Episode Information
Show Notes
In this episode of Career Downloads, Manuel Martinez interviews Jason Smith, who shares his remarkable journey from a 20-year career as an Air Force jet engine mechanic to becoming a Technical Curriculum Developer at AWS Training and Certification.
Jason discusses growing up in a small Ohio town, his initial career working for a sewer rehabilitation company, and the moment that sparked his interest in joining the Air Force. Throughout his military career, Jason gained valuable skills in leadership, communication, and training that would later prove instrumental in his tech transition.
Using the military’s SkillsBridge program, Jason secured an apprenticeship with AWS despite having zero prior knowledge of cloud computing. He candidly shares his struggle with imposter syndrome, certification challenges, and how he overcame them through persistence and collaborative learning.
Key topics covered:
Jason’s 20-year military career progression and the skills he developed
How military training and instructor experience translated to curriculum development
Navigating the transition from military to civilian tech career
Overcoming imposter syndrome when entering an unfamiliar field
The value of “getting comfortable being uncomfortable” in career growth
Why asking “dumb questions” can accelerate learning and professional development
Whether you’re a veteran looking to transition to civilian work, considering a major career pivot, or simply interested in tech career paths, Jason’s story offers valuable insights and practical advice for navigating significant professional changes.
#CareerDownloads #VeteranSuccess #TechCareers #AWSCertification #CloudComputing #CareerTransition
Transcription
Manuel: Welcome, everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez, and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their career and really try to uncover any actionable advice and tips that they’ve used as they’ve managed their career so that you can go ahead and use and implement as you’re managing your own career. So for today’s episode, I have with me Jason Smith. And I met Jason at my current place of employment at AWS, we happen to be working a conference together, kind of started, you know, just getting to know each other and learn a little bit more. And, I felt that he had a very interesting career path where he kind of, you know, fell into technology. And, you know, I’m excited to kind of dig a little bit more into that and have him share, you know, his trajectory and ultimately what landed him into the role that he’s in now. So with that, I’ll introduce Jason Smith.
Jason: Thanks, Manny.
Manuel: Appreciate you coming on and taking the time to really kind of share your story and your experiences to, you know, hopefully, you know, inspire or be able to help others along the way.
Jason: Yeah, glad to be here. I actually feel a little honored that you invited me to do this. So yeah, I appreciate it.
Manuel: So kind of what I’ve been doing with the guests is if you just kind of briefly tell me what your current role is, and just a brief summary of kind of what your roles and responsibilities are, and then we’ll kind of take it from there.
Jason: Yeah, so currently, I work with AWS Training and Certification. So my role is a Technical Curriculum Developer. And I work primarily on instructor led training. So what that means is any of the courses that you’ve, so there’s, there’s, there’s going to be some courses on like Skill Builder, if you’ve heard of that, AWS Training and Certification has a platform called Skill Builder, and they deliver. So now they deliver digital training. So I believe like AWS JAMs are held on there where you can, it’s kind of a simulation to you try to solve a challenge, you know, that we could do hands on keyboard.