Since 2018June 11, 2019 · Washington, D.C.

A year after AWS turned me away, I was on its keynote stage

At 10, I was the final speaker at the AWS Public Sector Summit keynote, telling the audience how AWS's age limit had turned me away.

Beside the Summit's main stage

Karthick, age 10, in a suit beside the AWS Public Sector Summit main stage, under giant white AWS letters

Backstage

Getting ready to go on

Before going on, I got mic'd up backstage and a high five in the green room. Then the host introduced me as the youngest person ever to become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, and my dad and I walked onto the stage together.

Karthick in a suit in front of an AWS mural of a city skyline that reads "aws is how" — At the Summit

Getting a microphone fitted backstage — Getting mic'd up backstage

High five in the green room — A high five in the green room

On stage

"A vast universe"

The host's first question was the one they always ask: what's cloud computing? At 10, my answer was that it's "a vast universe" where your data is stored quickly, it's fast and secure, and you can be elastic and flexible with your servers.

Then I told the audience how it started. My dad had just come back from taking an AWS certification exam, and I'd built him a website on Amazon S3 with a button that said "click here." When he clicked it, a pop-up said, "God bless you, Dad, I knew you could do it." He asked if I wanted to study for the certification too. I gave him an energetic yes.

On stage: how a website for my dad started it all

A year earlier

"Nine more years"

Then the host asked what happened at the testing center. On my first try, it turned us away, because AWS only let adults take its exams. My dad was disappointed on the way back. I wasn't:

“I told my dad I would come back here in nine more years and take the exact same test.”

On stage, at 10

The host told the audience the other half: our email had reached Andy Jassy, and AWS had since changed its policy so that people of any age can take its exams, with a parent's supervision.

How I got to take the exam

On the AWS Public Sector Summit keynote stage — On the keynote stage

What's next

Three answers

Asked what was next, I had three answers: turn the AWS DeepRacer that Andy Jassy gave me into a robot dog, take the developer exam like my dad, and run the AWS coding club I'd started at my school with my principal's approval. The host asked to help with the club, and later added, "If I could hire you today, I would."

That day, I was also interviewed on camera on the expo floor. That summer, I joined AWS's summer immersion program with its RoboMaker team, helping test and program TurtleBot robots.

That summer with AWS Robotics

Being interviewed on the expo floor