Cloud computing has unlocked immense innovation, but it has also created a major skills gap. Companies are scrambling to hire qualified cloud talent, while students and career switchers lack access to the complex infrastructure needed to gain hands-on training.
AWS Educate finally bridges this gap – empowering you with cutting-edge skills while connecting you to exclusive job opportunities. In this hands-on guide, we‘ll explore how to maximize the program‘s potential.
The Cloud Skills Crisis: High Demand, Low Supply
Cloud technology underpins the most exciting breakthroughs in business today – machine learning, blockchain, quantum computing, and more. Adoption is accelerating across industries:
- AWS cloud revenue has grown an average of 30% annually over the last 5 years.
- Total spend on cloud infrastructure will nearly double from 2020 to 2025, reaching over $120 billion globally.
Unfortunately, qualified talent has not kept pace. Surveys show that 90% of organizations lack enough skilled cloud security experts alone. Cloud skills score among the top 10 most in-demand across employers.
This supply and demand imbalance leaves major opportunities for those looking to break into the industry. But traditional education models have failed to evolve, lacking the infrastructure and industry connections needed.
Introducing AWS Educate: The Future of Cloud Learning
Launched in 2018, AWS Educate tackles this skills gap head-on by bringing academia, students, and employers together under one powerful platform.
It equips tomorrow‘s talent with the exact skills companies hire for – while connecting them directly with leading cloud recruiters ready to bring them aboard.
Over 50,000 individual students and more than 1,000 universities have already joined. Let‘s examine the platform they‘ve built.
One Platform – Unlimited Possibilities
AWS Educate centralizes every resource you need to unlock a thriving cloud career -in one intuitive portal:
Robust Course Library (60+ classes): From cloud fundamentals to machine learning to security, courses match industry needs.
Earned Credentials: Badges and credits showcase your abilities to employers.
Virtual Desktop Access: Practice in live cloud environments without hardware barriers.
Hands-On Labs (180+*): Get job-ready through guided technical challenges.
Job Portal Database (750+ employers): Apply for roles from AWS-powered companies seeking cloud talent.
Combined together, this innovative model makes quality cloud education borderless, equitable, and accessible at global scale.
And the initiative is still early – AWS plans to enroll over 10 million students by 2025 as offerings expand. Exciting innovations lie ahead.
Why AWS Educate Benefits Everyone Involved
This all-in-one ecosystem delivers immense advantages whether you join as a student or recruiter.
Unlocking Your Career Potential: Student Experience
For aspiring cloud experts, AWS Educate finally unlocks the hands-on experience crucial for jumping start your career – regardless of your prior academic background or financial resources.
Cloud Access Once Restricted, Now Open to All
Specialized cloud labs were once exclusively available to graduate programs at elite universities – severely limiting diversity and access.
Now, any student globally can freely build in-demand skills through guided challenges in real AWS environments – without needing to own any infrastructure beforehand.
Removing these barriers makes cloud learning attainable for all backgrounds and economic levels.
Apply Cloud Skills to Real Industry Projects
Classroom learning only goes so far. Employers need talent who can hit the ground running on mission-critical cloud projects.
So AWS Educate is designed to mimic the actual workflows, tools and scenarios you‘ll encounter daily in the role – from configuring AWS architecture to deploying apps to securing workloads.
Practicing through hundreds of labs gives you experience companies seek out.
Showcase In-Demand Talent to Elite Employers
While smart and driven, junior candidates often struggle getting initial recruiter attention lacking resume credentials.
AWS Educate levels the playing field by publicly displaying your completed training badges, certifications and assessments right in the platform‘s talent database – connecting you directly with interested employers.
Recruiters even prioritize contacting candidates with the most relevant course badges matching their tech stack and opening needs – making your demonstrated knowledge the key selling factor.
Pursue Your Passion and Potential in the Cloud
The cloud space offers enormously diverse career potential matching the breadth of technologies it supports – from data and analytics to application development to IoT and beyond.
AWS Educate‘s expansive curriculum lets you freely explore different areas to discover where your true interests and strengths align.
No more boxed into narrow academic programs – chart your own course based on what ignites your passion within the multi-faceted cloud industry.
Launch Your Journey Today from Anywhere
All AWS Educate resources live fully online, accessible 24/7 from any device globally.
No commutes wasting time or money. No rigid academic schedules. Learn on your own terms – whether a full-time student or working professional seeking to transition careers.
Cloud technology moves fast. AWS Educate ensures anyone serious about keeping pace can start building career-accelerating skills today.
Access specialized talent: Recruiter Experience
For employers racing to fill crucial cloud roles across teams like engineering, security, and IT ops, AWS Educate offers a goldmine of specialized junior talent in one place.
Recruiters gain private access to graded training profiles so you can directly contact candidates matching required skills shown through hands-on badge attainment. This prevents wasting time screening applicants lacking core competencies upfront.
You also obstruct objectivity issues plaguing traditional recruitment by removing bias around academic elitism and relying purely on ability demonstrated through rigorous technical challenges.
And moving hiring fully into AWS Educate slashes costs and headaches dealing with third party recruiters, external job boards, and events.
Realize Major Cost and Time Savings
Research shows employers save an average of $5,000 per hire by sourcing through AWS Educate compared to traditional university recruiting.
These dramatic savings result from:
- No commission fees – AWS Educate charges $0 to post jobs or hire
- Lower turnover – Candidates are pre-vetted for interest and skills fit
- Accelerated hiring – The platform centralizes and streamlines the entire process
That‘s budget freed up to hire more top talent or invest in strategic initiatives.
Plus, specialized academics and career services help attract applicants and ensure hires onboard successfully – reducing ramp up time.
How Leading Companies Tap AWS Educate Talent
Organizations like Verizon, Nokia, and Snap Inc. have hired dozens of entry level cloud experts from AWS Educate, with rave reviews about on-the-job impact.
And cloud leaders like AWS itself are also getting in the game – providing not just eduction, but also coveted resume-building opportunities to standout graduates through recruiting programs.
The door is open to begin sourcing your next generation of cloud architects, security professionals, machine learning scientists and application developers. Will you step through?
Getting Started: Student Sign-Up and Course Walkthrough
Eager to kickstart your cloud learning journey? Registering for AWS educate only takes 5 minutes:
Step 1: Visit the AWS Educate Student Sign-Up Page
Step 2: Click "Learn cloud skills"
Step 3: Enter your school-issued email address (your sign-in ID)
Step 4: Complete the account creation form
Step 5: Confirm via email link to begin accessing the platform
Once logged in, you can browse the extensive course library and build a customized learning curriculum.
Introductory Courses
I recommend new students start with the following beginner-level classes to establish core fundamentals:
AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials – Foundational overview for understanding AWS cloud technology and key concepts.
AWS Compute Services – Introduction to launching and managing virtual server instances on Amazon EC2.
AWS Management Console – Navigating the primary user interface for controlling AWS environments.
Cloud Security Essentials – Securing cloud resources against breach and cyber threats.
Each course combines short lecture videos, readings, demonstrations of tools in action, and knowledge checks to absorb key takeaways.
But the real value comes from hands-on labs. Here you‘ll apply concepts to solve real challenges – which amplifies retention and muscle memory.
For example, in the EC2 labs you‘ll:
- Launch, connect and configure your own EC2 Linux instance
- Deploy a simple Node.js app to test instance performance
- Destroy instance to prevent unwanted charges
Combiningsavvy theory with targeted hands-on practice prepares you to operate confidently from day one on the job.
Be sure to add any earned certification badges upon course completion to your profile – this helps recruiters identify your skills when evaluating candidates in the platform‘s database.
Recruiter Sign Up and Platform Walkthrough
Ready to tap into exclusive junior cloud talent? Getting started with AWS Educate recruiting takes just minutes:
Step 1: Visit the Company Sign-Up Page
Step 2: Click "Hire for my company"
Step 3: Complete company and user registration
Step 4: Confirm via email and begin accessing employer tools
Once logged in, dive into features like:
Browsing Student Profiles – Filter grad database by skills, majors, badges earned and other attributes. Save appealing candidates to private shortlists for further review.
Posting Job Openings – Create and publish roles tailored to entry-level applicants highlighting grow opportunities at your organization.
Candidate Communication – Directly email students meeting your preliminary screening criteria with interview invites or further assessments.
Hiring Workflow – Schedule video interviews, administer technical tests, coordinate with universities career centers, and push finalized new hire paperwork.
The streamlined process accelerates sourcing through offer letter delivery.
Preparing for Cloud Career Success After Graduation
AWS Educate has unlocked the doors to a thriving cloud computing career by arming you with real-world skills. But the learning (and opportunity) never stops as technology relentlessly advances.
Stay ahead of change and continue advancing once on the job by:
- Earning higher certifications like the AWS Certified Solutions Architect
- Attending AWS hosted-events to discover latest service launches
- Starting local AWS meetup groups to continuously improve through peer learning
- Exploring complementary technologies like containers, programming languages and databases
- Settling into a growth mentality no matter your seniority level
The cloud space develops rapidly but offers unlimited room for driven professionals to build upon specializations. With your AWS Educate foundation, the possibilities are wide open.
AWS Educate: Just the Start of a Career-Long Journey
With over 200 services and counting, AWS forms the backbone of the internet – supporting disruptive startups and global enterprises alike.
Yet only a tiny fraction of engineers possess expertise deploying and operating these reliable but complex cloud systems.
AWS Educate bridges this gap by removing infrastructure barriers preventing hands-on education at scale. It allows anyone passionate breaking into cloud computing to start building career-advancing skills immediately – then connects them directly with employers ready to bring driven talent aboard.
Both students and companies win thanks to the innovative platform.
Are you ready to unlock your cloud potential? Sign up today and let your AWS learning voyage begin!
