Shola's Tech Notes

Issue 9 · Tue 3 Nov 2026

THIS WEEK'S LESSON

My move into cloud did not come from matching a job description. It came from asking for the chance.

Inside: the lesson · four steps to ask before you feel ready · AI this week · this week's question

In 2021 I was working in a data role at NHS England. My degree is in Economics and my experience was in data, not cloud. What I had was an interest in cloud.

I started reading about the future of work and the fourth industrial revolution. That led me to cloud computing, and the more I read, the more interested I got.

Then I saw that you could earn certifications in it, so I started digging properly. Around then I spotted an internal opening for a cloud data engineer role. I knew I did not qualify for it on paper.

I sent an internal email anyway. I said I would love to have a chat about the role and what it needed, and that I wanted to build the skills.

Someone replied, and we met. I was offered a secondment onto the team to build experience and see if I liked it. Within that year I had earned four Azure certifications.

That secondment was my move into cloud. The certifications came later and backed up a door that was already open. When I later joined AWS I had zero AWS certifications. Both times, the paper came after the door.

Here is what I see every month with career changers. They treat the job description as a gate. It wants three years of experience and a tool they have never touched, so they do not ask.

The person who could say yes is not reading the job description. They are looking for someone who has shown interest, done something small and real, and asked clearly. Secondments and stretch projects are decided in conversations long before a form exists.

That is the lesson. You do not need the paper to ask. You need something you have done, the right person, and one clear sentence.

1. Pick the person, not the posting. Find the one person who could give you the chance: the manager of the team you want to join, or the person who keeps saying they are short-handed. Write their name down. If you cannot name them, a colleague usually can, so that is your first conversation.

2. Show one thing you have done. Not a plan, and not a course you are halfway through. A small, finished thing that touches their work: a script that saves your team an hour, or a lab you built on a free tier and can explain in two minutes.

3. Make one clear ask. One sentence, with the chance named in it. "I have built this, I am interested in that, could I spend some time on it with your team?" Vague interest gets a polite nod. A specific ask gets a yes, a no or a condition, and all three move you forward.

4. Keep a log. Write down who you asked, what you asked for and what came back. Most people ask once, hear "not right now" and stop. Asking gets easier with repetition, and the log shows you which asks landed.

Use this card to write down who you'll ask, what you'll show them, and the one sentence you'll send: Ask Before Ready Card.

Then, when the chance comes, go and get the paper. Certifications are much easier to earn when you are already doing the work they describe. That is the order that worked for me, and it is the order I suggest to every career changer who asks.

NEWS

AWS sales grew 39% last quarter. Amazon's third-quarter results put AWS at $46.0 billion, and Amazon expects growth above 40% in both 2027 and 2028. What it means: cloud basics still pay off.

OpenAI's new cheaper model is built for everyday computer work. GPT-6.1 Terra is aimed at workday tasks like filling in forms and drafting proposals, and OpenAI says its API prices are half those of the previous Terra model. What it means: try automating one dull weekly task.

YOUR TURN

💬 Is there a role, a project or a secondment you want a shot at but have not asked for yet, because your CV does not match it on paper?

Then send that ask this week. Pick one person who could say yes and write them two lines: what you want to learn, and that you'd love a quick chat about the role. The worst answer is no, and that leaves you exactly where you are today.

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When analytics on Postgres slows down, most teams add a second database. Then they manage pipelines, sync lag, and drift forever. TimescaleDB extends Postgres instead. Analytics run on live data, in the database you already have. No pipeline. No migration. No new query language.

Get $1000 Credit

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Shola

P.S. If you want who to ask, what to show them and the one-sentence ask on one page, here is the Ask Before Ready Card (one-page PDF), direct link, no signup. Next Tuesday: the AI habit that quietly made one of my skills worse, and the order I use now. 6PM UK.