Jun 26, 2020
April Thompson currently works as a technical trainer and program manager on the Well-Architected Team at Amazon Web Services where she helps customers build better architectures in the cloud.
Her 15-year career has spanned various engineering, sales, marketing and consulting roles as well as independent work in tourism and training. She is also a Certified Life Coach and, in her spare time, enjoys helping early and mid-career professionals make career transitions within marketing and technology.
In this episode, April discusses:
- Why she ultimately decided not to continue on with her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (hint: to thrive you must really enjoy spending time in a laboratory)
- How a chance meeting at the National Society of Black Engineers conference introduced her to a career in software sales
- Challenges she experienced when trying to explore non-technical roles in tech and advice on how you can prevent being stuck in a box
- How earning an engineering degree prepares you for non-technical jobs
- Her experience being a woman of color in tech and defining her own executive presence
Connect with April!
Resources to Learn More About Cloud Computing
- AWS Academy (for students still in college) - https://aws.amazon.com/training/awsacademy/
- AWS re/Start (for those unemployed or underemployed) - https://aws.amazon.com/training/restart/
- AWS Tech-U (for recent graduates with less than 2 years of experience) - https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/AWS-techu
- AWS Free Tier Account - https://aws.amazon.com/free/
A Community for Aspiring Tech Talent:
Tech Stack'd at https://www.techstackd.com/
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Also, stay connected with Journey to Jupiter!
- Email: jetaun@jetaundavis.com
- Website: jetaundavis.com
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- Twitter: @JourneyJupiter
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Produced by Ken Inge of Dead End Hip Hop