My presentation as an engineer started with raising a question for myself, and what I learned from it

Hello,
I'm Teraoka, an infrastructure engineer.

Recently, I have been speaking at more study groups and seminars outside my company.
I often see articles online saying, "If you're an engineer, you should speak at these events!" But
I, too, have come to think, "It's precisely because I'm an engineer that I should speak at these events!"

This time, I would like to summarize, without including any technical elements, what motivated me to start speaking at events, starting with "raising questions for myself" and then going on
to what I have learned from actually speaking at events.

Events attended so far

So where have you spoken at in the first place? We've compiled a list below.
You may have actually attended some of them.

The materials used in the presentation have been compiled on SpeakerDeck, so please take a look!
Presentation Materials | SpeakerDeck

[Osaka] Seminar sponsored by SB Cloud Co., Ltd. “Cloud Utilization Seminar for Practicing Inbound Marketing for Chinese Visitors to Japan”

At a seminar hosted by
SB Cloud, we spoke about the construction example of Edison , a reservation system operated by our company

Edison uses
Alibaba Cloud during the seminar we explained the cloud infrastructure, including some technical details.

[Osaka] Seminar sponsored by SB Cloud Co., Ltd. “Cloud Utilization Seminar for Practicing Inbound Marketing for Chinese Visitors to Japan”

[Osaka] Alibaba Cloud in Osaka #3

At the Alibaba Cloud user meeting,
I introduced a service called CloudMonitor

As an MSP, server operation is the most important task, so
I would like to actively use this type of service!

[Osaka] Alibaba Cloud in Osaka #3 | connpass

Practitioners talk about real multi-cloud ~AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle Cloud~

We also visited an event hosted by Oracle Corporation Japan!

The presentation focused on "multi-cloud" and

discussed how to connect from an AWS EC2 instance to an Autonomous Database in a multi-cloud environment that utilizes Oracle Cloud 's Autonomous Database

The materials used here are also uploaded to SpeakerDeck, and they have the most views (the response is amazing!)

Practitioners talk about the real world of multi-cloud: AWS, Azure, GCP, and Oracle Cloud | connpass

Mackerel UG Kansai Branch Meetup #1

This was the first event since the launch of the Kansai branch of
the Mackerel I participated in the LT slot, and introduced how Mackerel can also be configured using Terraform

Mackerel UG Kansai Branch Meetup #1 | connpass

[Osaka] Alibaba Cloud in Osaka #4 "First time held in Namba" "DataV Hands-on"

This was my second time speaking at the Alibaba Cloud User Conference!
This time, I talked entirely about Terraform, and introduced examples of how Alibaba Cloud uses Terraform.

[Osaka] Alibaba Cloud in Osaka #4 "First time held in Namba" "DataV Hands-on" | connpass

[Kyoto] GCPUG Kyoto #2 [GCP]

This was my first time speaking at a GCP user conference!
The topic was containers and Kubernetes, and GCP offers a service called Google Kubernetes Engine

During the presentation, we introduced a vulnerability assessment server built by combining Vuls

[Kyoto] GCPUG Kyoto #2 [GCP] | connpass

[Osaka] GCPUG Osaka #10 ~ Multi-Cloud Day ~ [Co-hosted by 3 clouds]

It was a very valuable event co-hosted by three clouds (GCP/Alibaba Cloud/Oracle Cloud)!

As the event was co-hosted by the three clouds, the topic inevitably became multi-cloud, but since all of them were supported by Terraform,
we introduced how to build infrastructure using the three clouds with Terraform, including actual code.

[Osaka] GCPUG Osaka #10 ~ Multi-Cloud Day ~ [Co-hosted by 3 clouds] | connpass

In fact, it was even featured in the media

Although I haven't had many opportunities to speak at these events, I have given these talks.
In particular, the event "Real Multi-Cloud: AWS, Azure, GCP, and Oracle Cloud" hosted by Oracle Corporation Japan, which
was covered by CloudWatch, generated a great response.

The goal is to combine the best of leading services! The current state of companies embracing multi-cloud | CloudWatch

I will continue to speak at these events in the future, so please say hello if you see me!

Raising questions about oneself

My first time speaking on stage was around November 2018.
Before that, I had never done it, and had never wanted to.

At the time, I had been working at the company for over two years as a new graduate and had become accustomed to my job, but I
was also in a period of self-reflection, and in the process I raised some issues.

I got used to my job, for better or worse

When I first joined the company, I was busy learning the job, but
after two years, I was able to do more and was given more responsibilities,
and I gradually became able to work at my own pace.

That's a good thing, but on the other hand, I became satisfied with the situation and stopped taking on new challenges and initiatives, which meant I was
losing my passion and motivation for my work.

There was nothing particularly stimulating about it, and I just did the work I was given.
Before I knew it, my work had gone from being "fun" to "boring."

Concerns about one's future career

When I lost motivation for my work, I suddenly began to feel anxious about my future career.
The career I'm talking about here doesn't refer to internal evaluations or promotions, but rather to
my "personal career" - what I want to do and accomplish in the future. This
is because I believe that "a career isn't something that's left up to the company, but something that you take action on your own and build up."

I felt a gap between my lack of motivation and the career I envisioned,
and this naturally turned into anxiety, wondering, "Is this really okay?"

What motivated me to start speaking at events?

There's no point in just raising issues, and nothing will change.
I also believe that growth as a member of society is impossible without personal transformation.
I decided that "I have to change," and I took action.

At our company, we have a one-on-one meeting with our superiors every six months, where I expressed my desire to give presentations outside the company.
I offered to do so because I thought, "I've never done it before, but I'm sure it will be necessary in the future," and
the opportunity came along very quickly. That kind of speed is impressive!
This is what led me to give presentations, and there are a few things I keep in mind.

Be aware of the output

Of course, inputting information is important, but
simply memorizing it as knowledge means you won't be able to put it into practice when the time comes.
Output is "organizing the inputted information and putting it into a usable form," and
when I give presentations, I try to keep that in mind when creating materials.

To continue

There's a saying that "persistence is power," and I think that's really true.
You can only learn something by continuing to do it, and if you stop halfway through, you'll forget.
Right now, I'm giving talks once a month, but I'd like to continue doing it at an increased pace in the future.

Connecting to a career

My own career goal is to become a "technical evangelist,"
which means that presentations at events will be the core of my work,
helping me to bridge the gap between my current situation and the career I envision.

What I gained from speaking at the event

My network of people outside the company has expanded

I have the opportunity to talk with people from my company every time I come to work, but I
don't have the opportunity to talk with people who work in the same industry outside my company unless I make the effort to connect with them.
Work cannot exist solely on oneself or within one company; it depends on others, so
I think it's important to value relationships, especially with people and other companies.

Speaking on stage allows you to expand your "network of people," and
depending on the response, others may come to connect with you, so
it's a great way to "increase connections."

I was able to increase my market value

Increasing your connections means that more people will know about you.
No matter how amazing your techniques or skills are, they are meaningless if people don't remember them.
In my case, I try to make people remember me by my Twitter account name, icon image, and nickname.
Recently, more and more people have started calling me by my nickname, "Mouse's House," and
I'm happy that they like and retweet my materials to help spread the word!

My speaking/communication skills have improved dramatically

This is probably the biggest benefit.
After all, speaking in front of a large number of people improves your speaking and communication skills.
I used to be someone who wasn't good at talking, but
recently people have been telling me things like "You seem calm" and "You seem stable," so
I feel that continuing to speak on stage is paying off.

This is also useful for work other than speaking.
Whether you're speaking to internal colleagues or external customers, it's unlikely that you'll never speak at all at work.
Speaking and communicating is the basis of communication,
and being good at it can completely change the impression you make on others.

from now on

I will be speaking in Osaka and Tokyo next month (July)!

Cloud Native Kansai #04

[Event appearance] Engineer Teraoka will be speaking at "Cloud Native Kansai #04"

Google Cloud Next '19 in Tokyo

In 2019, we will also be exhibiting at "Google Cloud Next '19 in Tokyo" and Teraoka from the System Solutions Department will be on stage as a speaker.

If you have time, please come and see it!!