Attending user groups

The final way you can build on your formal education is to become involved in one or more local user group communities focused on technology and cloud computing. You will likely start as a listener in the community, hearing about challenges that other attendees are facing, how they have tried to solve them, and advice being given to them by others with relevant experience. The goal should be to transition to become an active participant in the discussion as you continue to learn more and at least understand the context. You don’t have to necessarily give advice to participate in these discussions, but you can ask questions that will both help solidify your understanding and potentially cause others to look at things from an angle that’s not been considered before.

Besides the open discussions often found in user groups, often, these groups have presentations on specific topic areas at their regular meetings. These may be presented by guest speakers...