Valencia College AWS Workshop Deploying Your First Serverless Function

Workshop Success at Valencia College: Deploying a Serverless Lambda Function

Recently, I had the exciting opportunity to give my first-ever workshop at Valencia College during the AWS Hackathon. As someone who already had three AWS certifications under my belt, I wanted to help others get up to speed with cloud technologies, especially in the fast-paced environment of a hackathon.

In the middle of the AWS boot camp and the hackathon, I decided to step up and organize a workshop to give participants a head start. My goal was simple: get everyone ramped up and comfortable deploying their first serverless function. The turnout was amazing, with students eager to dive into the world of AWS, and we even had attendees from Orange County Public Schools—it was awesome to see such a diverse group coming together to learn!

Building a Serverless Function with Generative AI

For the workshop, I wanted to create something hands-on and practical, so I designed it around building a serverless Lambda function integrated with an API Gateway. We took it a step further by incorporating OpenAI generative AI to build a fun, engaging project: a function that generates personalized birthday messages.

Watching everyone work through the process of deploying their first serverless function was incredibly rewarding. I walked them through the setup, from creating the API Gateway to writing the Lambda code, and we even explored how to use OpenAI to enhance the functionality. By the end of the session, participants were successfully generating creative birthday messages from their very own serverless applications!

A Great Turnout and a Memorable Experience

The workshop was a huge success, with great energy and enthusiasm from everyone involved. What made it even more special was seeing how participants from all levels of experience came together to build something in just a short amount of time. The fact that people from outside the college, like Orange County Public Schools, came to learn and engage in the workshop made it even more exciting.

For me, this was a memorable experience, not just because it was my first workshop, but because I was able to help others unlock the power of AWS and serverless technology. Watching students deploy their first Lambda functions was a reminder of why I love working in tech and sharing knowledge with others.

Looking Forward

Giving this workshop at Valencia College was a great start to what I hope will be many more opportunities to share and teach. The positive feedback from participants and the success of the workshop reaffirmed that hands-on, practical learning experiences are incredibly valuable.

I’m grateful to everyone who attended and made this event a success, and I’m excited to see what the students and participants will build next. Here’s to more workshops, more learning, and more innovation!