Day 1: From Delivering Food to AWS Certification - The Journey Begins

December 1st, 2025 - Toulouse, France

The Starting Point

One year ago, I was delivering food in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to pay for my Master's degree in Data Science. Every delivery meant I could afford another day of classes, another step toward my goals.

Today, I'm sitting in my room at ENSEEIHT in Toulouse, France - one of the top engineering schools in the country - starting a 6-week sprint to become AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate.

This blog is my public commitment to that journey.

Why AWS? Why Now?

I'm at a critical decision point in my career:

Option A: PhD in Processing-In-Memory (UPMEM research, cutting-edge DeepTech)
Option B: Industry (Cloud Engineering, immediate impact)

I don't have to decide today. But I know one thing for certain: cloud skills are essential for both paths.

Whether I'm building distributed systems for research or architecting infrastructure for a startup, AWS is the foundation I need.

So I'm getting certified. Not just for the credential - though that matters - but to prove to myself I can master complex technical domains independently.

The Plan

Timeline: 6 weeks (December 1st - January 15th, 2026)
Goal: Pass AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam
Daily commitment: 2-3 hours
Budget: €170 (course + practice exams + certification)

Week-by-week breakdown:

Weeks 1-2: Foundations (IAM, EC2, S3, EBS, Storage)
Weeks 3-4: Networking & Databases (VPC, RDS, DynamoDB)
Week 5: Advanced Services (Lambda, Auto Scaling, CloudFormation)
Week 6: Practice exams until I consistently score 80%+

Today's Progress

✅ Decision made: AWS Solutions Architect Associate (not Cloud Practitioner)

✅ Account created: Udemy account (waiting for discount email)

✅ Roadmap built: 6-week plan mapped out

✅ Blog launched: You're reading it

Hours invested today: 0/80 (but the planning counts)

My Technical Background

For context, I'm not starting from zero. I've worked with:

• Apache Spark: Streaming applications, cluster configuration, performance tuning

• Hadoop/HDFS: MapReduce jobs, distributed file systems

• IoT protocols: 6TiSCH simulation, IEEE 802.15.4 networks

• Distributed systems: Multi-node cluster deployment

But cloud infrastructure? I'm a complete beginner. I've never launched an EC2 instance, configured a VPC, or set up a load balancer.

That changes tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Plan

Morning (9:00-10:30):

• Start with freeCodeCamp's AWS course (free while waiting for Udemy discount)

• Focus: IAM fundamentals

• Take detailed notes

Late Morning (10:30-12:00):

• Create AWS Free Tier account

• Launch my first EC2 instance

• Deploy a simple "Hello World" web server

• Document everything

Evening:

• Check email for Udemy discount

• Write Day 2 blog post

Why I'm Learning in Public

Three reasons:

1. Accountability
Public commitment is harder to break. If I say I'll do it, I have to follow through.

2. Learning reinforcement
Writing forces me to understand concepts deeply enough to explain them. If I can't explain it, I don't truly understand it.

3. Helping others
If even one person finds this useful - whether it's technical guidance or motivation - it's worth the extra effort.

The Bigger Picture

This isn't just about passing an exam.

This is about proving what's possible when you're hungry enough:

• One year ago: delivering food to survive

• Today: M2 at SUPAERO/ENSEEIHT

• In 6 weeks: AWS Certified

• In 6 months: Research internship at UPMEM (acquired by Qualcomm)

• In 5 years: who knows?

But it starts here. December 1st, 2025. Day 1.

Follow Along

I'll be posting daily updates:

• Technical learnings and challenges

• Honest struggles (not just wins)

• Career strategy decisions

• Progress metrics

Next post: "Day 2: My First EC2 Instance - Deploying to the Cloud"

Let's see if I can actually do this.

Pegasus Nathanael

M2 Data Science at Universite de Yaounde 1, Cameroun
M2 Engineering Student @ ISAE-SUPAERO & ENSEEIHT
Cameroon 🇨🇲 → France 🇫🇷 → World 🌍

Progress Tracker:

• Days: 1/42

• AWS sections: 0/65

• Practice exams: 0/6

aws cloud-computing learning-in-public career distributed-systems