How to build an AWS cloud career while mixing drinks
March 4, 2021
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It’s always great when you get to do work that’s innovative and fun—and build something that really shows the power of cloud technology.
Our voice-powered bartender is just one example.
My career path at Accenture is never boring; and always changing. It’s led me straight to the cloud, where innovation is a continual loop of “what’s next.”
In my current role as an AWS Solutions Architect, I work with the largest companies on the planet to code and create systems that can handle their extensive workloads, in real time and at scale.
As businesses and entire industries migrate to the cloud, our work is literally changing business operations—an urgent need escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meet Mixy, our voice-powered bartender
What do you get when you combine work and fun?
An innovative result—that serves drinks!
My team built a voice-powered bartender, Mixy, to take drink orders and pour mixed drinks at the AWS re:Invent annual conference.
Leading a group at our California Redwood Liquid Studios, we built the product with a team of Accenture volunteers to write the software. We coded Amazon’s Alexa, the user interface, IoT, the raspberry Pi and the AWS framework that enabled it to all work together in just eight weeks.
Our clients come to our Liquid Studios to brainstorm opportunities and discuss innovation. Mixy enables clients to think about AWS concretely and see it in action, including the architecture and services we build and all the unique skillsets we bring together.
Our journey with Mixy parallels a lot of our client journeys to AWS cloud. We guide them through the initial setup, industrialize the approach as it’s rolled out globally and then either continue to support or hand off the process to run themselves.
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Hunter Larson with an open-source robot at Accenture's Liquid Studios in Boston.
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It’s a great time for cloud careers
Ten years ago, I was a delivery lead for several development teams with a strong industry background. I’ve always tinkered outside of work and spent six years exploring AWS cloud on my own, until cloud became a game changer for enterprises.
Today, cloud is an urgent business imperative. Our $3 billion Cloud-First investment is helping clients accelerate their digital transformation. There’s never been a better time to pursue a career in cloud.
The combination of cloud and architecture provides a never-ending learning curve, every day. Learning and working with my teammates, combining my knowledge with their backgrounds and then innovating solutions to the next unknowns together is exciting—and rewarding.
I honestly can’t think of a better place than Accenture to pull in that well of knowledge from industries and client experience, combined with our drive toward innovation and change, infused with the passions and talents of our people.
There’s optimism and excitement about what we can do next at Accenture. It sometimes feels like we’ve just scratched the surface of the impact we can make for our clients—and for society overall.
The secret to a long-lasting career
I spoke with a good friend at Accenture several years ago, who asked me, “Do you think about cloud outside of work? Is there a non-work angle to cloud that you get excited about?”
To me, that’s the secret to a long-lasting career. Work on something where you have passion and can make connections outside of work.
When I come to work, I bring my excitement about cloud technology into my discussions, and my Accenture team members bring their passions, too. It’s an environment of continuous learning. And I don’t think it can be matched.
Join the Accenture AWS team to do incredible things.
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