AWS Public Sector Blog

Showing appreciation for our veteran community through training and nonprofit support

Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States. Amazon Web Services (AWS) thanks and honors active duty military and veterans today, and works to show our appreciation and commitment to the military community, veterans, and their spouses through our work year-round.

From supporting veteran service organizations and nonprofits to providing training to active-duty and reservist service members, government civilians, transitioning veterans, and military spouses, AWS is dedicated to serving the military and veteran community. Amazon currently employs more than 45,000 veterans and military spouses across multiple businesses, including operations, sustainability, Alexa, and AWS. We believe the military community brings unique skills and experiences to the workforce, and exemplifies many of our Leadership Principles. Read on to learn more about the progress we’ve made on our ongoing efforts to support the military community throughout the year.

Supporting veterans’ organizations and nonprofits

At AWS, we recognize the sacrifices of veterans and their families, particularly those left wounded, injured, or ill by their service to their country. To help support these members who have made a significant sacrifice, AWS is collaborating with the Fisher House Foundation (FHF), an international nonprofit established to improve the quality of life for members of the military, veterans, and their families. The Foundation builds comfortable homes where military and veteran families can stay at no cost, while a loved one is in the hospital. These homes are located at military and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers around the world.

AWS has committed to donate $5 million over five years to help fund Fisher House’s Family Program at the Department of Defense (DoD) Warrior Games, an annual event that celebrates the resiliency and dedication of wounded, ill, and injured active duty and veteran U.S. military service members. The Warrior Games Family Program supports families attending the Games by providing two loved ones per athlete with round-trip flights to the host city, lodging, transportation to and from sporting venues, official credentials, meals, and spirit gear. During the 2022 games, AWS supported 300 Warrior Games athletes and over 650 friends and family members.

Training and skills development for the military community

AWS offers a number of training and development opportunities to help veterans, military spouses, active-duty service members, and DoD civilians build the skills they need to grow their careers within and outside of the military. This includes fellowships, apprenticeships, no-cost trainings, and other skills development programs.

Amazon and AWS are working with organizations like Apprenti to source, assess, train, and place talent in tech roles. Apprenti is a nonprofit that delivers registered apprenticeship programs to bridge the tech talent and diversity gaps. Through Apprenti, Amazon’s Technical Apprenticeship Program has helped people without previous technical experience transition to careers in cloud computing, and a majority of the participants have started working at AWS. Over the past five years, Apprenti has helped place over 1,000 veterans at Amazon.

“The Technical Apprenticeship program has significantly impacted my career in the best way possible,” said Karla Navarette, systems development engineer, EC2 Nitro, and U.S. Army veteran. “When I was transitioning out of the military, I knew I wanted to enter the tech industry, but I didn’t know how to get there. To make it even trickier, I didn’t have a traditional IT background or degree. I found this program and it has been amazing.”

In addition to collaborating with Apprenti, AWS offers programs to help connect transitioning veterans and military spouses with opportunities and training in the tech industry. This includes the campus military program that allows student veterans and spouses to explore a career in tech through AWS’s college internships, and the Amazon Skillbridge Program, which is a corporate fellowship program launched in partnership with Hiring our Heroes (HoH) and the DoD. AWS Educate and AWS re/Start are two no-cost training programs that are also available to help individuals prepare for in-demand careers in the cloud.

The AWS Fiber Optic Fusion Splicing program is another no-cost training course designed for those who want to enter the fiber optic industry. This two-day intensive program teaches individuals how to repair and test fiber optic cables, which are made up of tiny glass tubes and require specialized knowledge to repair. The first course was offered on a military base, Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. Building on the program’s early success, AWS intends to expand internationally to additional educational institutions and military bases.

The Amazon BRIDGE program, which stands for “Broadening Research and Innovation for Defense and Government Employees,” is focused on sharing Amazon’s industry best practices and business processes with the military, national security, and federal government communities to enable them to modernize and keep the US safe. Under the BRIDGE program, our fellowships and exchanges provide an opportunity for servicemembers and government employees to work with and learn from a team at Amazon. After their industry immersion, BRIDGE fellows bring skills and resources for organizational transformation and innovation back to their military or government roles.

In addition to these programs, veterans and military spouses can check out AWS Training and Certification to learn in-demand skills needed for top cloud jobs. Plus, we’ve worked with the VA to make AWS Certification exam fees eligible for VA reimbursement under any GI Bill with an education provision. Learn more about how AWS Certification exam reimbursement works.

Learn more

If you’re interested in learning more about Amazon’s support for veterans, our training and skills development opportunities, and beyond, please visit the Military Programs for US Transitioning Service Members site.

Read more about how AWS supports the veteran community:

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