Hiroko Nishimura's Blog

Every person I confided in that this was my first ever in-person tech talk was astounded that this could possibly be my first tech talk, when I’ve been a teeny tiny “tech influencer” for most of a decade, and an AWS Hero for half a decade. But yes, yes, it’s true. I had never given an in-person tech talk!

So this October, I finally took the leap to give my first ever in-person tech talk at AWS DMV Community Day in AWS HQ2 in Virginia.

Why no tech talk until now?

One of the biggest r...

It’s only mid-November, but I’m beginning to get ready for AWS re:Invent in 2 weeks! Starting with packing lists and things to think about. I hope this post might help you begin thinking about what to pack and things to do to prepare! (There are some Amazon Affiliate links to products that I use and love in this post!)

I know everyone thinks about the “normal” stuff like clothing and charging blocks, so here are some stuff I’ve recently started bringing on all of my trips.

Packing List...

This August, I attended my first Global AWS Heroes Summit in Seattle, just in time to enjoy the tail end of some gorgeous weather. I’m not really here to talk about the discussions and presentations, because the whole post will just be a mass of [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] like a file released from the NSA.

Rather, I want to talk about the energy, the people, the sense of being part of something big.

AWS Heroes Program

The AWS Heroes Program is a bit shrouded in mystery. There are...

Some day in the spring, my second baby stopped breastfeeding. One day, he said, “Nah, I’m good, ma,” and that was that.

I had expected it to be a battle like many of my friends had described, where it was the battle of wills, buckets of tears, and potentially few choice graffitis on choice body parts.

But no. He suckled for a few seconds, shrugged, and that was that. He stopped, and never asked for a feeding again. What a bittersweet moment. Breastfeeding was both extremely excruciatingly ...

Writing with aphasia
Is like reading a book
With words blurred out
Here and there
I hunt and hunt for the perfect word
But sometimes I never find the one
I’m looking for
I leave … (space) … to come back to fill later
But sometimes I just … can’t find … that word
It’s lost in the darkness
Rattling around at the bottom of the well
That is my subconscious
I wish all of my lost words
Would return to me
I’ve been hunting for them for
Over a decade
But for now
I shake my head;
Left and right
Left and right
And hope the ...

Are you considering taking the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02), but not sure where to begin? When I first began studying for this exam, I was completely overwhelmed, feeling like I was staring into a black box, unable to distinguish one service name from another. Amazon S3? Amazon EC2? Amazon Aurora? Amazon DynamoDB? They were all Greek… cloud-speak to me!

My sense of panic only got worse as I spent weeks attempting to memorize different product categories, services, and fram...

This post summarizes the podcast titled “ADHD and Dyslexia” in the series “Training on ADHD in Children and Adults” by Pocket MD. Pocket MD is a podcast hosted by CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder).

“ADHD and Dyslexia” (PD4457R-031525O)What is Dyslexia?Dyslexia: language-based learning disorder affecting phonological processing, word processing, spelling, reading comprehension, but not related to intelligence, hearing issues, or vocabularySpel...

This post summarizes the podcast titled “ADHD and Learning Disorders” in the series “Training on ADHD in Children and Adults” by Pocket MD. Pocket MD is a podcast hosted by CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). It’s free continuing education (CE) credit course accredited by ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC.

“ADHD and Learning Disorders” (PD4457R-020125N )Learning Disorders and Learning DisabilitiesSpecific Learning Disorders: unanticipated difficulties inclu...

I was a “strive to be Straight A student.” I say strive to be, because in reality, I was a “mostly A’s, but a B’s here and there” student.

In short, I was a failing perfectionist. And that’s its own kind of disaster. You want to be perfect, but you aren’t, so you’re always failing because only 100% is acceptable. You never achieve “good enough” because “good enough” doesn’t exist; just perfection. And you are never perfect. What a way to live!

This post was originally published on Hiroko’s...

It’s 8:30 am on a Sunday, and I just rushed the husband and 2 babies out of the door into the car for them to visit their yéye (grandpa)’s house. I came back into the house, sighed, and sat down at my computer with a cup of coffee my husband brewed for me first thing in the morning.

As always, the morning was rowdy and energetic with a 2 year old and an infant who just gained mobility.

This post was originally published on Hiroko’s Words, a Substack Newsletter I have been writing since end...