Amazon To Help Utah Train 5,000 Students For Cloud Careers
Aug 6, 2020, 10:32 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah is teaming up with Amazon to train and certify students for in-demand careers in cloud computing.
“This is going to provide a lot people the opportunities to enhance their skills to ensure that they’ll have economic opportunity,” Gov. Gary Herbert said during a news conference announcing the new initiative.
The Talent Ready Utah Center and Amazon Web Services plan to provide the computing courses to 5,000 students by summer 2022.
The courses will be available at technical schools, colleges, universities and some K-12 schools.
LIVE: Gov. Herbert is announcing a collaboration between Talent Ready Utah and Amazon Web Services around the AWS Academy program. Utah is the first state to provide access to the AWS Academy program statewide
Posted by KSL 5 TV on Thursday, August 6, 2020
“This new education collaboration will be a great economic benefit to our state as we work together to put Utahns back to work in resilient, high tech, in-demand jobs and enable more teleworking job opportunities as well,” Herbert said in a prepared statement. “I’m grateful to see Amazon Web Services invest in the economic future of our state and its people.”
The courses are designed to prepare Utah students for entry-level jobs in cloud computing. AWS Academy and AWS Educate programs are provided to schools for free. Teachers at participating schools will also have free access to training and some certification exams.
In addition, students and teachers will have access to free resources to create certificate or degree programs in cloud computing through AWS Educate.
“A select number of Utahns currently hold an AWS Certification, creating a significant skills gap for local employers interested in hiring technical talent to fill open roles,” a press release from the governor’s office said.
A representative for Amazon Web Services said the collaboration will help Utah build a talent pipeline for Utah businesses.
“We are thrilled to support this statewide initiative to help Utahns discover new job opportunities and begin successful in-demand cloud careers,” AWS Director of U.S. Public Policy John Stephenson said in a press release.
The Talent Ready Utah website has been updated with more information about the new partnership.
