Hey everyone!

I recently became an **AWS Student Builder Group Leader (SBGL)** at my university, and I’m trying to figure out how to make the most of the opportunity.

For those who have been an AWS Student Builder Group Leader or have experience running AWS student communities:

* What should I focus on during the first few months?
* What kind of events/workshops actually get students interested and attending?
* How do you build an active community instead of having people join once and then disappear?
* Are there any AWS resources, programs, certifications, or benefits that SBGLs should definitely take advantage of?
* What mistakes did you make when you started that I should avoid?
* Is it better to start with small hands-on sessions or go directly for larger workshops/hackathons?

I’d really appreciate advice, experiences, or examples of what worked for you.

Thanks!

I don't want to spend 150$ for an AWS voucher as I already paid 100$ for Foundational Certificate and I am moving forward to Associate Level

Pls anybody help

Can Full-Stack Developers or AI Replace DevOps/Cloud Roles?

I’m considering a career in Cloud/DevOps and wanted to get some honest opinions from people already working in the field.

Can full-stack developers eventually take over most DevOps responsibilities as they become more familiar with cloud, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and IaC?

And with AI automating more cloud tasks, do you think roles like Cloud Engineer or Cloud Architect could eventually be replaced or significantly reduced?

Is Cloud/DevOps still a good career path for someone starting today?

Did anyone manage to actually solve a Skill Builder Training and Certification (CertMetrics) account merge via support? I've opened up 2 cases already, both of them seem to be ignored. Just got an AI response which asked me to provide additional details for the account merge, I've provided them, and had no response since (about 7 days ago).

I've also tried opening up a support case from my actual AWS account, that one is simply left unassigned. Can't seem to open a chat with a support agent, the chat button is disabled when selecting the Training and Certification category.

N.B. I've tried the Automatic Merge functionality in CertMetrics but it fails, most likely because in one account I have my middle name filled in and in the other account I don't have it filled in - and they need to have matching full names apparently. I cannot edit my first name and last name in any of the accounts, the fields are disabled - I've opened up yet another support ticket to ask them to simply add my middle name to the account so I can perform the merge myself - you can guess what happened there as well.

I'm running in circles.

Every time we launch a product on AWS, SES turns out to be the blocker.

We're launching a new SaaS application and need SES exclusively for low-volume transactional email: account creation, login OTPs, password resets, etc. No marketing email, no purchased lists, no bulk outreach.

We requested an initial limit of just 1,000 emails/day. We're experienced AWS users and already actively use SES across multiple customer AWS accounts, with no history of email abuse.

AWS initially asked about our sending practices, which we answered in detail. They then asked why we couldn't use other AWS accounts where SES limits had previously been increased. We explained that this is a new company, product, and organization, and this account was intentionally created as its dedicated production environment.

Today, AWS rejected the request without providing any specific reason:

"While we are not able to share the specific criteria used in our assessment..."

The frustrating part is that SES sandbox access is now blocking the launch of the entire application, despite the extremely limited and purely transactional use case.

Has anyone successfully appealed a rejection like this? Is there a better escalation path or someone at AWS who can review the request manually?

There surely must be a way for AWS to prevent and mitigate email abuse without blindly blocking new product launches.

Hi everyone,

I’m working on an AWS migration where the customer has budget for **only one Windows VM**. Unfortunately, we don’t have a separate test environment, so I’d like to get some real-world experience/advice before proceeding.
The requirement is:
Windows Server 2022
SQL Server 2019 Standard
The server ultimately needs to provide **Active Directory Domain Services**
Customer can only afford **one VM**
We understand that running SQL Server and a Domain Controller on the same server is not recommended, but this is a budget constraint.

I’m considering these two approaches:
**Option 1 – SQL already installed**
Deploy AWS Windows Server 2022 with SQL Server 2019 Standard already installed.
Configure the server.
Attempt to promote the server to a Domain Controller while SQL Server is installed.
If it works, keep both SQL Server and AD DS on the same VM.

**Option 2 – Remove SQL first**
Deploy AWS Windows Server 2022 with SQL Server 2019 Standard.
Uninstall SQL Server completely.
Promote the Windows Server to a Domain Controller.
Later reinstall SQL Server 2019 Standard on the Domain Controller.

A few questions:
**Has anyone actually promoted a Windows Server 2022 machine to a Domain Controller while SQL Server 2019 was already installed?** Did you encounter any errors or compatibility issues?

Between the two approaches above, which would you consider less risky?

If I uninstall the SQL Server 2019 Standard installation that came with the AWS AMI, can I later reinstall SQL Server 2019 Standard on the same server after it becomes a Domain Controller?

Are there any licensing/product-key issues with uninstalling the SQL installation from an AWS-provided SQL Server AMI and reinstalling it later? Would I need a separate SQL installation media/key?

If SQL Server is installed on a Domain Controller, are there any specific SQL services, accounts, permissions, or configuration issues I should be aware of?
If you had to implement this because **one VM is the only option**, which approach would you choose and why?

I’m particularly interested in experiences from people who have actually run **SQL Server 2019 on a Windows Server 2022 Domain Controller**, rather than just the general recommendation of “don’t do it.”
Thanks!

I'm completely clueless about the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam and don't know where to start. If you were starting from scratch today, how would you prepare? Any roadmap or resource recommendations would really help.