AWS re/Start program builds US cloud skills and job readiness on east and west coasts

The AWS re/Start program is building new cohorts in five cities across the US: San Jose and San Francisco, CA; Martinsville, VA; New York, NY; and Newark, NJ. AWS re/Start has cohort locations in 18 cities across six countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America to help unemployed and underemployed individuals from all backgrounds reskill and launch cloud careers.

As the global health and economic crisis looms, the cloud computing industry continues to grow, and companies are looking for skilled talent. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that IT jobs will grow nearly three times as fast as the average of all other occupations (11%, compared to 4% for all other jobs). BLS attributes much of this projected job growth to the expansion of the cloud computing industry, yet there isn’t enough skilled talent. 451 Research found that 90% of IT decision makers say their businesses are lacking adequate cloud skills.

That’s where AWS re/Start comes in. As a skills development and job training program, AWS re/Start prepares learners for entry-level careers in the cloud.

AWS re/Start prepares unemployed and underemployed individuals for cloud careers through skills development training.

The industry demand for cloud adoption is far outpacing the number of new, cloud-savvy workers, leaving organizations struggling to find and hire the talent needed to implement cloud services. To overcome this systematic supply versus demand situation, cloud talent must be cultivated from non-traditional sources. AWS re/Start brings net-new talent into the cloud ecosystem by skilling unemployed and underemployed individuals who have little technology background and preparing them to launch a cloud career.

AWS re/Start is collaborating with three organizations across the US to deliver cloud skills training: Year Up in San Jose and San Francisco; New College Institute (NCI) in Martinsville; and Per Scholas in Boston, Washington, DC, New York, and Newark.

Upon completion of the program, Year Up, NCI, and Per Scholas will support their graduates with direct connections to employers. AWS re/Start graduates are prepared for entry-level cloud roles, such as cloud operations, site reliability, infrastructure support, and technical-adjacent business support functions.

“NCI is excited to collaborate with AWS to offer the AWS re/Start program in Southern and Southwestern VA. Our participants will be prepared to take the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam from their 12 weeks in the program, offering an accelerated path to new careers and employment opportunities. Couple that with built-in access to potential employers and in-person and remote job opportunities in high-demand fields, and it is a ‘win, win’ for everyone!” said Karen Jackson, interim executive director, NCI.

“We are excited to work with AWS in providing our talented young adults with the opportunity to build such valuable, in-demand cloud computing skills. Equipping our students with a strong foundation in cloud computing—along with an industry-recognized AWS Certification—will dramatically increase our students’ earning potential as they enter and grow in the world of technology,” said Roosevelt Callahan, Year Up’s regional director in the Bay Area.

Janeli Vazquez, a Year Up AWS re/Start learner in San Francisco shared, “[Before Year Up and AWS re/Start] I was working a lot of side jobs—cleaning houses, babysitting, dog walking, cutting hair—without a lot of economic stability. It wasn’t too long ago that I was homeless (2015). At the time, I was trying to go to school but had to stop school due to my housing and food situations. I recently started to teach myself the basics of coding, and Year Up is providing me that immersive, fast-paced track to push me toward software development. AWS is a really great track. I am excited about creating things and helping others who have been in my situation without access or privilege.”

To learn how you can get involved in AWS re/Start, fill out an employer interest form or contact aws-restart-employers@amazon.com.

AWS re/Start learners from the Washington, D.C. and Newark split cohort, run by Per Scholas