“I am an AWS Hero.”
HyunMin Kim, a Solutions Architect at MegazoneCloud, is one of the AWS Hero. ‘AWS Hero’ is an AWS expert program, recognizing a vibrant group of AWS experts. AWS Hero has a privilege to receive the latest tech news of AWS in advance and to state opinions. AWS Hero also receives free invitations to events hosted by AWS, such as re:Invent, and support plans for various community activities. There are less than 200 AWS Heroes worldwide, 9 of which are from Korea. There is a section on AWS HQ website to introduce AWS Heroes.
Hyunmin Kim is the ninth named as AWS Hero in Korea last May. He is the only Community Hero in Korea, which is granted to the most influential people in AWS-related communities.
Congratulations onbeing selected as AWS Hero. How did you become an AWS expert?
As an iOS developer, I did not have much to do at a server level. I used cloud services only for testing to develop iOS apps. However, I used to test various types of cloud services just out of my personal interests. Then, in 2015, I attended a lecture about AWS and was impressed with the cloud services. This has further incited my interests and drove me to join AWS community.
You were selected as AWS Community Hero. What kind of activities did you do in the community to become an AWS Hero?
“I went on a trip to Japan in 2016 and attended an AWS community event. In Japan, various seminars were held by region and technology. I came up with an idea of organizing it in Korea. I wanted a local community to share how people use AWS, what they are interested in, and ask questions to one other. Soon after, the AWS Seoul region was launched and attracted a great deal of attention. With an ever-increasing number of people interested in participating in community activities, we gathered a group of 30 to 40 people.”
Hyunmin Kim managed AWS Korean user group for Gangnam area ─ the central district of the southern half of Seoul, and organized a Container group to learn services such as Docker, Elastic Container Service (ECS), and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).”
It seems a bit of strange that an iOS developer went all the way to Japan and attended an AWS community event. What did you find AWS so interesting?
“Renowned as a leader in the cloud industry, AWS continuously releases new services, and I enjoy studying a variety of services. Also, it is impressive that AWS further enhances its services’ functions that I have looked for while I was using the service. This is what enables AWS to meet customers’ needs.”
Is there any special reason that you use AWS?
“AWS is a superior cloud service provider. AWS not only outperforms in fields such as VM, Container, and Serverless but also adopts new technologies the fastest. Furthermore, AWS is user-friendly as its Community helps to answer questions immediately with its large user base.”
Is the AWS community active in Korea?
“Yes. Communities were voluntarily formed and have been running since 2012-13. Communities have consisted of small groups by not only region such as Guro and Pangyo, but also by technology such as serverless. These small group activities are held about four to six times per month.”
Manager Kim was an iOS developer and then moved to Megazone Cloud. How did the app developer suddenly move to the cloud company? Was community activity a stepping stone to work for a company like MegazoneCloud?
“I assumed that companies that mainly use AWS would recognize me. Then, when I attended AWS user group even, I sat next to my current manager. That’s how I move to MegazoneCloud.”
Sangwook Park, a chief Solutions Architect at MegazoneCloud and a team leader of Hyunmin, was sitting next to Hyunmin at AWS event. He was nominated as the second AWS Hero in Korea. Sangwook Park said that he highly appreciated Hyunmin Kim’s passion and wanted to work with HyunMin.
What is your role in MegazoneCloud?
“I am a Solution Architect in the Commercial Technology Center. I am responsible for consulting, implementing demonstrations and operating training sessions such as hands-on labs.”
What are the advantages of becoming an AWS Hero?
“AWS Heroes are invited to various summits or events. We are given the opportunity to make presentations at the events. Expenses such as flight tickets and accommodation for events such as re:Invent is also provided. We can also walk into the venue through fast tracks without waiting in queue [laughs]. There are also AWS Hero-exclusive groups where I can learn a lot from them. We also receive Amazon products such as Echo Dot and AWS credits as gifts [laughs].
You became an AWS Hero now, do you have any future plans for this?
“Like I showed interest in AWS before I actually used it, I usually tend to show interest in products or services before actually using them. I learned related skills before utilizing Containers. Likewise, I will continue to learn new skills. Since there are growing needs for IoT and manufacturing, I will create and run an IoT group within AWS user group.”
Original text: https://byline.network/2020/06/23-92/