Southern Indiana Business Report
INDIANAPOLIS — A new statewide initiative announced July 26 aims to train, upskill and certify at least 5,000 Hoosiers over the next two years to qualify for cloud computing jobs in their local communities. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Ivy Tech Community College, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, are launching the program to allow access to cloud computing education courses and certifications for learners in high schools and community colleges across the state.
In support of this initiative, AWS has committed to provide education institutions with free professional development, technical training, and a select number of certification exams for educators who will begin teaching cloud computing courses to their students starting next fall. AWS education programs provide education institutions with ready-to-teach, cloud computing curriculum designed to prepare students for in-demand cloud jobs and industry-recognized AWS certifications. Education institutions across the state are invited to participate in AWS education programs, including high school, career and technical education sites, community colleges and universities.
“We are pleased to collaborate with AWS to bring this opportunity to Hoosiers across Indiana,” said Sue Ellspermann, President, Ivy Tech Community College. “As the state’s community college our focus is on bringing the education needed to earn credentials that result in high-paying careers right into the communities we serve. This is a perfect example of how being agile and partnering with our industry experts brings access to training that results in high-paying careers via the community college.”
“We recognize the economic impact that this collaboration will have on the citizens of this state,” said Fred Payne, Commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development. “We will continue to support this initiative that will reinforce Indiana’s efforts to build and train the workforce of the future.”
According to LinkedIn, cloud computing has remained one of the most in-demand hard skills for the past five years, and two AWS certifications appear on the top-10 highest-paying certifications list by Global Knowledge (2020). Data from Economic Modeling Specialists International identified 39,035 unique job postings in Indiana requesting cloud computing skills in 2020, and more than 10% of those jobs specifically requested AWS skills. Only a select number of Hoosiers currently hold an AWS certification, creating a significant skills gap for local employers interested in hiring technical talent to fill open roles.
“If you look at how technology played a critical role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic — ensuring our children could continue to learn, allowing businesses to enable staff to work remotely, and keeping us safely connected virtually — skilled technical talent helped make this possible,” said Kim Majerus, leader of US Education, State and Local Government for AWS. “As the economy recovers and organizations continue to develop life-changing solutions, we are thrilled to collaborate with Indiana’s Department of Workforce Development and Ivy Tech Community College to create agile and equitable reskilling and upskilling programs to unlock opportunities for Hoosiers to build new careers and get back to work.”
As Indiana continues to work on attracting more tech jobs to the state, this collaboration is seen as a way to increase access to education and skills training to help Hoosiers secure jobs from organizations across various sectors and industries in roles such as software development, cloud architecture, data science, cyber security, cloud support engineers, and more.
“With the demand for cloud talent, I believe we are launching a program that can get people back to work and onto a path to financial freedom,” said Linda Calvin, vice president, School of Information Technology, Workforce Alignment, Ivy Tech Community College. “I also believe this is a great opportunity to reach out to engage with women and our communities of color to encourage the pursuit of a great career in tech.”
Indiana high schools are also an important part of this collaborative effort. “The partnership between Ivy Tech Community College and our local high schools and career centers is critical to ensure a strong pipeline of future cloud-ready technical talent in our state,” said Dr. Rebecca Rahschulte, vice president of K-14 Initiatives, Ivy Tech Community College. “Our secondary career and technical education programs will lay the foundation for students to learn about cloud computing on AWS and other high-tech skills through dual credit and enrollment programming in the high schools to prepare students for advanced training and skill development, to secure in-demand, high-wage jobs.”
To learn more about AWS cloud training offerings at local education institutions and how to enroll, please visit www.ivytech.edu/cloud-technologies. To learn more about AWS education programs, a part of AWS Training and Certification, please visit here.