Expert AMA: Career Lessons from 30 Years in IT

Technology careers are built across many waves: mainframes, client/server, the web, cloud, mobile, DevOps, AI, and whatever comes next.

For this Techlahoma Expert AMA, we are bringing in Dwight McDonald to talk about what he has learned from 30+ years in IT. Dwight is a principal cloud architect, founder, mentor, and Tulsa AWS community builder whose work spans enterprise IT, cloud operations, modernization, entrepreneurship, and local tech community building.

This is not a formal talk. It is a live Q&A built around the questions Techlahoma members are already asking:

- How do I stay relevant when the stack keeps changing?
- What career lessons transfer across every technology wave?
- What cloud, security, and AI skills are worth learning now?
- What actually counts as experience when trying to break into cloud or cybersecurity?
- How do I avoid getting stuck in a role where I am not growing?
- What role does local community play in building a stronger career?

We will collect questions in Techlahoma Slack before the event, let members vote on the questions they most want answered, then take live questions during the AMA.

Why attend:

- Get long-view career advice from someone who has seen several tech cycles.
- Ask practical questions about cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and career pivots.
- Learn how community, mentoring, and showing up can change career trajectory.
- Hear what Dwight would tell the next generation of technologists.

Who should attend:

Developers, IT professionals, cloud engineers, aspiring cybersecurity professionals, students, career switchers, hiring managers, mentors, and anyone trying to keep a tech career durable.