https://lukelittle.com/posts/2026/03/Recent content in Posts from March 2026 on Luke LittleHugo -- 0.160.1enThu, 05 Mar 2026 19:00:00 -0500https://lukelittle.com/posts/2026/03/richmond-aws-user-group-presentation-on-kiro/Thu, 05 Mar 2026 19:00:00 -0500https://lukelittle.com/posts/2026/03/richmond-aws-user-group-presentation-on-kiro/<h2 id="richmond-aws-user-group-an-evening-of-ai-powered-development">Richmond AWS User Group: An Evening of AI-Powered Development</h2> <p>The Richmond AWS User Group hosted another successful meetup on March 5th, featuring a fascinating presentation on Kiro, AWS&rsquo;s cutting-edge agentic coding tool. The event brought together local cloud enthusiasts, developers, and students for an evening of learning, networking, and pizza.</p> <h2 id="kiro-revolutionizing-software-development">Kiro: Revolutionizing Software Development</h2> <p>Dinesh Balaaji Prabakaran from Amazon Web Services delivered an impressive talk on Kiro, showcasing how this innovative tool is transforming the software development landscape. Kiro represents a significant advancement in AI-assisted development, helping developers bridge the gap between ideas and implementation through intelligent code generation, problem reasoning, and accelerated development workflows.</p>https://lukelittle.com/posts/2026/03/speaking-at-vcu-cracking-the-cloud-and-the-evolution-of-aws-learning/Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:00:00 -0500https://lukelittle.com/posts/2026/03/speaking-at-vcu-cracking-the-cloud-and-the-evolution-of-aws-learning/<p>I had the privilege of speaking at the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Commonwealth University&rsquo;s College of Engineering on March 3rd, presenting &ldquo;Cracking the Cloud: How AWS Certifications Can Launch Your Career&rdquo; to a group of engaged Computer Science seniors.</p> <h2 id="the-presentation">The Presentation</h2> <p>My talk focused on how early-career technologists can differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive field. Three themes anchored the session: strategic certifications — particularly AWS certifications as a way to validate cloud skills before you have the job title to back them up — self-directed projects that demonstrate practical problem-solving, and building genuine relationships in the industry. That last one always gets a laugh because I tell students it sometimes means getting away from the keyboard entirely and, as I like to say, &ldquo;doing a little grass touching.&rdquo;</p>