Happy Monday, everyone! ๐๐ปโโ๏ธ
I have 2 main things for you in this post:
- Main Thing 1: I have to tell you about something very cool that happened JUST THIS MORNING, as a matter of fact. ๐ We (Jon Dion and I) finally released the first couple videos on our new YouTube channel, "What the Cloud?". Plus we tell you the vision for the channel and the story of how this project came about..
- Main Thing 2: Brief synopsis and links to those first "What the Cloud?" videos!
๐ฝ๏ธWhat is the purpose of this channel, "What the Cloud?"?
Have you ever asked a question about how the cloud works, only to be left twice as confused? If you know what I'm talking about, then this channel is for you!
โ๏ธ"What the Cloud?"โ๏ธ provides a series of instructional content to begin your cloud journey, even if youโre never heard of DevOps. Our goal is to make technical content accessible for anyone, regardless of educational background. We also hope you love drawings, because this series will have a lot of those! โ๐ผ๐จ
๐ฝ๏ธReady to learn and have fun?
๐How did you come up with the name, "What the Cloud?"?
We have been getting this question and even Jon told me we should make a video of it. (We both like taking a super personal approach with our audience.) And yes, the name really DOES include the ? at the end. ๐ (branding!)
Ok, I will be ๐ฏ% transparent with you.
I couldn't think of a SINGLE thing that sounded catchy or fun for the channel name. I had already committed to my bosses at work to create a YouTube channel content strategy for beginners to DevOps/cloud/AWS. I am, as an individual, passionate about finding ways to explain "scary tech subjects" to people who still feel intimidated by technology. So naturally, I wanted to start this new journey by picking a good YouTube name! ๐
At this point, I hadn't even invited Jon Dion (the other AWS Cloud Advocate in our channel so far) to make content with me on the channel.
So back the story.. I kept banging my head against the wall (no, LITERALLY, I was running out of hope! I'm ok though, you should see what the other wall looks like..), trying to run as many different cloud/aws/devops phrases and word associations I believed most beginners to the cloud would google.
I didn't want to use the word AWS in the channel name and I didn't want to succumb to a boring name such as, "Alejandra's Cloud Basics!" ..you know what I mean? It needed to FEEL CREATIVE.๐ง๐๐ฝ
So mentally, I'm going... "What the **** am I going to call this thing?.. Alejandra's Cloud Basics?.. NO.. Building on the Cloud with Ale.. ugggg NOOOOOOOOOOOO and noooooo... ug, but what the **** am I going to call this thing? no really, I mean.. what the... oh! cloud!!.. what. the. cloud.
That's it.
๐กWho came up with the idea to incorporate drawings in "What the Cloud?"?
Jon! โ๐ผ
(And now you get to hear how Jon joined this questโ๏ธ. Drumroll please!๐ฅ)
Some time after first sharing this YouTube channel project to my bosses, Jon happened to mention in a team meeting that he was hoping to team more with other Developer Advocates (DAs) in projects for 2020. (He's our Canada ๐จ๐ฆ based DA.) Something clicked for me and somehow I knew Jon would be the perfect partner to start this quest with. โ๏ธ๐ฐ
After telling Jon my goals and vision for "What the Cloud?", his responses and growing excitement showed me he "got" what I was trying to do. I asked him to partner with me on it and he said 'yes'.
But then, he added.. "and everyone knows AND likes my drawings.. make no mistake! haha!.. so I already have some drawing examples we can re-use and re-make live on the videos!!"
I had completely forgotten Jon Dion๐จ๐ฆ is KNOWN for his tech drawingsโ๐ผ in AWS world! (He will literally give tech conference talks while live drawing how a particular AWS thingy works.)
So now you know how Jon joined the "What the Cloud?" quest โ๏ธ and who we have to thank for making this YouTube series even more fun.๐
๐ฉ๐ปโ๐ซ๐จ๐ผโ๐ซWho are the instructors in the channel? Can I reach out to them for questions about AWS and the cloud?
You can always reach out to us, we are here to help customers and beginners to the cloud feel WELCOME. ๐
Alejandra ๐๐ปโโ๏ธ๐ฒ๐ฝ
- https://twitter.com/QuetzalliAle
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandra-quetzalli
- https://dev.to/alejandra_quetzalli
Jon Dion ๐จ๐ฆ๐
๐๐ฝWill the "What the Cloud?" YouTube channel have Closed Captions?
Yes! I strongly believe that high standards in a YouTube production for our customers means thinking about ALL our customers. I want to commit to making our content accessible by adding Closed Captions (CC) to all of our videos.
โณTime to check out the TEASER and EP1 of "What the Cloud?" !
Teaser
- In this teaser, you get to meet the channel instructors, Alejandra and Jon. (Us!๐) We're both AWS Cloud Developer Advocates that share a passion for teaching and explaining DevOps concepts in a fun and visual way that everyone can understand. We also tell you about how we will translate the content to French and Spanish!
- ๐๐ฝTeaser Episode: http://bit.ly/what-the-cloud-teaser
EP 1: Global Infrastructure
- In the first episode of the channel, "EP 1: Global Infrastructure," we teach about AWSโs Global Infrastructure from the very beginning! We also review the definitions of data centers, Availability Zones, regions, and edge locations.
- ๐๐ฝEpisode 1: http://bit.ly/what-the-cloud-EP1
๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธWhat if I want to send you questions?
Yay! We're glad you asked. ๐
Besides being welcome to shoot us your AWS cloud questions to the social media channels mentioned above, you can also start a discussion in the DISCUSSION section of our channel..
- ๐๐ฝAdd to the discussion: http://bit.ly/what-the-cloud-discussions
๐ Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE
Besides clicking that good ol' subscribe button on our YouTube channel, don't forget to select to receive "All." Otherwise, you will not receive notifications for individual videos we post!
Remember: The Cloud โ๏ธ is for everyone!
ยกGracias por tu tiempo!
~Alejandra๐๐ปโโ๏ธ y Canela๐พ
Top comments (10)
This is very cool, I'm excited! I'm always happy to see more fun or engaging cloud content... there isn't that much from what I've seen or discovered so far... subscribed. Also a heads up: the first channel link right in the first paragraph is broken ๐ข
Good catch, thank you for mentioning that link issue! (fixed) Glad you're excited, that makes us happy. Let us know what you liked specifically of the 1st episode.
Sure thing, I'll give it a watch! ๐
Is it an officially supported AWS project?
yes! :)
Oh and also there's both #devops and #cloud tags
dev.to/t/cloud
dev.to/t/devops
Which you may want to use later for future articles.
haha yes, there are! But not all posts need those specific tags, there are always more specific ones ;)
Sure, my intention was just an FYI for future, sorry if that wasn't clear.
I never even know there was a discussion feature on Youtube!
It was also weird when I found out that YouTube also has posts... (I'm sure it's been there for a while and I'm just very behind)? When I go on the phone app it feels more like a facebook feed... which is odd to me.
Right?? That's why I needed to share in the post!! Otherwise we're missing out ๐