Tech Stack Playbook Brian H. Hough

What does it look like going from a completely non-technical field to software engineering? In this video, I share my reflections, thoughts, and strategies on what I did and how you can too.

In this comprehensive Tech Stack Playbook, I will walk you through some essential steps that I feel are paramount to landing a job in tech, especially that job that's on your vision board.

From understanding the latest software and apps to mastering the art of tech interviews and building your brand, I've found it's all about increasing your odds for success and trying to build leverage on your side. But, there is a lot.

Doing anything new for the first time can feel exhausting, frustrating, painful, and demoralizing. However, when you make it about the journey, the destination becomes inevitable (with a lot of hard work along the way).

I've seen WAY too many of these "get a FAANG/MAANG job in 30 days with XYZ" or "break into big tech with no experience in 2 months." Not only does this type of content set unrealistic expectations to folks excited to enter a new field, but it also gatekeeps real, effective, and proven strategies that could help others.

For me, it took 2 years, and over that time, I focused very intentionally on how skills connected to each other, where one piece supported or led to another, and so on. It was always about the journey for me. While it might seem long, and granted the LLMs we have today might cut this time down by a significant margin, I believe it's important to also be long-term focused and not get caught up in what we can do within very short amounts of time. Our long-term achievements are a culmination of our short-term habits, movements, and decisions.

In this view, I wanted to lay out some actionable steps you can take to work towards landing that job you've always wanted to get. Instead of cold applying to thousands of companies a month, I share actions you can take every day/week to stack the odds in your favor. I hope you find this video helpful on your tech career journey!

✨ What's in this episode for you:
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
00:00 What You'll Learn
00:10 How to Stand Out in the Tech Job Market
01:20 My Journey from Self-Taught to Software Engineer
02:43 Certifications vs. Job-Ready Skills
04:40 The Modern Tech Stack Skillsets
06:35 Innovative Ways to Apply to a Company
14:00 How to Go About Skills Acquisition
16:00 The 80/20 Rule
18:14 My Build-and-Apply Method to Get Company DMs
19:30 Overcoming Limiting Beliefs & Elevating Your Career

✨ Resources for you:
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
📩 Join my newsletter: https://www.brianhhough.com/signup
👨‍💻 7 Days of Development Ebook: https://www.techstackplaybook.com/resources
🦙 Deploy LLAMA 2 on AWS: https://www.techstackplaybook.com/llama2-build-ai-products?dc=50TSPFan
⭐️ Social Media Toolkit: https://www.techstackplaybook.com/resources⁠
🗓️ Book a Meeting: https://www.techstackplaybook.com/bookme


✨ Let's Connect:
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
📸 Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/brianhhough?sub_confirmation=1
📱 Let's stay in touch on Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianhhough
🤝 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/brianhhough
📫 For business inquiries: ⁠https://www.techstackplaybook.com/bookme


---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techstackplaybook/support

Why should you learn cloud in 2023? 👨‍💻💭  



In this episode of the Tech Stack Playbook, I'm diving into how I built my career in tech and explain how the AWS Community Builders program allowed me to really dive deep into the tech ecosystem. Today's episode focuses on AWS, the community, the core benefits of the program, and how it has helped me level up as a software engineer and developer a few years ago. For anyone who is looking to get a job, searching for a new role, looking to upskill and level up, switching careers, or pivoting career directions, this episode will be a deep dive into what I did to get into tech and how the steps I took might be able to help you on your journey as well.  



📝 Applications for the AWS Community Builders Program close on Jan 23, 2023, so please reach out if you have any questions about the program and be sure to apply by the deadline here: https://amazonmr.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bJwBQXrT2LhBawS 



Time stamps: 

00:00:00 Why should you learn cloud in 2023? 

00:01:09 3 Ways to increase your chances of getting hired 

00:03:19 How social media led me to the AWS Community Builders Program 

00:05:23 Why learning cloud will future-proof your skills/career 

00:09:53 The 3 core benefits of the AWS Community Builders Program 

00:19:07 How you can future-proof yourself and your skills 

00:21:50 What to learn in 2023  



Are you thinking of applying? 💭  

Let me know in the comments below! ⬇️   



🌟🌟🌟   POPULAR EPISODES  🌟🌟🌟

👉 My AWS re:Invent 2022 Talk: How to Become a Full-Stack Developer: https://youtu.be/hkd4g9oYybM 

👉  Learn Solidity, Web3, and Blockchain Development || 3-HOUR INTRO COURSE https://youtu.be/il9s98lPGqY 

👉  Meet C.L.Ai.R.A - the world's 1st Autonomous AI Woman of Color (Powered by GPT-3 and Create Labs) https://youtu.be/rj7dGjHvrAI 

👉  Pitching my Startup to a Billionaire: Lessons Learned from Tim Draper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibEMUNhUDAA&t=1139s 

👉  How Does Authentication Work in a React App with AWS? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPB-3gnI6I&t=89s 

👉  The 9 AWS Serverless Databases ALL App Developers & Software Engineers Should Know About 👨‍💻💭 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bukN5cVv14&t=38s 

👉  String Theory, Consciousness, and the Gate of Choice with Pejman (PJ) Ghadimi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQObCgyJ4rk&t=2716s



🌟🌟🌟   DEALS & DISCOUNTS  🌟🌟🌟  

☕️ If you'd be so kind as to buy me a coffee, that would make my day!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brianhhough 

💰 Get $10 OF FREE BITCOIN on Coinbase with my referral link: https://coinbase.com/join/hough_7?src=ios-link 

💰 Get a FREE STOCK (UP TO $500) when you join Robinhood with my referral link: https://join.robinhood.com/brianh4666 

🌴 Get a FREE WEEK or MONTH of coding courses on TeamTreehouse with my referral link: http://referrals.trhou.se/brianhough2 

💻 Get a FREE Month of Codecademy Pro with my referral link: http://ssqt.co/mQgVi7z 

🔗 Get your own BLOCKCHAIN domain with my referral link: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=5ef8  



🌟🌟🌟   Let's connect on social media 🌟🌟🌟 

📨 Sign up for my mailing list: https://brianhhough.mykajabi.com/forms/2147594047 

📲 Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianhhough

📲 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/brianhhough

📲 Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianhhough



Let’s digitize the world 👨‍💻🚀 


---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techstackplaybook/support

In this episode of the Tech Stack Playbook, I'll be sharing more about AWS re:Invent - the year's largest global tech conference that brings together leaders, builders, innovators, and creators from cloud, DevOps, serverless, app development, and software engineering from all around the world.

It's Day 3 of AWS re:Invent and there are a ton of announcements! AWS CEO Adam Selipsky delivered the opening keynote and announced a number of exciting updates and announcements, including Amazon Private 5G (imagine building your own 5G network - how cool is that?!)...Amazon SageMaker Canvas for low-code machine learning in the cloud...and a great analysis of what a modern data strategy looks like.

Additionally, I had the opportunity to attend Amazon Leader David Yanacek's workshop on how he builds operational excellence for his teams in an agile way for developers and DevOps engineers at Amazon. The insights he shared were so insightful and really helped to frame up for me how teams can better work together, build together, and collaborate together.  

Finally, I go through a theme park app I built at one of the workshops 😊

In this blog post and the blog posts to come this week, my hope is to vlog through the entire week and share all that I'm learning and building with you all so whether you are attending virtually or in person, this AWS re:Invent series on the Tech Stack Playbook will help you gain skills, level up in tech, and boost your software engineering abilities from the sessions I'm attending throughout the conference.

Here’s a glance at what you’ll learn in this episode: 

👉 What AWS re:Invent is all about 

👉 Key announcements from re:Invent 

👉 What I'll be learning about and building this week

It's going to be a major week for cloud and tech in general, so I am so excited to bring you along for the ride.



What do you want to know about AWS, serverless, and DevOps? 💭



Let me know in the comments below! ⬇️



🌟🌟🌟   POPULAR EPISODES  🌟🌟🌟

👉  Pitching my Startup to a Billionaire: Lessons Learned from Tim Draper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibEMUNhUDAA&t=1139s

👉  How Does Authentication Work in a React App with AWS? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPB-3gnI6I&t=89s

👉  The 9 AWS Serverless Databases ALL App Developers & Software Engineers Should Know About 👨‍💻💭 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bukN5cVv14&t=38s

👉  String Theory, Consciousness, and the Gate of Choice with Pejman (PJ) Ghadimi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQObCgyJ4rk&t=2716s



🌟🌟🌟   DEALS & DISCOUNTS  🌟🌟🌟

🌴 Get a FREE WEEK or MONTH of code training on TeamTreehouse with my referral code: http://referrals.trhou.se/brianhough2

💻 Get a FREE Month of Codecademy Pro with my referral code: http://ssqt.co/mQgVi7z

🔗 Get your own BLOCKCHAIN domain with my referral link:  https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=5ef8

☕️ If you'd be so kind as to buy me a coffee, that would make my day!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brianhhough



🌟🌟🌟   Let's connect on social media!  🌟🌟🌟

- Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianhhough

- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/brianhhough

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianhhough



Let’s digitize the world 👨‍💻🚀

#coding #softwareengineering #cloud

E9PIUDOYTFSEDFX9


---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techstackplaybook/support

Just wrapped up Day 2 of Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent and from the Midnight Madness concert, to building an AI-Powered Image Processor during Talia Nassi's workshop, to catching up with the amazing Adrienne Tacke from MongoDB....there is a TON going on Vegas!

In this episode of the Tech Stack Playbook, I'll be sharing more about AWS re:Invent - the year's largest global tech conference that brings together leaders, builders, innovators, and creators from cloud, DevOps, serverless, app development, and software engineering from all around the world.

Also, I built an AI-Powered image processing application that can take images and analyze certain features about the uploaded images…so that was pretty cool 😱

In this blog post and the blog posts to come this week, my hope is to vlog through the entire week and share all that I'm learning and building with you all so whether you are attending virtually or in person, this AWS re:Invent series on the Tech Stack Playbook will help you gain skills, level up in tech, and boost your software engineering abilities from the sessions I'm attending throughout the conference.

Here’s a glance at what you’ll learn in this episode:
👉 What AWS re:Invent is all about
👉 Traveling to Las Vegas for the year's largest tech conference
👉 What I'll be learning about and building this week

It's going to be a major week for cloud and tech in general, so I am so excited to bring you along for the ride.

What do you want to know about AWS, serverless, and DevOps? 💭

Let me know in the comments below! ⬇️



🌟🌟🌟   POPULAR EPISODES  🌟🌟🌟

👉  Pitching my Startup to a Billionaire: Lessons Learned from Tim Draper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibEMUNhUDAA&t=1139s

👉  How Does Authentication Work in a React App with AWS? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPB-3gnI6I&t=89s

👉  The 9 AWS Serverless Databases ALL App Developers & Software Engineers Should Know About 👨‍💻💭 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bukN5cVv14&t=38s

👉  String Theory, Consciousness, and the Gate of Choice with Pejman (PJ) Ghadimi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQObCgyJ4rk&t=2716s



🌟🌟🌟   DEALS & DISCOUNTS  🌟🌟🌟

🌴 Get a FREE WEEK or MONTH of code training on TeamTreehouse with my referral code: http://referrals.trhou.se/brianhough2

💻 Get a FREE Month of Codecademy Pro with my referral code: http://ssqt.co/mQgVi7z

🔗 Get your own BLOCKCHAIN domain with my referral link:  https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=5ef8

☕️ If you'd be so kind as to buy me a coffee, that would make my day!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brianhhough



🌟🌟🌟   Let's connect on social media!  🌟🌟🌟

- Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianhhough

- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/brianhhough

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianhhough



Let’s digitize the world 👨‍💻🚀

#coding #softwareengineering #cloud

E9PIUDOYTFSEDFX9


---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techstackplaybook/support

I have an exciting announcement friends!! I just touched down in Las Vegas for day 1 of AWS' re:Invent 2021 conference 🌄 and I cannot wait to share this week's exciting updates, announcements, learnings, and opportunities to level up in cloud computing, serverless, and DevOps with you all.   

AWS re:Invent is the year's largest global tech conference and brings together leaders, builders, innovators, and creators from cloud, DevOps, serverless, app development, and software engineering. I was so fortunate to win an All Builders Grant to attend this year's event, so thank you SO much AWS for this incredible opportunity.  

My hope is to vlog through the entire week and share all that I'm learning and building with you all so whether you are attending virtually or in person, this AWS re:Invent series on the Tech Stack Playbook will help you gain skills, level up in tech, and boost your software engineering abilities from the sessions I'm attending throughout the conference.  It's going to be a major week for cloud and tech in general, so I am so excited to bring you along for the ride.  

What do you want to know about AWS, serverless, and DevOps? 💭  

Let me know in the comments below! ⬇️  



🌟🌟🌟   POPULAR EPISODES  🌟🌟🌟  

👉  Pitching my Startup to a Billionaire: Lessons Learned from Tim Draper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibEMUNhUDAA&t=1139s 

👉  How Does Authentication Work in a React App with AWS? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPB-3gnI6I&t=89s 

👉  The 9 AWS Serverless Databases ALL App Developers & Software Engineers Should Know About 👨‍💻💭 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bukN5cVv14&t=38s 

👉  String Theory, Consciousness, and the Gate of Choice with Pejman (PJ) Ghadimi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQObCgyJ4rk&t=2716s  



🌟🌟🌟   DEALS & DISCOUNTS  🌟🌟🌟  

🌴 Get a FREE WEEK or MONTH of code training on TeamTreehouse with my referral code: http://referrals.trhou.se/brianhough2 

💻 Get a FREE Month of Codecademy Pro with my referral code: http://ssqt.co/mQgVi7z 

🔗 Get your own BLOCKCHAIN domain with my referral link:  https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=5ef8 

☕️ If you'd be so kind as to buy me a coffee, that would make my day!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brianhhough  



🌟🌟🌟   Let's connect on social media!  🌟🌟🌟  

- Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianhhough

- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/brianhhough

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianhhough 



Let’s digitize the world 👨‍💻🚀 

#coding #softwareengineering #cloud

NKPAAMX2CXPBCD3G


---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techstackplaybook/support

Wondering what you can do to level up as a software engineer, developer or programmer this year? 👨‍💻💭  

In this episode of the Tech Stack Playbook, I'm diving into the program that has single-handedly helped me the most in my tech career thus far: the AWS Community Builders Program. Today's episode focuses on AWS, the community, the core benefits of the program, and how it has helped me level up as a software engineer and developer this year.  

📝 Read more in my blog post here: https://dev.to/aws-builders/how-to-level-up-as-a-software-engineer-aws-community-builders-program-2c6o



Time stamps: 

00:00 How the AWS Community Builders Program has helped me level up 

00:43 Benefit #1: Being a Part of a Vibrant Community 

03:35 Benefit #2: Being Surrounded by Constant Education and Learning 

05:06 Benefit #3: An Immense Amount of Resources and Tools 

06:23 Benefit #4: Get Connected to Conferences, Events, and Workshops 

07:00 Why constant learning is key & how community/mentors can help 

09:35 Reflecting on the past year of growth and development in software engineering  



Are you thinking of applying this year? 💭  Let me know on social media or in the comments! ⬇️



🌟🌟🌟   POPULAR TECH STACK PLAYBOOK EPISODES  🌟🌟🌟  

👉  Pitching my Startup to a Billionaire: Lessons Learned from Tim Draper 

https://anchor.fm/techstackplaybook/episodes/2---Pitching-my-Startup-to-a-Billionaire-Lessons-Learned-from-Tim-Draper-et1hp1/a-a4lp6td

👉  The Value of Community & the AWS Community Builders Program with Linda Vivah 

https://anchor.fm/techstackplaybook/episodes/3---The-Value-of-Community--the-AWS-Community-Builders-Program-with-Linda-Vivah-etprja/a-a4lp6td

👉  The 9 AWS Serverless Databases ALL App Developers & Software Engineers Should Know About

https://anchor.fm/techstackplaybook/episodes/6---The-9-AWS-Serverless-Databases-ALL-App-Developers--Software-Engineers-Should-Know-About-e131bd8/a-a4lp6td

👉  String Theory, Consciousness, and the Gate of Choice with Pejman (PJ) Ghadimi 

https://anchor.fm/techstackplaybook/episodes/5---String-Theory--Consciousness--and-the-Gate-of-Choice-for-Innovators-with-Pejman-PJ-Ghadimi--Tech-Stack-Playbook-evtjs3/a-a4lp6td



🌟🌟🌟   Let's connect on social media!  🌟🌟🌟  

- Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianhhough

- Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianhhough



Let's digitize the world 👨‍💻🚀




---

Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/techstackplaybook/support