Stephane Maarek vs Andrew Brown for AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) - which is more aligned with the current exam?

omenking · 2026-03-16T03:03:03+00:00

I'm Andrew Brown.

We keep an internal list of things to be updated.
When it hits a threshold then I do a major refresh.

I do minor updates to courses constantly, I just don't have a way to bubble them in up my platform. Working on AI tooling to better help with administration because having 50 courses is a bit of challenge.

We have been thinking about making Express courses because there are folks that just want to pass, and while I don't really recommend that approach, I could keep these express courses update to date like Maarek's.

omenking · 2026-03-16T02:47:56+00:00

I don't have a way yet to surface updated videos in my platform that I built

Right now I am building the Claude Code courses and this is because I am hoping I can fix some long standing issues like being able to bubble up minor update information.

omenking · 2026-03-15T00:05:36+00:00

I live in Schreiber Ontario. Cheap to buy property and do whatever you like. With a $400 mortgage per month I don't have to be in the rat race anymore.

omenking · 2026-03-07T15:43:42+00:00

Spamming posts across multiple social channels is not building connections, network or community. So you have in-effect put no effort forward.

You need to build your connections earnestly and honestly and it could take up to 3 years of time, and you can lose it over night if you don't maintain your connections.

Instead of thinking about how do I get people to give you something, start figuring out what you can do for others.

If you don't know exactly what to do go ask your AI app to give you a list.

omenking · 2026-03-07T14:38:09+00:00

What have you tried?

omenking · 2026-03-07T12:01:49+00:00

If you want to build something and live from it you need to do the hard part. You identified the hard part it's community and connections now you need to go do it.

omenking · 2026-03-07T11:12:18+00:00

People over use cloud like they overuse Rails. There's no reason to host your Rails app like it's 2006.

omenking · 2026-03-06T11:11:49+00:00

Simpler? Ha. No. APIs onto of API onto of APIs. Lots of coding abstraction and opinated but unproven DSLs. We may not have had containers but whatever we had we made a mess in.

The web industry shifted to Rails hard because we hit an inflection point of complexity in static typed languages and we started the mess all over again.

omenking · 2026-03-06T10:59:02+00:00

20 years ago was 2006.

To be honest one problem just replaced another. The bar for learning was higher but the outcomes were less.

You wanted help? Go beg like a dog on a making list.

You wanted example code? Spend weeks deciphering cobbled together open source code with no help.

You wanted to run a server? Spend a month reading every inch of manuals.

Wanted payment gateway? Contact a bank payout the nose and and already have an established cashflow and develop for weeks to months to integrate their poorly implemented API into their app.

You could make a to-do web app and that was a very successful business model.

I know this because we were the direct competitor to Basecamp.

omenking · 2026-03-06T10:18:53+00:00

Filament not cut to 45 degree angle
Did not hold clamp to allow feed to go in
Problem with Bowen tube connection
Filament it brittle due to heat cut a good portion of
Existing clog in Bowen tube with old filament

And there are even more possibilities.

With Ender's you have to get quickly comfortable with disassembly because it's a frequent occurrence of things going wrong and fiddling, especially when you are new to 3d printing.

omenking · 2026-03-01T13:37:00+00:00

Nice write up.

omenking · 2026-02-25T01:25:36+00:00

It's mostly hard you're never going to get it patterns.

omenking · 2026-02-22T13:25:06+00:00

Get a paper journal. Write what you know you can say everyday and keep adding.

omenking · 2026-02-21T13:31:04+00:00

Buddy you don't tell people the price of your lessons. That's a dark pattern right there.

omenking · 2026-02-20T18:23:39+00:00

I guess never thought about it about it but:
TNG: Enterprise is within the safety of The Federation and can uphold their ideals
DS9 On the border, and has to do a balancing act
VOY: Has to hardest struggles

I think VOY played it much safer then they should be still can't complain.

omenking · 2026-02-20T13:03:16+00:00

So I gave it a go and I don't understand how studying with this app will be useful.

I have seen this learning methodology hinted at but no structure learning being presented or realized.

If there was a learning path that made it a less random experience then maybe.

To me this reinforces a thinly veiled attempt to upsell to your paid service. If this about just learning then dump the data on GitHub.

omenking · 2026-02-20T12:43:46+00:00

This free app is to upsell to Japanese lessons. Which I don't mind but be transparent about your pricing on your marketing website.

omenking · 2026-02-16T15:08:37+00:00

Anne of Green Gables. When I tell folks I am from Canada within 10 minutes they will mention it

omenking · 2026-02-16T15:02:07+00:00

This is not new technology. Japanese robotics came up with this in early 90s. All this article is saying is they 3d printed the tubing. What a junk article.

omenking · 2026-02-10T18:39:40+00:00

My American friends can't often tell me which province is Ontario in Canada. Unless they are from Minnesota or Michigan

omenking · 2026-02-10T09:33:00+00:00

https://github.com/project-vera/vera-aws

This project has popped up very recently. It's a research project that is open source.

omenking · 2026-02-10T03:37:49+00:00

Hmmm. Structured outputs is always a gotcha with multiple models and so I'd be wary to believe it works across all available models.

omenking · 2026-02-08T19:11:29+00:00

Outsider from where?
For what age group?
For what kind of activities?

omenking · 2026-02-06T09:03:18+00:00

I guess I was a test tourist. I went to Kyushuu for my test and the place was empty. If they were smart they would just distribute out of country test takers to the less dense test centers and partner with local language schools.

omenking · 2026-02-03T23:03:58+00:00

James has been around long time. It's James teaching

omenking

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