{"id":131,"date":"2019-11-09T16:23:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T00:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/?p=131"},"modified":"2020-02-12T06:00:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T14:00:51","slug":"say-hello-to-the-newest-aws-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/2019\/11\/09\/say-hello-to-the-newest-aws-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Say Hello to the Newest AWS Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/reinvent.awsevents.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AWS re:Invent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> less than a month away, AWS <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/blogs\/aws\/meet-the-newest-aws-heroes-including-the-first-data-heroes\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recently announced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the newest additions to its AWS Heroes program, including the introduction of a Data Heroes category.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">And now, time for a super happy tweet \u2013 Meet the newest AWS Heroes, including the first Data Heroes! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/osGnRvQrAU\">https:\/\/t.co\/osGnRvQrAU<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AWS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AWS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AWSCommunity?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AWSCommunity<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0VXb6x6DHD\">pic.twitter.com\/0VXb6x6DHD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Danilo Poccia (@danilop) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/danilop\/status\/1192416417620152320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The goal of this program, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/developer\/community\/heroes\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">according to AWS<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The AWS Hero program recognizes a vibrant, worldwide group of AWS experts whose enthusiasm for knowledge-sharing has a real impact within the community. Heroes go above and beyond to share knowledge via social media, blog posts, open source projects, events, and user groups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, AWS has found external practitioners who have expertise in (and enthusiasm for sharing their expertise in) specific categories of AWS offerings, and has created a system to recognize and amplify their voices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AWS has leveraged the relationships it has built through its Heroes program to organize some truly neat events, some of which I\u2019ve been lucky enough to experience in person. This past summer I spoke at the AWS Developer Influencers Summit, a two-day event that brought together members of the AI\/ML, Containers, and Serverless Heroes groups along with individuals recognized as experts in the data and dev tools spaces. The event (also nicely described in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/deafinthecloud.com\/developers-influencers-summit.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this post by Robert Koch<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, part of the inaugural Data Heroes cohort), included a nice mix of specialization-based programming tailored to each of the groups and all-hands events\u2014such as dinner at the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livingcomputers.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Living Computers Museum<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014that fostered an exchange of ideas among groups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_132\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-132\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-132\" src=\"http:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/files\/2019\/11\/Image-from-iOS-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/files\/2019\/11\/Image-from-iOS-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/files\/2019\/11\/Image-from-iOS-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/files\/2019\/11\/Image-from-iOS-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/files\/2019\/11\/Image-from-iOS-480x640.jpg 480w, https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/files\/2019\/11\/Image-from-iOS-470x627.jpg 470w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-132\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cHello World\u201d display at the Living Computers Museum in Seattle, WA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the Developer Influencers Summit, AWS held a two-day Serverless Heroes Summit (hosted by AWS\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/beccaodelay\/status\/1192202789738336257\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rebecca Marshburn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) immediately afterwards. I attended the first day of this event, the highlight of which was watching some of the Serverless Heroes join AWS Developer Advocates for some <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitch.tv\/aws\/video\/471266540\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">competitive live coding on Twitch<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I also had the opportunity to chat with some of the Heroes in smaller groups, and our conversations ran from the specific (I learned about <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/step-functions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">step functions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and got to talk testing, observability, and CI\/CD) to the more philosophical (it turns out Serverless Heroes have varying answers to the question of \u201cWhat is Serverless?\u201d; I even tried out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/rstephens\/2018\/12\/14\/serverless-more-than-just-functions\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rachel Stephen\u2019s definition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of \u201cmanaged services that scale to zero\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What struck me most about both Summits was that while AWS-specific offerings came into play, many of the conversations I witnessed involved ideas and concepts that extended beyond AWS per se. With so many vendor-driven tech events becoming too busy with swag and parties and product pitches to leave time to actually talk usefully about tech practices, it was refreshing to see a specifically vendor-organized gathering that focused on tech practitioners and privileged the practitioner point of view.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To that end, while one could simply read the AWS Heroes program as a promotional tactic, to my mind it better fits with what my colleague Stephen O\u2019Grady (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/sogrady\/2019\/10\/24\/the-amazon-effect\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Amazon Effect<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) has articulated as Amazon\u2019s ability to \u201cinternalize around and empathize with developers in a truly fundamental way.\u201d Indeed, part of this empathy appears to lie not only in acknowledging technical merit, but also recognizing the import of developer contributions that reach beyond technical expertise. In characterizing its heroes as experts in both \u201cknowledge-sharing\u201d and \u201ccommunity\u201d\u2014two concepts that necessitate communication skills and extend beyond an ability to code\u2014AWS is helping to shift the paradigm of the exemplary technical practitioner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result is a program in which designated AWS Heroes themselves seem truly excited to participate: no small feat when dealing with developers, who tend to have a keen sense for identifying (and avoiding) mainstream marketing or promotional tactics.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To give you a better sense of how the AWS Hero designation is received, I leave you with these reactions from some of the newest cohort\u2014starting with newly-minted Serverless Hero Farrah Campbell (Ecosystem Director at Stackery), who I had the good luck to meet at this year\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/sogrady\/2019\/10\/10\/the-2019-monktoberfest\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monktoberfest<\/span><\/a> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">before<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> she became AWS-Hero-famous:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I have a permanent smile on my face today &amp; tears in my eyes. I am so incredibly humbled by all of this. I have been telling myself since the day I started working in tech that the harder I work, the luckier I get. Thank you again for this honor &amp; for all the support <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/awscloud?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@awscloud<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O0pXNckaH4\">https:\/\/t.co\/O0pXNckaH4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Farrah C (@FarrahC32) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FarrahC32\/status\/1192198612232499200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is still pretty surreal&#8230; I&#39;m honored to represent <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/757ColorCoded?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@757ColorCoded<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joinHandshake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@joinHandshake<\/a> as one of the first <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AWS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AWS<\/a> Data Heroes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/afrolatinxintech?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#afrolatinxintech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BlackTechTwitter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BlackTechTwitter<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/diversityintech?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#diversityintech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WePowerTech?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WePowerTech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GOgn28PdFY\">https:\/\/t.co\/GOgn28PdFY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; guillermo is helping CEOs build teams and products (@guillermoandrae) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/guillermoandrae\/status\/1192205890834718720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Absolutely thrilled to be one of the new AWS Machine Learning Heroes!! \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83d\udcbb\ud83c\udf89<br \/>AWS Heroes include some of the most supportive, passionate and talented people I know in tech, and it\u2019s mind-blowing to be included alongside them. \ud83e\udd2f<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AWSCommunity?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AWSCommunity<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AWS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AWS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AI?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AI<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MachineLearning?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MachineLearning<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Y2Mp2rf8tw\">https:\/\/t.co\/Y2Mp2rf8tw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Gillian Armstrong (@virtualgill) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/virtualgill\/status\/1192184280165814272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Still humbled and amazed that I am part of such an extraordinary group of people. <\/p>\n<p>Congrats everybody! I will try my best ~not to disappoint~ to reach to your level of awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0IvMGwLAEq\">https:\/\/t.co\/0IvMGwLAEq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Vlad Ionescu (he\/him) (@iamvlaaaaaaad) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iamvlaaaaaaad\/status\/1192186930819194880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Unbelievable to be part of such group! \ud83d\ude40 Thank you so much <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/awscloud?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@awscloud<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AWSOpen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AWSOpen<\/a>! Willing to meet you all at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/awsreinvent?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#awsreinvent<\/a> \ud83d\ude09 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DQpiNeMZU3\">https:\/\/t.co\/DQpiNeMZU3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Manrique \ud83d\udd96\ud83e\udd19 (@jsmanrique) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jsmanrique\/status\/1192193010479616001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">extremely humbling company to be in! \ud83d\ude4f also very stoked to see u all at re:Invent! \ud83d\ude80 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ISBDNDDwn4\">https:\/\/t.co\/ISBDNDDwn4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; @brianleroux@indieweb.social \ud83d\udc99 (@brianleroux) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brianleroux\/status\/1192184231012818944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><b>Disclaimer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Amazon is a RedMonk client; I attended both the Developer Influencer Summit and the Serverless Heroes Summit through a paid engagement with Amazon. Stackery is not currently a RedMonk Client.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With AWS re:Invent less than a month away, AWS recently announced the newest additions to its AWS Heroes program, including the introduction of a Data Heroes category. And now, time for a super happy tweet \u2013 Meet the newest AWS Heroes, including the first Data Heroes! https:\/\/t.co\/osGnRvQrAU #AWS #AWSCommunity pic.twitter.com\/0VXb6x6DHD &mdash; Danilo Poccia (@danilop) November<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[14,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conferences","category-tech-culture"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/kfitzpatrick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}