Raj Saha

Founder of | Former Principal SA @AWSCloud

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

You can vibe code the app, but you can't AI slop a community. I look forward to in person conferences more than ever.

Carlos Santana and I are presenting a talk on how to securely run Claude Code in Kubernetes, along with demo.

As much as I love having Claude draft my replies and summarize my threads, nothing replaces actually talking shop with fellow Kubernetes folks in the same room.

In two decades in IT, I've yet to see another community as strong as Kubernetes. Looking forward to hanging out with my container brothers and sisters.

👉See the schedule and get your tickets here: https://t.co/TZT5O0Cxwl

P.S. The snacks are legit!

#kubernetes #genai #claude

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

For most of my career, I believed hard work is the thing that matters. But a business doesn't pay for activity. It pays for outcomes.

I realize it more than ever now that I am leading a team at my own startup. As my mentor and friend, Ethan Evans, says - don't confuse activity for value.

He gives this example - building a home takes carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and more. But the plan comes from an architect, and the money comes from a banker or builder. Your average architect, banker, and property developer make more money than your average carpenter, plumber, and electrician.

This doesn’t necessarily seem “fair”, but that is the reality.

Your manager gets judged on what the team produces, so they back the people who produce, not the people who are simply busy.

Lots of activity is still just activity. Make sure your hard work is also effective work, the kind that drives a real outcome.

Ethan's framing changed how I evaluate my team's work. Give Ethan a follow.
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Follow my startup journey, hard-earned technical lessons, and actionable Cloud + GenAI career tips in my free newsletter: https://t.co/S89aJ9ao19

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Like Cloud Colosseum, our team is also scaling! We are looking to add the 4th full-time member to our team.

We are looking for another talented Customer Success manager (CSM).

📃Job description and salary: https://t.co/NIcoBaozW9

👉Apply here: https://t.co/wxIicpKNSi

I have newfound respect for great leaders and managers - preserving your culture with a fast growing team is a big task on itself.

If you're technical, love working with people, and want to be part of something that's genuinely changing careers, read the full JD and apply.

#genai #cloud #cloudcolosseum

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

I left AWS as Principal SA last summer, and this summer I am going back as a customer and learner at AWS Summit NYC.

I have always admired the emphasis on Learn and Be Curious Leadership Principle from Amazon. At AWS NYC Summit, you can choose from 200+ expert-led sessions, and try out the latest GEN AI solutions in hands-on workshops - all for FREE.

Dr. Swami Sivasubramanian, AWS VP of Agentic AI, is doing the keynote. If you want to know where cloud and AI are heading, that's the room to be in.

My fav part is connecting with fellow professionals to see what things they are building in their companies.

I'll be there. If you're attending, come say hello.

AWS NY Summit is happening on June 17th, at Javits Convention Center.

Register free here: https://t.co/l7L6gwJmrF

(Sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS))

#genai #aws #awssummit

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

@kunchenguid Yeah, I hate this

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

@lindavivah @OracleDevs This is such a gem - thank you for sharing, Linda

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

@richmondalake This looks amazing! But I bet there is something related to memory on that screen haha

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Ran into legend Brij kishore Pandey at an event last week. 725K+ followers, zero ego.

I introduced myself and instead of a quick handshake and move on, he stopped and we talked for over an hour.

He shared tips on what content worked for him, and then we chatted on AI trends.

Until next time! If you're not following him, fix that.

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

After launching my startup, I can confidently say that non-developers, and non-architects can't vibe code a production app. Here's why:

- App website had 150K malicious traffic in one week! Prompt injection, trying get access keys, spoof logins, DoS and more. Screenshot attached!

- Without my enterprise and public sector architecture experience, I'd not have deployed all the countermeasures beforehand.

- Gen AI is great as a coding companion only if you know what you are trying to protect against or in general perform tasks. If you don't know, it's hard to ask for it.

Lastly, I am biased, but AWS native security tools are quite good. I am using WAF, Shield, Cognito, Guardduty, Inspector, and a few custom techniques I picked up throughout my career.

I have many such example in security, cost, performance optimization, and other well-architected pillars.

Gen AI is Shadowfax, but YOU are Gandalf!
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Subscribe to my free newsletter to get real-world system design, Cloud Gen AI interview questions, and career switch steps: https://t.co/RY8itOdeVE

#genai #startuplife

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Excited to talk and show how to run Claude Code Multi Agents inside real Kubernetes clusters.

Thanks to the terrible weather over the weekend, Carlos Santana and I, locked ourselves in and finished end to end demo to show y'all.

If you are attending, come say hi. This is a jam packed event, worth attending.

👉Buy your ticket here: https://t.co/TZT5O0Cxwl

#claude #kubernetes #genai

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Cloud Colosseum is growing, and we're looking for a Customer Success Manager to join the team.

You'd be the third full time hire on a small, focused team. Which means real ownership, not a ticket queue.

We're cash positive with 18+ months of runway post-launch. Come grow with us.

If you're technical, love working with people, and want to be part of something that's genuinely changing careers, read the full JD and apply below.

👉 https://t.co/o5U0BRRL9b

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

ChatGPT and Claude are cool, but enterprises deploy workloads in GPU themselves. It’s brittle, and prone to failure.

To deploy a workload into GPU, you need to:

Write handler code
Build Docker images
Spin up endpoints
Debug infra before you even touch your model

And none of that has anything to do with the actual problem you were trying to solve.

What if there is a way to go from local Python code → GPU endpoint… without touching infra.

Runpod Flash just solved this:

✅ You define your workload in Python, decorate it, and it runs on GPU. No separate infra setup.
✅ Spin up on-demand what you need (from smaller GPUs to H100s), run the workload, and shut it down
✅ This is the best part - pay for what you use! No more expensive GPU reservation.
✅ No docker or container management
✅ Supports training, fine tuning, or running inference at scale

I love the serverless approach of running AI workload. You can also mix hardware in a single workflow - run preprocessing on a cheap CPU worker, route inference to an H100. That used to require significant orchestration.

👉 Try this out: https://t.co/daufAFipp0

Thank you Runpod for partnering with me on this post.

#GenAI #GPU #serverless

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Yesterday, I watched students use a product I built from scratch. It’s a surreal feeling!

I built Cloud Colosseum - a platform for real-world hands-on learning!

It has three pillars - challenges, leaderboard, and world’s first player vs player cloud combat.

Pillar 1 - Challenges

Hands-on challenges important for interviews and projects. Example - build a three tier architecture, then scale it, make it highly available, then secure it, then use a custom domain etc.

Same for Gen AI - your agents don't run in vacuum. They need to get deployed on the cloud with observability, security, and scalability. In Cloud Colosseum, you build all that.

After each challenge, we show you relevant interview topics related to the hands-on you just did. As well as Github, and LinkedIn posts!

All challenges are sorted by weeks, based on the material we cover in live classes, so you stay accountable!

Pillar 2 - Leaderboard (Patent Pending)

This is the world's first leaderboard that actually evaluates what you are doing inside the AWS account, and shows where you can improve.

You also get badges and certs as you complete challenge tasks! And some fun custom emojis!

Pillar 3 - Player-vs-Player Duel! (Patent Pending)

This is an ode to all the video games I played growing up - Starcraft 2, Age of Empires, World of Warcraft.

Combat against other SA Bootcampers on actual challenges with realtime scores. I can also spectate and do commentary!

This was crazy chaotic fun in beta testing!

🚀Cloud Colosseum is now a part of the SA Bootcamp!

Blown away by the great reception yesterday. 70 people enrolled during the release launch out of 100 seats 🙏. It has not even been 24 hours.

I left Amazon to build this. I took my shot. Onwards and upwards 🙌🚀

Check Out Cloud Colosseum: https://t.co/mDsiTtGO5O

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Say what you will, but excel > numbers

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

@petergyang 100% - temple of iron shapes you mentally and physically. LFG

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

“Close your eyes while answering.” That’s what an interviewer told a candidate to prevent Gen AI cheating.

Sounds extreme? Maybe. But it signals something much bigger.

Interview patterns are already changing:

❌Fewer “What is X?” questions.

Because with AI agents, information is cheap. Knowing definitions is no longer a differentiator.

✅More system design deep dives.

Why you made those choices, the tradeoffs, and how it scales in the real world. More importantly, can you communicate it clearly?

✅How you use Gen AI in real projects

Can you decide when it’s wrong? Can you demonstrate how you augment your thinking to Gen AI?

Do you know Gen AI with real-world factors such as running on cloud, security, cost optimization etc.?

✅Leadership over knowledge recall

Driving teams, influencing decisions, and resolving conflicts. Behavioral and executive communication becomes more important than ever.

That's what I've been building toward. Tomorrow, I'm announcing something I've been working on for a long time.

👉If you're serious about switching your career to cloud and Gen AI, waitlist at https://t.co/hbROdcP1vi. Cohort 8 launches Sat with a live webinar!

Here’s what you get when you show up LIVE:

▶My exclusive Solutions Architect framework to prep you for today's job market!

▶Full bootcamp details, Cloud and Gen AI curriculum, my new stealth product reveal to help you prepare better, AND a special offer for live participants only.

▶You will have the chance to interact with me and ask questions.

And good news - it already worked for last cohort's students who secured cloud jobs in top companies, including at AWS, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, JPMorgan, Reddit, and more 💰.

See you there!

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Did you know that even Anthropic is operating at a loss, because running Gen AI is EXPENSIVE!

But companies are not going to stop utilizing Gen AI. So what gives?

My prediction is that, more unique Gen AI cost optimization will come into play:

- Switch from LLM (Large Language Model) to SLM (Small Language Model). LLM is overkill for most tasks. We are seeing SLM specializing in certain tasks are emerging. These SLMs are so small that they can run on the edge

- Usage of Semantic Caching will go up. Semantic caching can understand the intent and don’t rely on 100% match on the actual words. When intent is matched, the answer is returned without hitting the LLM

- Memory prices are crazy. We are seeing, even for short-term memory, a shift to low-cost object storage. I believe we will sacrifice some speed for cost optimization

- Training will be on GPU, but inference will switch more to general compute. We are already seeing rise of ONNX models

- Last but not least, I hope electricity charges come down. Either supply needs to increase (nuclear? more solar?), or consumption needs to go down.

Question to readers - What’s your theory about sustainable Gen AI consumption?
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If you are mid career IT professional looking to switch career to Cloud and Gen AI, attend the free launch workshop of Cohort 8 of SA Bootcamp this Saturday: https://t.co/hbROdcP1vi

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

Ran into the legend Kunal Kushwaha at an event in the Bay Area. He is wise beyond his years.

He generously shared his time and tips on arranging hackathons, and building community.

Until next time 🙌

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

One limiting belief I used to have is I thought everyone working in cutting edge tech must be smarter than me.

When I was writing code in COBOL, I thought those people working in the cloud must be way smarter, and I surely didn't deserve to be there. That kept me stuck for a decade.

After switching to the Cloud team at Verizon, I thought those people working in Big Tech must be doing rocket science - who am I to even try.

Then I got into AWS. Even became L7 Principal. And I realized two things that changed how I approach harder things:

- A passionate fool can beat a distracted genius. I just kept chopping the tree at the same spot until it went down, beating others with sharper axes who were all over the place.

- There are people across the entire smartness band in every technology and every company. Sometimes it's about being in the right place at the right time.

I tell my students the same - don't lose the fight before it even starts. Unless you're literally designing rockets or doing PhD-level quant work, you always have a fighting chance.

I used to think the same about starting a company and having employees. And I have to do what I preach.

I'm releasing my startup this Saturday. It might succeed, it might fail. One thing is certain - I'll keep chopping.

#startup #cloud #keepchopping

[Raj Saha @cloudwithraj]

@kunalstwt @OracleDevs @techgirl1908 It was great to meet you and others 🙌