What Changed Since December
Reflecting on a year that wasn't overwhelmed or underwhelmed, just... whelmed. And why that's exactly what I needed.
In December, I said I was heads down preparing for two certifications.
It’s March now.
I don’t have either of them.
Not the AWS Solutions Architect Associate. Not the Google Cloud Engineer.
That’s the honest update.
But something else happened.
The Part I Didn’t Plan
Somewhere between studying, labs, and trying to “stay consistent,” things shifted.
I got accepted into the AWS Community Builders program (Security).
That wasn’t on the roadmap I wrote in December.
But it counts.
Not as a replacement for certifications, but as proof that showing up, even quietly, does something over time. Even when it feels like nothing is happening.
About Those Certifications
I didn’t stop studying.
I didn’t lose interest.
But I did realize something uncomfortable.
Preparing for an exam and actually sitting for it are two different battles.
I spent more time trying to understand than trying to finish. More labs. More breaking things. More going back to documentation I thought I already understood.
That slowed things down.
But it also made things stick.
The certifications are still on the table. Just not on the timeline I originally gave them.
The Pivot I Didn’t Expect
Recently, I started going deeper into Kubernetes.
Not casually. Properly.
Through the Linux Foundation courses:
- LFS101
- LFS158
- LFS250
And it’s been… humbling.
Kubernetes is one of those things that sounds simple when explained at a high level. Containers, orchestration, scaling.
Then you actually start learning it.
Now it’s Pods, Nodes, YAML files that don’t forgive typos, and a lot of “why is this not working?”
Doing Things Differently This Time
In my last post, I said I’d come back to writing after I had “results.”
I’ve changed my mind.
I’m not waiting anymore.
This time, I’m documenting as I learn.
Not polished explanations. Not perfect guides.
Just clear notes, real examples, and the kind of breakdowns I wish I had when something doesn’t click the first time.
If I forget something in two months, I want to be able to come back here and understand it again without starting from scratch.
What to Expect Next
For the next few weeks (or months), most of what I share will revolve around Kubernetes.
Simple explanations.
Hands-on experiments.
Mistakes, especially the mistakes.
And eventually, how all of this ties back into cloud and security.
Still Whelmed
I said last year that I felt “whelmed.”
Not overwhelmed. Not underwhelmed.
Just somewhere in the middle.
That hasn’t changed.
The direction has.
And for now, that’s enough.