Yan Cui Portfolio
AWS Serverless Hero and independent consultant publishing serverless architecture patterns and cost/performance tradeoffs learned from production systems in banking, e-commerce, gaming, and streaming, plus a long-running "Real World Serverless" podcast.
What makes it work
A breakdown of the choices that make this portfolio stand out.
Architecture patterns drawn from named production sectors
Citing specific industries — banking, e-commerce, gaming, streaming — where the patterns were actually used grounds the advice in real deployment constraints rather than hypothetical best practices.
A consulting practice built directly on top of published free content
The blog and podcast function as public proof of expertise that leads directly into paid training and consulting, showing how technical writing can double as business development without becoming an advertisement.
A dedicated podcast format for practitioner interviews
"Real World Serverless" adds first-person practitioner voices to the written architecture analysis, broadening the portfolio beyond one person's opinion into a recurring platform for the field.
What Cloud Architects can take from this
Specific, actionable tips to apply to your own portfolio — no generic advice.
Name the industries or constraints your architecture experience actually comes from — citing specific sectors is more convincing than claiming "extensive experience."
Let a body of free technical writing function as the proof behind your consulting offer, rather than describing your expertise separately from demonstrating it.
Add a recurring format like a podcast or newsletter alongside one-off posts — recurring formats build an audience that a single article can't.
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