Tag Archive for: business skills

Commercient Team Members Get AWS Certifications

A global company, full of capable team members is one of Commercient’s greatest assets. People that are great at what they do, willing to improve their skill sets in order to provide best-in-class service to our customers and partners. Now, two of them have received the AWS Certification. 

After weeks of hard work preparing for the exam, Sergio Cabrales and Alan Valdez, both Level 1 Support (Application Team of Commercient), completed this process successfully and are proud owners of the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification. 

They had one month to prepare for the exam which resulted in them being extremely dedicated during the week and on weekends. 

They stated the following on how it will benefit Commercient:

“I hope that this certification helps me have a deeper understanding of the configuration of our customers so that I could provide them with better troubleshooting and advice whenever needed”, explained Sergio Cabrales

Alan Valdez said: “This clearly proves that as time passes on, Commercient gets more and more people certified in different skills which brings way more value to the company in any way one could think of.”

About AWS

AWS stands for Amazon Web Services, which is known to be a cloud-based platform that offers 175 services ranging from analytics, application integration, AR & VR, AWS Cost Management, Blockchain, Customer Engagement, Machine Learning, Developer Tools, Security, Networking, IoT, and the list goes on. 

Part of these functionalities is that there are so many, that an application can be designed with the right tools for the specific job you require and it offers data to be moved to the cloud through cost-effective, fast and easier measures. Not only that, but AWS is one of the most secure cloud databases as it even satisfies the military, banks and other industries managing sensitive information.

AWS Certifications

Even though AWS is offered as a product to many customers, it also offers various certifications such as:

  • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner  – Foundational
  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate 
  • AWS Certified Developer – Associate
  • AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate 
  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
  • AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional

Sergio and Alan  took this great challenge by excelling in the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certificate. This course focuses on:

  • Designing systems with AWS tools
  • Data Security
  • Troubleshooting
  • Implementation 

And this is what our team members had to say about it:

“I think getting this AWS certification is certainly a big accomplishment for my career. I had experience working with AWS before, and this exam required a deep knowledge of cloud computing. This has greatly helped me understand how cloud computing works and all of the components needed to make a business application successful said Sergio Cabrales.”

“I prepared for this exam by reviewing online studying materials and also doing some hands-on practice in the AWS console directly. Balancing the workload at the job and the study time was quite challenging, but I am glad I got a positive result,” explained Cabrales.

Alan Valdez shared this about the preparation process: “When I got the assignment of passing the AWS Solutions Architect Certification, I definitely took it as a challenge to test my capabilities as we only had around a month to go before test day would arrive and I wanted to contribute to this to the best of my ability for Commercient.” 

“Then came the course to get prepared for the AWS Solutions Architect Certification actual test. This was more of practicing within the console of AWS and covered a lot of material than what was actually in the real exam and previous dump exams, that I had taken prior to the real one”, said Valdez. 

How do you expect to help Commercient customers with this certification?

“I hope that this certification helps me have a deeper understanding of the configuration of our customers so that I could provide them with better troubleshooting and advice whenever needed”, said Sergio Cabrales.

Alan Valdez added: “I believe this certification will truly help Commercient and our customers not only because of the Certification itself, for partner wise purposes and related topics. This clearly proves that as time passes on, Commercient gets more and more people certified in different skills which brings way more value to the company in any way one could think of. This was my joyful experience in taking this examination and being able to pass on the first attempt.”

Here are some tips if you feel like getting an AWS Certification is the next step in your career.

Tips To Get The AWS certificate

How do we know which AWS certificate is best suited to us? What is a certificate? Why do we need certificates? These are all common questions that are normally asked amongst ourselves. But they are highly recommended and the following are one of many benefits:

  • They are proof of hard work and knowledge
  • They are valuable
  • They open doors to many opportunities
  • We can gain skills and make ourselves more profitable

With the types of AWS certificates such as,

  • AWS Foundational Level Certifications: This is based on foundational cloud concepts but nothing on implementation.
  • AWS Associate Level Certifications: This has to do with working in the cloud and has to do with more hands-on implementations.
  • AWS Professional Level Certifications: You are already experienced in AWS and have passed the AWS associate-level certifications.
  • AWS Specialty Certifications: You are highly experienced in AWS and it is focused on narrow areas – networking, data, and security. Many years of experience are needed for this.

If the AWS certificate is what you are looking for, here are the steps to sign up and begin!

  1. You will need to sign up for an AWS training class
  2. Look over any exam or study guides to start preparing
  3. Take on all AWS whitepapers as you may find many answers in there to your questions
  4. Make sure to practice over past exam papers to gain an insight into what it will feel like to write the exam
  5. Depending on the certification, make sure you spend at least 80-120 hours practicing and studying before the exam. Once you feel ready, schedule the exam.

The Art Of Being A Great Coworker

Did you know that this year you’ll spend more time with your coworkers than you will with anybody else? It’s true.

Think about it. On average, you work 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year (figuring in two weeks for sick days and vacation). That’s roughly 2,000 hours a year spent with the same people. That’s a lot of time.

This makes building positive relationships with the people you work with a priority—or, it could mean survival. Either way, it’s important. No matter how much you get along, somebody’s bound to get on your nerves from time to time. What we have to remember is that it’s up to us to be the best coworker we can be.

We can learn a lot from our coworkers. Like coexistence and collaboration skills for example. For tips on the art of being a great coworker, keep reading.

How To Be A Great Coworker

  • Show some appreciation. When our coworkers feel unappreciated it becomes harder for anyone to see the benefit of going the extra mile. If there’s no one around willing to recognize the hard work they’ve put in, what’s the motivation to keep up the pace?

    Enter: you. Yes, you! Manager or peer, you should make an effort to give credit where credit is due. You have options for expressing your appreciation too. You could go with a classic verbal recognition or get creative with a gif filled email.

    A little nod of good work or congratulations is always, well, appreciated!
  • Bring snacks to share. Seriously. Flashback to elementary school for a moment with me: what was the number one guaranteed way to make new friends? Sharing your dunkaroos of course! (Or whatever your elementary school snack of choice was.)

    This tip is simple. The best way to a coworkers heart is through their stomach. Just be wary of any food allergies in the office before you show up with a plate full of peanut butter cookies.
  • Respond to emails. Everybody’s busy because everybody has a job to do. We all know this. But if your approval or feedback is necessary for one of your coworkers to keep a project moving don’t make them wait.

    Bottlenecking a project is frustrating for everyone involved and it can impact a person’s or team’s ability to reach company goals. If you’re not sure if you’re guilty of this (poor email etiquette) ask your coworkers to start specifying a timeframe within the emails they send you so you can keep track of how soon you need to get back to them.

    If you just don’t have the time, a quick “I’m held up right now, but I’ll look over this this afternoon” email can be helpful too.
  • Don’t be shy about sharing resources. The people you work with were hired for a reason right? Maybe Nick is a great problem-solver and Noah can negotiate like nobody’s business. There’s something you learn from everybody that you work with.

    Regardless of our specific titles and unique strengths, it’s crazy helpful when someone shares resources that benefit the whole team.

    Don’t hesitate to share an inspiring article, thought-provoking blog post, intriguing design, or funny meme you saw this morning. At Commercient, we use Google Hangouts to share fun and inspiring things with each other throughout the day.
  • Be a good listener. Sometimes your coworkers just need to vent. We’re all human here. Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is lend an ear.

    Active listening is an empathetic skill that will help you understand what your coworker is currently feeling so that you can help them find a solution. This small act of kindness helps us to form bonds, strengthen relationships, and establish a solid foundation of trust and comradery with our coworkers.
  • Respect their time. We all get stressed out. We all have to deal with things we’d rather not deal with. And we all wish there were more hours in the day.

    While we can’t resolve all life’s problems via birthday wishes, you can do something to make everyday issues your coworkers face more manageable.

    How? By making yourself aware of and respecting their time. Five minutes here and 15 minutes there can add up over the course of their work day. We should all make an effort to show up on time and come prepared so that everyone knows you respect their time.

    This way everything that needs to get done gets done and everyone feels like they made a healthy contribution to the workday.
  • Try not to be annoying. Harsh right? According to a survey by office product supplier Viking, 21% of participants admitted they have a problem with coworkers who talk on the phone too loud.

    Viking also discovered that 20% of people dislike it when their coworkers fail to replace things that run out like coffee, dry erase board markers, and so on, while 29% of participants admitted it frustrates them when their coworkers are late on a regular basis.

    What can we learn from this? Be considerate of the people you work with. Be conscious of how loud you’re talking when on a call with a client and if you need to shut a door; grab a new can of coffee out of the cabinet when you use the last of the one next to the coffee pot, and take notice that your tardiness may be holding up the completion of daily projects.
  • Make valuable connections. You can help your coworkers achieve their goals by identifying opportunities to make valuable connections. Heard someone needs a freelancer for a project they’re working on? You know a girl! Make the connection.

    Maybe you connect a newbie to a company vet for a little guidance or recommend someone to take the lead on the latest project. Networking is a big deal today and two networks are always better than one.

Being a great coworker isn’t all that hard. It just takes a little effort to get there.

Resources

Viking