Supporting APN partners with virtual learning resources

AWS Training and Certification (T&C) is offering our APN partners remote learning tools, training, and testing to help you build and validate your AWS skills at your convenience. Whether you are just getting started, exploring new proficiencies like migrations, or sharpening your skills, T&C is focused on helping our APN partners innovate and grow. This post summarizes the variety of resources APN partners can utilize to keep skills sharp, and build new ones.

Doug Yeum, head of Worldwide Channels & Alliances at AWS, said the following in a recent letter to our APN partners, and I agree with him, “We view our partners as an extended part of our family. Our partnerships make a difference to both AWS and our customers, and we continue to seek ways to innovate together to accelerate our collective commitment to our customers. We are here to support you during this unprecedented time, which is changing the ways we live and work.”

During a recent informal poll, our APN partner community shared that 91 percent plan to increase the amount of virtual and digital training their staff are taking during the next 60-90 days. You may be making, or have implemented, similar plans. To help, we’ve created flexible ways APN partners can build AWS cloud skills and get AWS Certified.

• Solution Training for Partners (STP): All our business and technical STPs are available free of charge, taught by an accredited AWS instructor who brings the learning to you in a virtual, interactive format. You can access the class and interact with the instructor and other participants via computer from home or location of your choice. There is a full schedule of public courses, and private courses are available upon request.
• On Demand Digital Courses: We have hundreds of digital courses available for free and on-demand. Additionally, our accreditation courses are also on-demand, are a core part of APN tier requirements, and offer solid, foundational training.
• PartnerCast Webinars: Another resource we’ve designed especially for APN partners is our weekly AWS PartnerCasts. These free, interactive webinars cover AWS products and services to help partners in business and technical roles create new customer opportunities, enhance professional relationships, and develop training interests. These sessions are available in various regions, and you can subscribe to receive email notifications of upcoming webinars.
• AWS Certification: You can now take all AWS Certification exams with online proctoring. Due to high demand, the wait time for online-proctored appointments may be longer than usual. Before taking your exam, check out our live instructor-led webinars and digital prep classes. We are also offering additional support to candidates who need more time to reschedule exams, recertify, and use vouchers, such as certification expiration extensions.

One of our APN partners, Rebecca (Smith) Gentile, Director of Alliance Enablement, Slalom Consulting shared the organization’s experience shifting to virtual learning, “Remote learning is a big focus for us right now, and it was impressive how quickly we were able to transition in-person workshops to virtual. This has been a huge benefit to our employees who are working hard on their cloud skills training. We’ve had full support from AWS Training and Certification to convert critical trainings quickly.”

Jeffrey Hammond, Global AWS Enablement Program Lead, Accenture shared the following about his team’s experience with the online proctored exams, “We’ve seen an incredibly positive response to the remote proctored exams and expect numbers to remain consistent—and maybe go up—for individuals taking their exam. We’ve also had a number of successful virtual Partner Training sessions in North America and Europe, which were originally scheduled for in-person. The remote and virtual options are serving our teams and customers well.”

For more information, please see our partner-exclusive training options.