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AWS reveals quartet of cloud education initiatives
AWS debuted four new initiatives in its ongoing goal to educate 29 million people on its cloud services platform by the end of 2025.
First up, the company showed off its new AWS Skill Builder courses. This novel digital learning tool will be available to users in 200 countries and will provide more than 500 free, on-demand courses to start, with 60 more scheduled to be added this year. Content is available in 16 languages, with support for automatically generated recommendations from AWS on progression paths based around individualized job roles and technology areas.
As the second tentpole of its announcement, AWS revealed that a portion of the Skill Builder library will also be made available on the Amazon.com retail site. This will include free courses on cloud computing basics, cloud architecture, and more. All of these offerings will be collected within the simply-named AWS Courses Section.
For those wanting a more in-depth and formalized training course, Amazon is expanding its AWS re/Start program from its current footprint of 25 cities in 12 countries to 95 cities in 38 countries by the end of 2021. The program is aimed at those with "little or no technology experience" and provides an entry point to cloud computing careers via a 12-week full-time program. The courses are provided free of charge and connect 90% of graduates with job interviews, Amazon said.
Lastly, the cloud computing giant announced the foundation of its first in-person cloud learning center. Located in Seattle, the AWS Skills Center will provide cloud learning classrooms and resources, free in-person classes for students at varied skill levels, and demonstration spaces for planned exhibits on robotics, games, space exploration, sports, and more. Amazon noted that it plans to open additional Skills Centers in other cities across the US and globally.
While the availability of free education will certainly benefit students looking for a career in the growing field of cloud computing, AWS itself also stands to benefit greatly from this push. It creates a native pipeline through which the company can recruit and foster talent to feed the ever-growing need for cloud engineers and technicians familiar with its services while also creating an in-situ connection to those services among all program graduates as they spread out across the workforce.
Additional information about Amazon's aforementioned educational commitment is available at its Upskilling webpage.