A couple of months ago, on a whim, I applied to a training fellows program. I ended up not seriously pursuing it because of an already full “day job” workload, but to be considered I had to write an argument for why I’d make a good trainer. Thought I’d post it here for posterity:

I’ve been communicating technical topics to varied audiences my entire career across a number of dimensions. As both an individual contributor and manager I have:

• Sat alongside Air Force crew members in flight to teach them how to operate a map display I implemented
• Designed and led classes for technical writers to teach them computing fundamentals (including complex cryptography topics) and how they relate to electronic voting systems
• Run workshops within Amazon Web Services on my approach to passing cloud certifications (I’ve also written about that here)
• Mentored numerous junior and mid-level developers on how to make the transition to technical leadership (see thoughts I wrote on it here)
• Embraced “learning in public” by writing on technical topics as I explored them, for example, Know Thyself (and my blog in general)

Further, the last 5 years of my career have been in a direct consulting capacity, where I routinely interact with both business and IT leaders at the C-suite equivalent level in state and local government to show them how cloud technology can transform and improve the services they offer their residents. I’ve done this both as a leader within a large organization (AWS) and as CTO of a small organization. I have extensive recommendations on LinkedIn that back this up.

None of this experience would matter, though, if I didn’t want to see others learn and grow. I’ve worked to cultivate a joy that comes from seeing others succeed vs just enjoying what my own two hands can build, which I wrote about here.