The Time Has Come, the Walrus Said, to Talk of Many Things

This was nice to see on LinkedIn today from one of my re/Start learners:

🙏 A Special Word for Todd Pritsky

Todd, you are, without exaggeration, one of the most inspiring educators I have ever encountered. Your generosity in sharing knowledge, your humility despite your extraordinary expertise, you carry decades of deep, practical wisdom, yet you teach with the openness and patience of someone who remembers exactly what it feels like to learn something for the first time.

The way you delivered every class — with clarity, passion, and genuine care — didn't just teach me cloud computing. It ignited something in me. It made me think: "I want to do this too. I want to inspire others the way this man inspires me."

And so I did. Today, I am an AWS Academy Certified Educator, and I can trace that decision directly back to you. Your example gave me the courage to believe that I, too, could guide others through this incredible journey.

Todd, you are living proof that the best teachers don't just transfer knowledge — they transform lives. Thank you for being a beacon of what excellence in education looks like.

Gracias totales. 🚀☁️

I note this with some bittersweet news: the TechU program that I have been a part of my entire 7-year tenure at AWS is no more.  Yet another reorg announced today, and my team has been split apart under the Skilling and Social Impact (SSI) banner.

I'm staying with my awesome boss as part of her new SSI Learning Innovation team, where I get to apply my decades of experience not only in design and delivery of training, but also in building systems and processes to support everything across the SSI organization, including re/Start, Academy, and the Skills Centers (I've mentioned previously I taught several of their special offerings for the University of Texas at Dallas).  I'll be teaching a bit less, but doing a lot more fun things (talking about EC2 for the eleventy millionth time has gotten a bit tedious, ngl), and partnering with my former instructor teammates to make their deliveries effective in this new AI-dominated world.

Change is always scary, yet provides opportunities.  One thing in particular that I'm excited about is I am charged with making sure the tools I built and methodologies I put together for a successful pilot this summer will continue to grow, expanding to new audiences and addressing the challenges of today in ways I could only dream of when my career began way back in the 20th century.  

The SSI organization allows me to lean into who and what I am (a talkative geek) whilst doing some actual good.  Maybe not quite in the same manner or to the same degree as my work at HealthLeads or with affordable housing back in Vermont, but more fulfilling than just teaching people how to use technology to make money and increase shareholder value.

In conclusion: I still get to talk of many things that I love (and get paid to do so).

Selah.

PS - Sent that post to my boss, who responded: "One he called you old Two you are brilliant".  Then she shared it out on the SSI Slack channel, so now everybody knows I'm old.