AWS Community Day Nordics - Learning to Step Back

Since I was part of the founding team for AWS Community Day Nordics back in 2018, I have personally attended every single event. This year is the first time I could not make it. That sentence is a bit strange to write, because for years this event has been one of those fixed points on my calendar – something that just happens, something I am always part of. Missing it feels like missing a family gathering.

There is a sentimental side to this, I won’t pretend otherwise. When you help build something from nothing and then watch it grow over the years, you develop a deep personal attachment to it. The early days of organizing Community Day Nordics were chaotic and exciting. We were figuring things out as we went, convincing speakers, finding venues, hoping enough people would show up. The fact that it became a real, established event in the Nordic AWS community still makes me proud.

But here is the thing about community work that took me a while to internalize: it is healthy for founders to step back. The worst thing that can happen to a community event is that it becomes dependent on specific individuals. When new people rise to the challenge and bring their own energy and ideas, that is not a loss – it is exactly the point. Anurag Kale, Sebastian Bille, Marcus Karlsson, Andreas Casen, and Caroline Cah are behind the wheel now, and the event is in excellent hands. The community does not need me to be in the room for it to thrive. That realization is both humbling and liberating.

What I value most about these years of community involvement are the friendships. There are so many people I have met through Community Day Nordics who started as professional acquaintances and became real friends. People I reach out to for advice, people who reach out to me, people I genuinely look forward to seeing. That network of relationships is the most valuable outcome of community work, far more than any conference session or panel discussion. The event is a vehicle; the connections are the destination.

So while I feel a tug of regret about not being there this year, I mostly feel gratitude. Grateful for the experience of building something that outlasts my direct involvement, grateful for the people who stepped up, and grateful for the community that keeps showing up. That is what real community looks like – it is bigger than any one person.