The application for the AWS All Builders Welcome (ABW) Grant opens TODAY, 24 June 2025! 🎉
If you have less than five years of experience in the Cloud field, you seriously can’t miss this opportunity.
I’ll never get tired of saying this: AWS re:Invent is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There’s no way to fully capture the magnitude of it in words. You simply have to live it.
As an AWS User Group Leader and Community Builder, I’d heard all the hype about re:Invent. But, let’s be honest: as exciting as it all sounded, it felt like a beautiful, but unreachable dream to my junior-developer bank account.
As an immigrant woman who transitioned into software development after 40, with no previous tech background, I was and still am taking my first steps in the cloud space. I was passionate about helping others, but still struggling to find my place in the tech industry. AWS re:Invent? That felt totally out of reach, especially financially.
That is, until the ABW Grant opened for the 2024 intake.✨
Why I Applied And Why You Should Too#
When applications opened in June 2024, I started receiving messages from some of my dearest AWS Community Builders and Heroes, encouraging me to apply not just for my work in tech but also for my efforts in empowering women, mentoring juniors, and supporting underrepresented groups. 💕
So I did my homework and checked the eligibility checklist:
✅ Be at least 21 years old.
✅ Be within the first 5 years of your tech career.
✅ Have faced barriers or disadvantages while pursuing opportunities in the technology industry or advancing your technology career, and your participation in this program would help you overcome these challenges.
✅ Have not accepted an ABW Grant for re:Invent before.
✅ Be able to travel to Las Vegas. The program is open worldwide; however, if you are applying for the grant outside the United States and require a visa to travel, you must secure your visa before applying.
The best part? The ABW Grant supports early-career professionals like me. You don’t need any AWS certification or industry experience. Although I already had my Cloud Practitioner certification, it wasn’t mandatory.
Once I realized I ticked every box, I thought… why not?
The dream turned into hope. And on September 19, that hope became real. When I got the acceptance email, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I needed a few minutes just to believe it was really happening.
Why was I so excited about it? What the Grant Covers 💸#
Woohoo! I was about to attend the world’s largest cloud event, with all my expenses covered by this incredible program!
The All Builders Welcome Grant removes the financial barriers to AWS re:Invent. It includes:
🌟 A full re:Invent conference pass
✈️ Flights to Las Vegas, from anywhere in the world
🏨 5 nights of hotel accommodation
☕️ Access to an exclusive grantee lounge
🪑 Reserved seating for keynotes
🎉 Special grantee-only events
🎁 Unique swags
🚕 Airport transportation (Uber support included)
And yes, it was as amazing as it sounds. However, even more impactful than the financial support was the experience itself. The part that truly changed my life forever.
The Real Game-Changer: Mentoring 💡#
Supporting others’ growth is my passion, so imagine my joy when I discovered that the ABW Grant program includes mentoring tracks designed specifically for grantees.
Alongside the massive re:Invent agenda (with hundreds of sessions), the grant offered tailored mentoring sessions on everything from technical skills to community building.
Unfortunately, some mentoring sessions overlapped with my other commitments (I was also mentoring, being mentored, and attending training during the event), but I highly recommend taking full advantage of this part of the grant. It’s gold.
Building Skills 👩💻#
AWS re:Invent features over 1,000 technical sessions, games, and training options for all skill levels and interests. There’s something for anyone.
My agenda was also full of lovely meetings and trainings as an AWS User Group leader and AWS Community Builder. I left re: Invent bursting with new ideas and practical tools.
I especially loved sessions on serverless and Amplify, which I’ve already put into practice in personal projects.
The Power of Networking 🤝#
The AWB Grant gave me the opportunity to connect with builders from all over the world.
I finally met many AWS Heroes, User Groups leaders, and Community Builders I’d only known online. These connections turned into mentorships, collaborations, and inspiration that I’ve brought back to my own community across Europe, the APAC region, and the Americas.
After re:Invent, I even became one of the organizers of the AWS Women’s User Group Sweden, alongside three other incredible community builders, Martina Della Corte, Jagoda Cubrilo and Caroline Cah.
Friends for Life ❤️#
Let’s be real: community is everything!
Thanks to the ABW Grant, I met friends who now inspire me every day. Some were people I’d known virtually for years, others I met for the first time in Las Vegas. But each of them left a permanent mark on my journey.
Unforgettable Moments 💫#
There were so many magical highlights at re:Invent, and I’m forever grateful for the ABW Grant (thanks Norma Stevens and team 🥹) for those special moments. Here are just a few I’ll treasure forever:
🌟 Organized a Women In Tech pre-re:Invent Bus Trip, in partnership with my beloved AWS Hero Paloma Lataliza. We took a bus trip for women in the AWS Community with a beautiful lunch, thanks to María Encinar, Nelly Andrade, Carol Milanez, and Jason Dunn.
🔥 Hosted the Women in Tech Fireside Chat and Meetup alongside the amazing AWS Hero Linda Mohamed. It marked the beginning of many collaborations and Women in Tech workshops across Europe.
🎤 Was interviewed by another inspirational idol, Linda Haviv, and I’m still having highlights released on AWS Developers, like this one.
🏆 Received an AWS EMEA Community Award from Thembile Martis and Gunnar Grosch for my work advocating for women in tech and inclusion.
If you’re curious about what AWS re:Invent 2024 was like for me, I shared my thoughts in this post and the article “Reflections on AWS re:Invent 2024: Why You Don’t Need to Be Senior to Make a Difference in Tech.
Helpful Resources to Craft Your Application 📝#
If you’re fired up and ready to apply, great! But trust me, you’ll want to put in the time to craft a stellar application. Here are a few articles that can help you stand out from the crowd.
🔹 Maximize Your Chances: Your Guide to the AWS All Builders Welcome Grant by Maria Alexandra Radu – A step-by-step guide to help your application shine.
🔹 All Builders Welcome Grant: The Complete Guide (No Filters) by Francisco Javier Escobar Garcia – What your day at re:Invent could look like and how to make the most of it.
🔹 How to Apply for the AWS All Builders Welcome Grant - Tips by Dale Orders to make your responses truly stand out for re:Invent and re:Inforce.
🔹 The AWS re:Invent Experience as an ABW Grant Recipient by Karina Alvarado – A beautiful, heartfelt perspective that brought tears to my eyes.
✨ My final advice? ✨#
Apply!
Don’t wait until you feel ready, because let’s be honest, we rarely ever do. Impostor syndrome is real, and I hesitated more than once before submitting my application.
You’ll never know unless you try.
That said, don’t go in blind. Prepare as much as you can. There are tons of resources, articles like the ones above, and amazing AWS community members out there offering the mentoring and guidance you need to craft a strong, thoughtful application.
And if it doesn’t happen this year? That’s okay. You’ll be better prepared next time because learning is never a waste of time.
The ABW Grant gave me more than a ticket to an event. It gave me knowledge, community, confidence, and career support that I’ll never forget.
If you’re eligible, please don’t let this opportunity pass you by, and I hope to see you at AWS re:Invent! 🚀☁️❤️
👉 Apply for the AWS All Builders Welcome program!
Note: This article was also published on LinkedIn
