenous school called Doomadgee located in the Gulf of Carpentaria. What began as an exciting adventure, soon gave way to the realities of poverty, depravation, isolation, violence and drug abuse as I taught in one of the most underserved communities in the state. Even now I can still vividly recall some of daily challenges of having to work with traumatised children and their families in a remote town that offered very little in the way of social services. 

I returned to Melbourne in 2017 to be closer to my family, but I continued to teach for several more years. Looking back on my time as a teacher, I can see just how much gained from that experience. Being a teacher strengthened my ability to communicate, to empathize with others, to manage difficult situations and to remain resilient under pressure, skills which still hold me in good stead to this day. It is funny because when I first entered tech, I always glossed over my previous career as a teacher thinking it was completely irrelevant or that it was not even worth mentioning. But in hindsight I can now see just how much value there is in having these transferable skills. 

Whilst I loved teaching, I also very much loved being a student, so much so, that I continued to study even after graduating as a teacher, taking online classes in maths and science. In 2019, I was awarded a Deakin university scholarship which would cover almost the entire cost of a Bachelor degree in a STEM related field. This was an opportunity too good to refuse. So using the scholarship I opted to enrol in a bachelor of civil engineering. Why civil engineering? Well I loved maths and science and my dad had been an engineer so it seemed like the obvious choice. 

I only lasted a semester before realising that I couldn't keep up with the demands of the program. The course required that I attend the Geelong campus for several weeks on in-person classes throughout the year which would have been near impossible with my teaching schedule (I was still working as a full-time teacher). So I made a life-changing decision. I changed my major to computer science. At the time I knew virtually nothing about technology, in fact I'd never even written a line of code before, yet I enrolled nonetheless. 

The decision to work full-time whilst also studying a computer science degree was indeed a crazy one. I would be at school each day working from 8am-4pm before heading to uni classes in the evenings, often driving long distances so I could attend some of the classes in person. At night I would be up until 1-2am working to finish assignments, creating lessons plans, writing reports or working on some obscure algorithm that would take hours, if not days, to solve. If that was not bad enough, I also decided to do a 12-week coding bootcamp as I thought I should probably learn some web dev. Some days I was so tired I would just fall asleep in class. 

Things would become even more hectic the following year when covid broke out in Melbourne and we were sent into lockdown. My school classes, as well as my university classes, were immediately moved online and I had to quickly revise how I was going to teach my students; how I could prepare, administer, collect and provide learning resources, feedback and assessment. There was no guide book for what to do in this situation. On top of that, I had to work out how I was going to complete my own studies remotely as my university had closed. For the next 262(!) days of lockdown (the longest of any city in the world) I persevered under immense pressure, determined to not give up. And I didn't, graduating in 2022 with distinction. 

In the penultimate year of my studies, I began to look for internships as my degree required that I complete a mandatory placement. This proved exceptionally difficult as we were still under lockdown and many businesses were laying off staff. To top it off, businesses that would normally hire interns either reduced their intake or eliminated their internship program altogether. As the fates would have it, I got incredibly lucky though. After many, many rejections I got an email saying that an AWS recruiter had seen my profile through the 'Code like a Girl' network (a womens' engineering collective) and wanted to interview me for an internship role. I could have cried from the relief of just getting an interview somewhere. 

By sheer luck I made it through the gruelling interview process and secured a 3-month internship at AWS. I was placed in the public sector proserve team where I was given mentorship and training by some of the best engineers in the industry. To this day I still can comprehend how I managed to get such an opportunity so early in my career, but it is something that I will be forever grateful for. At the end of the internship, I received an offer to return the following year to do the AWS Tech U graduate program and join the company as an associate cloud architect. 

Working at AWS gave me opportunities I had never dreamed possible. I got access to the best available training and mentorship, had the opportunity to attend incredible conferences and to develop and innovate using cutting edge technology. Some of the highlights of my time at AWS include getting to serve as a co-lead of the amazon women in engineering (AWE) ANZ chapter and teaching hundreds of women cloud computing skills as part of the SheBuilds 'CloudUp for Her' program. This program has trained almost 100,000 women from all over the world providing them with free training and exam vouchers to achieve AWS certification. Speaking to these women I was able to learn more about their stories, their struggles and how cloud computing was opening up new career pathways and opportunities for both them and their families. In 2023, we were recognised for our efforts at the Tech Diversity Awards as finalists in the Tech for Good category. 

Since leaving the company, my engagement with the wider AWS community has not only continued but has actually grown. Over the past year I was very lucky to be selected to join AWS All Builders Welcome, a program which provides opportunity for early career individuals from underrepresented communities the chance to attend AWS conferences such as AWS re:Inforce and AWS re:Invent. It covers flights, hotel accommodations, conference entry, Uber vouchers, and spending money, ensuring that financial barriers do not hinder participation for anyone, regardless of location. In 2024, I was incredibly fortunate to attend both re:Inforce and re:Invent as part of the grants program, and I can truly say that attending these conferences has had a profound and lasting affect on how I approach both my work and my career. Furthermore I met some of the most absolutely wonderful people you could possibly meet, who continue to inspire me with their talents, generosity and kindness. If you are eligible, you should absolutely apply. 

 Anyway so that is the story of how I went from high school teacher to cloud architect.

Thank you for reading. If you are interested in reaching out you can contact me on linkedin.