Tag: upskilling

Whether you are a local employer, a dean at a higher education institution, or a government entity, finding and training your workforce is top of mind. As we continue to find solutions to skill, reskill, or upskill our workforce, the answer will not be found by working in silos but rather through public-private collaboration. Recently, a number of education and government leaders from across the country participated in a panel to discuss the challenges facing local state leaders and education institutions around workforce. Five key suggestions emerged as ways to improve the workforce of tomorrow.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for both faster digital transformation and urgent development of digital skills in the public sector. A new IDC study, which surveyed 250 health, government, and education organisations in seven countries across Europe, has now revealed the full extent of the IT challenges the public sector faces.

Recent events, from public sector cyberattacks and severe weather events to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, have revealed that many educational institutions, as well as regional and local governments, are not fully prepared to respond to these incidents. At the same time, large-scale disruptive events illustrate how important it is for public sector organizations to respond rapidly to keep essential services running as well as quickly pivot to offer new services. In an IDC survey of 2,000 U.S. residents in September 2020, 31% said they would like to continue virtual government services as a replacement for in-person interactions, while another IDC survey of U.S. teachers revealed that 38% expect a growth in hybrid or remote learning to be a lasting change.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has been focused on preparing  citizens for the growing tech, IT, and cloud industries. Collaborating with Ivy Tech and Amazon Web Services will help reach more learners and accelerate economic growth by fueling the state’s tech industry with skilled talent.

Georgia has been at the forefront of a booming technology sector. Forbes named Atlanta one of the 5 U.S. Cities Poised to Become Tomorrow’s Tech Mecca, a city where the number of tech jobs have grown 46 percent since 2010. This new initiative put forward by the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE), the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will help support the growth trajectory of Georgia’s technology sector, address both the opportunities and challenges presented by the pandemic, and ensure that training, curriculum, and jobsearch support opportunities are available to rural communities.

The NGA is working with Research Improving People’s Lives (RIPL), a Rhode Island-based nonprofit organization that works with governments to help them use data, science, and technology to improve policy and lives. Using machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and Amazon Web Services (AWS), RIPL unlocks previously-siloed government administrative data and puts it to work for jobseekers by delivering career-path and reskilling recommendations, as well as personalized potential employment opportunities that help state leaders make measurable progress against unemployment.

CEU Universities launched the first cloud computing program in Spain, in collaboration with AWS, to create pathways for students into cloud technology careers. CEU is working with key organizations as part of an initiative called CEU Tech 4 Good to develop student talent through mentoring sessions and internships. This hands-on experience will help prepare students to pursue cloud-related job opportunities when an AWS Region opens in Spain in late 2022 or early 2023.

In this challenging job market, many Texans who lost their jobs to COVID-19 lack the skills to quickly reenter the workforce to secure employment with employers with open roles. With support from the Texas State Legislature, the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) and AWS announced a statewide collaboration committed to equipping Texas community colleges with professional development, technical training, and certification exams for those educators, instructors, and faculty who will begin implementing the AWS Academy program starting next fall.

The future of tech is diverse, and AWS Training and Certification is building an inclusive and diverse workforce for the future through accessible cloud education programs for anyone with the desire to learn. We believe when you remove barriers to education, you bring new learners to the cloud and open doors to jobs and long-term careers that people may have thought were out of reach or, in some cases, didn’t even know existed. Public sector organizations are vying for top cloud skilled professionals and have much to gain when we increase the pool of available cloud talent.

I’ve always valued education, because it shapes our world and defines our future. At AWS, we work with K12 schools, higher education institutions, education technology, and learning companies to support both teaching and learning. The institutions and their dedicated instructors collaborate daily and deliver education to the current and future workforce. These students will help AWS, our customers and partners, and industries and governments across the globe continue to innovate. Alongside the education institutions, we are committed to providing access to cloud computing and technical skills to everyone, no matter their knowledge level. Learn how AWS is helping individuals on their cloud career journey for reskilling and upskilling, and how other companies can follow.