Facilities Specialist → Cloud Engineer

I'm making the transition from managing physical infrastructure to managing cloud infrastructure. After 10+ years running operations, logistics, and vendor management for a 230-person office, I'm applying that same "keep the lights on" mindset to AWS environments — and documenting the whole journey publicly.

For a decade, my job has been uptime: making sure people have the space, tools, and resources to do their work without interruption. Turns out that's the same job as a cloud engineer — just with EC2 instances instead of office space, and VPCs instead of floor plans.

I'm formalizing that instinct with hands-on cloud skills, certifications, and real projects.

• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner — foundational cert, completed
• Learn to Cloud (L2C) program — currently in Phase 2 of 7, covering Linux, networking, Python, cloud deployment, DevOps tooling, and security
• Hands-on AWS experience — EC2 provisioning, VPC design, and EC2 User Data scripting to automate Apache installs and web page deployment
• Studying for AWS Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) using Adrian Cantrill's and Stephane Maarek's courses
• Published technical writing — a VPC walkthrough and ongoing cloud concept breakdowns on my blogfolio
• "Clout Out Loud" — a documentary-style content series on LinkedIn chronicling this Facilities-to-Cloud journey, mapped week-by-week to my AWS study notes

I'm working toward two portfolio projects to demonstrate applied skills before I start applying for junior cloud engineering roles:

• Infrastructure project — provisioning and networking-focused (VPC architecture, EC2, IAM, automation)
• Application-layer project — deploying and running an application on cloud infrastructure

Target: job-ready and applying by August.

AWS (EC2, VPC, IAM) · Linux · Python · Git/GitHub · Networking Fundamentals · DevOps Tooling

10 years in Facilities Operations — uptime, vendor management, resource allocation, and infrastructure logistics for a large NYC office. That background in keeping physical systems running reliably is exactly the mindset I bring to cloud infrastructure.

• Blogfolio: [https://hashnode.com/@cloudoutloud]
• LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/naquanwilliams/ — follow along with "Clout Out Loud"]

Following along? This repo (and the LinkedIn series) will keep updating as I move through certs, projects, and eventually — the job hunt itself.