Everything from the talk, in one place. You do not need all of it. Create an AWS Builder ID, pick one learning path, and build one thing. The rest is here for when you need it.
Create your AWS Builder ID. It is free, it takes two minutes, and every other link on this page hangs off it — including student verification.
Go to AWS Builder CenterThese are the five things a cloud journey needs: somewhere to learn, somewhere to build, people to build with, somewhere to show the work, and something to validate it. Everything else is detail.
One direction, one project. Ninety days from the launch is 20 November 2026.
At day 90 you have: knowledge, one finished project, a GitHub, a community, and a direction. That is enough to start an internship conversation.
Seven things, in this order, before the next AWS SBG UCC meetup. Tick them off as you go — this page remembers.
AWS has committed more than $500 million in resources to student cloud and AI training, through a Student Rewards programme on AWS Builder Center. Verified university students can access up to $579 in resources — but read the third column, because only the first row arrives immediately.
| Value | What it is | How you get it | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months | AWS Skill Builder Premium$449 value — 900+ courses, labs, exam prep, game-based learning | Verify your student status and complete your Builder Center profile | IMMEDIATE |
| $30 | AWS creditsPaid in two tranches | Earned at badge milestones — $10 at 7 badges, $20 at 14 badges | EARNED |
| $100 | Certification exam voucherAn AWS Foundational Certification exam | Earned at 21 badges | EARNED |
The detail that matters: open to university students aged 18 or over. Enrolment is verified through SheerID inside AWS Builder Center, and most verifications complete in minutes. Badges are earned through activity on Builder Center — publishing articles, commenting, staying active — so the $130 above is a reward for participating, not a welcome pack. AWS states the programme is open to students worldwide; country-level eligibility is settled at verification, so try it and see. Figures are as announced on 20 August 2026 — check builder.aws.com/student-rewards for current terms before you rely on them.
The 12 Weeks AWS Workshop Challenge, associated with Prasad Rao, runs through these twelve topics in order — roughly two to six hours a week. Even if no cohort is running, the sequence works perfectly well as a personal syllabus, which is the most useful thing about it.
Learn. Build. Break. Fix. Share. Repeat.
AWS Student Builder Groups are student-led communities at universities in more than 60 countries. From tonight, UCC is one of them.