Career Services · Live Event
AWS Jam: A Live Cloud Challenge
Three hours. Real AWS environments. A live leaderboard. No prior cloud experience assumed.
On Friday, October 2, Illinois Tech Career Services and Experiential Learning is handing you a live AWS environment and a problem to solve in it. An AWS Jam is not a lecture about the cloud and it is not a certification prep session. It is a timed, hands-on competition where you are dropped into real scenarios, you work them, and the scoreboard updates the moment you clear one.
It runs from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Hermann Hall Conference Center, it is open to undergraduate and graduate students in every major, and it assumes no prior AWS experience whatsoever. Bring a laptop and a charger. That is the entire prerequisite list.
Pick your track
There are three, and you choose the one that matches where you actually are — not where you think you should be.
Intro
No AWS experience assumed. Start here if the word “cloud” is still abstract to you.
Intermediate
You have used the console before and want to be pushed past clicking around in it.
Advanced
You already build on AWS and you want to know how you stack up against a room.
Individual challenges run anywhere from twenty minutes to two hours, and they pull from AWS operations, security, artificial intelligence, and data. Everything happens inside a managed sandbox environment, so nothing you do touches university systems.
Live Leaderboard
Points post the moment you clear a challenge, and everyone in the room can see where they stand. That is the part people remember — and the part that makes three hours go faster than you expect.
Why give up a Friday afternoon
Because of what you can say afterward.
“I competed in a timed AWS challenge and solved scenarios in security and machine learning” is a better interview answer than “I’m interested in cloud.”
One of those is a story with detail in it. The other is a sentence anyone can say. You leave this event with something specific to put on a resume and something specific to talk about when a recruiter asks what you have actually built.
It is also a low-risk way to find out whether cloud work suits you before you commit a semester or a certification fee to the question. Some students discover they love the security scenarios. Some find out they would rather be doing data. Either answer is useful.
The details
| Date | Friday, October 2, 2026 |
| Time | 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. |
| Location | Hermann Hall Conference Center |
| Open to | Undergraduate and graduate students, all majors |
| Bring | Your own laptop and charger |
| Seats | Limited — registration closes Monday, September 28 |
| Presented with | The School of Computing, including Information Technology and Management |
student@illinoistech:~$ aws jam –register
Are you the best?
Run the jam and find out. RSVP by Monday, September 28.
Register NowQuestions about the event or about how it fits your career plan? Email elevate@illinoistech.edu.
# Delivered by EnterOne, an AWS Advanced Tier Training Partner, using AWS Academy content.
# Career Services and Experiential Learning · MTCC Room 106 · 312.567.6800
