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P.S - The question posted here does not answer mine due to the following reasons :-

  1. I am not a new joiner. I had 2 years prior experience, and 8 months in the current company (as of posting my question)
  2. I am bored not because I have boring work, but because I barely have any work
  3. I cannot discuss with my manager to ask for more work, as I get projects based on a pool of projects, and my manager is handling those project pools
  4. If I pressurize more, my manager may give me support projects or assign me more tasks that I can handle.
  5. I need to showcase my work accomplishments to future potential recruiters, and it is not easy to get a salary hike without it. =============================================================

Recently I joined an service based MNC in India, and it has been around 8 months. I was hyper excited, and actually left several startups because this MNC, because they told me that they (the MNC) would provide training in AWS (Amazon Web Services).

Before that, I was in a different startup, and had no clue of AWS. And I was very excited to learn a cloud , and so, when I got this opportunity, I jumped instantly, and ignored other startups, even when those startups (some of them well-established) were willing to pay more than what this MNC offered.

Now, I have the CCP (the base level) AWS certification, and am preparing for Developer Associate level certification. However, it has been 8 months in the MNC, and I barely got any work. I must have worked for only 8 hours in total, in those 8 months. I have been alloted as a developer. Even then I barely get work.

I search for Work-Life Balance in a company, but I was not expecting No work. I want to work at least 4-5 hours (assuming that is the effective working hours of a company in general) and learn.

Had it been a programming language, I would have filled GitHub with side projects, and even tried LeetCode. But, I want to do LeetCode, along with AWS, as AWS is also something I am very interested in (any cloud will do , but I am into AWS right now).

I want to know :-

How to stay relevant in AWS ?

How to showcase my work to potential employers while trying to switch, on AWS?

How to proceed now?

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  • Are you saying that the big company you work for is not giving you any work, but is still paying you a salary? Have you asked for work? Mar 8 at 14:44
  • @DJClayworth Yep. They are barely giving me any work. I am like a Shadow Team member. Despite showcasing my interest and ability to work, they are keeping me in constant training loop, even when having me allotted to a project. And they pay me my salary. I asked for work, but I get no reply either from Project Manager or Supervisor (team lead)
    – Asish
    Mar 8 at 14:49
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    So they are paying you a salary and you are spending all your time learning AWS? Is that learning taking up all your working hours? That sounds like many people's dream job. They are essentially paying you a salary to learn. Have you asked how long they are intending for you to be in training before you are ready to do work? Mar 8 at 15:01
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    Does this answer your question? Started a new job, getting bored regularly Mar 8 at 15:08
  • @DJClayworth There is a difference between learning a new skill, and building a new skill. I have already completed the learning part. The good part is, I was not overloaded with work, when I completed my first certification. But gathering certifications without field experience has actually negative value. And that scares me. Had it been a brand new skill, things would be different
    – Asish
    Mar 8 at 15:19

1 Answer 1

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As I understand this, your company is paying you to get certifications and training in AWS (and possibly other things). However they are giving you very little actual work to do, and you have "free time" during work hours when you are neither working nor training.

Here is what you should do.

  1. Keep doing as much training as possible. Being paid to get training in a technology you are interested in and want to work in is very valuable. Many people would love to have a job where they were paid to learn. While it is good to have real world experience, training is also valuable - and it is often difficult to get without paying for it yourself. Make the most of this opportunity.
  2. Tell your manager that you do not have enough work to do. It's your job to let them know that. It is possible that this may result in you getting work not related to AWS, or even work that you don't like very much, but that doesn't matter. Do the work he assigns you. If they want you to keep doing training, do that.
  3. If you really have free time where you are doing nothing, work on some personal projects using AWS, or better yet projects that might be helpful to the company but which you haven't been asked to do. If your manager has literally no work for you to do, suggest to him projects you might work on. This shows initiative.
  4. If you find you are not getting AWS work, which is what you really want, start looking for other jobs which use AWS. It's true that without AWS practical experience some jobs will not be open to you, but some will be. You may not get a salary hike in the new job, but that's not important right now. Instead find a job that gives you the experience you want. Then when you have the experience you can look for a better paying job.

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