Greenbelt, MD – October 2025
GAMA-1 Technologies, in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Common Cloud Framework (NCCF) team, recently hosted an exciting AWS Jam event designed to give participants a fun, hands-on way to build real-world cloud skills.
AWS Jam events challenge participants to solve real-world scenarios in a game-style format, testing their ability to apply AWS services and best practices to pressing IT, security, and infrastructure challenges. Guided by AWS Solutions Architect Dave Pannu, the NESDIS NCCF teams jumped into a collaborative learning experience where every challenge solved not only boosted their scores but also sharpened their skills to support NOAA’s mission.
Competition Highlights
The event brought together multiple NCCF teams competing head-to-head. After several hours of problem-solving, three teams stood out:
- 🥇 ArchWin — 1st Place, Score 664 (5 challenges solved: Prayer, Weiting, Brooke, Shuang)
- 🥈 Bebop — 2nd Place, Score 597 (5 challenges solved: Jake Elliott, James Zhou, Mcquinne, Tom Kowalski)
- 🥉 Ingest — 3rd Place, Score 528 (7 challenges solved: Clement, David Whittington, Muyiwa, Rafat)
Other strong contenders included Learn, NOAA5006-1, NCSDEV Security, Stack & Attack, PtoWin, and PtoLearn.
Challenge Insights
Participants tackled a wide range of technical scenarios:
- Most solved challenge: “boobytrapped-infrastructure” – solved by all 8 teams, average time 49m 18s
- Most difficult: “network-analyzer-segregation” – solved by only 1 team, difficulty rating 4.0
- Fastest solve: “detective-homes-has-a-way” – completed in just 7m 19s (avg: 27m 1s)
- Broadest appeal: Challenges like “boobytrapped-infrastructure,” “detective-homes-has-a-way,” and “malware-in-your-bucket” drove the most engagement
Participant Feedback
Survey results showed strong enthusiasm:
- Overall experience: Majority rated the event “Excellent” or “Good”
- Learning impact: Most participants reported gaining new AWS skills and knowledge
- Challenge levels: Nearly all agreed the difficulty was “just right”
- Favorites: CloudTrail filtering, S3 pipelines, malware scenarios, and Lambda/S3 integrations
Suggestions for future events included extending the session to a full day, adding breakout rooms for team collaboration, and providing clearer upfront details on teams, permissions, and challenge categories.
When asked if they’d attend again, participants overwhelmingly answered “Yes”—with only one “Maybe.”
GAMA-1 and AWS: A Trusted Partnership
As an AWS Advanced Services Tier Partner with a Migration and Modernization Competency, GAMA-1 brings validated expertise in helping federal agencies move complex systems to the cloud while reducing risk and improving performance. This competency recognizes GAMA-1’s proven ability to plan and execute migrations at scale, optimize workloads, and accelerate innovation through modern architectures. For NOAA, this means trusted access to AWS best practices and accelerators, ensuring that cloud adoption directly translates into mission-ready solutions that are secure, resilient, and cost-efficient.
Driving Mission-Ready Skills
AWS Jam events are more than just competitions, they’re designed to help participants learn by doing. For NESDIS’ NCCF, this format provided a dynamic and collaborative way to strengthen AWS expertise that directly supports cloud modernization and mission delivery.
GAMA-1 is proud to support NOAA’s transformation journey by bringing innovative training opportunities like AWS Jam that combine teamwork, technical mastery, and mission-driven impact.
To learn more about AWS Jam events, visit AWS Jam Overview. To learn more about GAMA-1 Technologies, visit www.gama1tech.com.
About GAMA-1 Technologies, LLC
Modernizing Government. Maximizing Impact.
GAMA-1 Technologies is a mission-driven business empowering federal agencies to deliver smarter services through secure cloud modernization, AI-driven automation, and adaptive cybersecurity and compliance. We specialize in enabling decision support mission critical data to benefit humanity, leveraging innovation to streamline government and accelerate outcomes that matter.
With deep roots in environmental observation infrastructure and data modernization, we help agencies like NOAA, NASA, and others transform legacy systems, unify mission data, and embrace digital-first operations. Our solutions are engineered for public good—driving efficiency, reducing costs, and amplifying mission success.
Powering Federal Efficiency Through Innovation, GAMA-1 delivers:
- AI-Driven Analytics & Automation – Eliminating duplication of efforts and optimizing workflows.
- Cloud & Infrastructure Modernization – Migrating to scalable, secure, and mission-ready environments.
- Enterprise Data Management & Governance – Breaking down silos for smarter decision-making.
- Adaptive Cybersecurity & Compliance – Safeguarding critical systems, protecting data integrity, while meeting evolving federal mandates.
- Digital Transformation & Mission Enablement – Accelerating delivery with DevSecOps, low-code, and re-engineering.
As an AWS Advanced Tier Partner, MS AI Cloud Partner, Scaled Agile Silver Partner, and Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador with ISO 9001, 20000, 27001 certifications, we align technical precision with mission impact.
