From the Trenches to the Classroom: Introducing "Study From Experts"

An Interview with Co-Founders Lee Gilmore & Mark Sailes

The AWS ecosystem moves fast. So fast that staying "current" often feels like a full-time job. Today, we are thrilled to announce the go-live of Study From Experts, a platform born from a simple realisation: the best way to learn AWS is from the people who actually build and scale it every day.

We sat down with Co-Founders Lee Gilmore (AWS Serverless Hero) and Mark Sailes (former AWS Specialist SA) to talk about why this platform is a game-changer for the community.

1. Congratulations on going live! Why did you start Study From Experts in the first place?

Lee: Honestly, it came down to the "experience gap." There is no shortage of "Hello World" tutorials out there, but when you're trying to build an enterprise-grade, event-driven system that won't fall over at 3 AM, you need more than just documentation and theory. We wanted to create a place where the nuances and the "gotchas" we've learned over decades are the focal point, not an afterthought. Not every decision is black and white, and we talk people through the real-life trade-offs that we have experienced.

Mark: The same problem still exists now as it did back when I was a tech lead 8 years ago. Once you've done the AWS certifications, good engineers are left wondering, "What's next?" Going to the local AWS summit didn't get them that much further. There is a lack of material for those taking their careers further. The people who want to be the team/department/company cloud expert don't have a place to go for reliable courses.

2. Tell us a little about yourselves and your backgrounds.

Mark: I’ve been in tech for over 20 years. Before co-founding Study From Experts, I spent over 6 years at AWS as a Senior Specialist SA, focusing on Serverless. I’ve worked with some of the best serverless companies and trained dozens of engineering teams. I'm also an AWS Community Builder, international speaker, including 3 times at re:Invent. I always stayed close to developers and how they used AWS. I used those strong relationships to advocate for changes on their behalf.

Lee: I’ve spent over two decades in the industry, currently serving as an AWS Serverless Hero. I’m a massive advocate for "Serverless and AI First" and have spent my career leading high-performing teams for brands like BT, Sage, CEF/CES, and AO.com. My focus has always been on the intersections of architecture, people, engineering, and business value. I'm also an organiser of the AWS North Conference, an international speaker, including AWS re:Invent, an avid blogger, an open source maintainer, and a speaker at local AWS user groups.

3. What do you hope AWS Engineers and Architects will get from the platform?

Lee: I want them to gain architectural and engineering confidence. It’s one thing to know the theory; it’s another to know why you’re choosing SQS and SNS over EventBridge for a specific use case, or the best way to integrate with external systems using tried and tested patterns on AWS. I want our students to walk away with the ability to defend their architectural decisions to a CTO, and to sleep soundly at night without the worry of a system they have implemented falling over.

Mark: I want engineers to feel like they’ve just finished a 1:1 mentoring session with an expert in the field. When I was at AWS, I was the go-to person for my specific niche, Java & Serverless. This became a virtuous cycle because the more I learnt, the more I could help. The better the outcomes, the more often people asked me to speak to their customers. I learnt more and had more opportunities to influence the product. Each of the instructors on Study From Experts is in the same position. They've built their expertise from experience.

4. What is your vision for the platform?

Mark: We want Study From Experts to be the gold standard for AWS continuing education. The vision is to build a global community where the world’s leading experts, the ones speaking at re:Invent and writing the whitepapers, are accessible to every engineer, regardless of where they are in their careers.

Lee: Exactly. It’s about democratising elite-level expertise. We want to be the "go-to" resource for the community when they hit a complex problem. If you’re an architect facing a massive migration or a developer tackling your first serverless microservice, we want to be the mentor in your pocket.

5. What cool features are you currently building, or what is next?

Lee: We’re looking heavily at interactive learning paths and new and exciting ways for our community to learn, which have never been seen before across other platforms.

Mark: We’re also expanding our "Expert Network." We’ve got some incredible names from the AWS Hero and Community Builder programs, as well as industry thought leaders in architecture and engineering, lined up to drop deep-dive modules.

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