New College Institute to Offer Amazon Web Services Training in Southern Virginia

AWS re/Start training to prepare Virginians to entry-level careers in cloud computing

New College Institute (NCI) is pleased to announce a collaborative effort with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide cloud computing skills development and job training through the AWS re/Start program. The first AWS re/Start cohort at NCI is scheduled to begin in Fall 2020. NCI and AWS will host informational AWS re/Start webinars on August 5 to provide details on employer, partnership, and participant opportunities.

“This is an amazing opportunity for job seekers in Southern and Southwestern Virginia,” said Karen Jackson, interim executive director of NCI. “We are proud to be working with AWS to provide training that will empower more people in Virginia’s rural communities to learn new, in-demand skills, and find employment in a high-growth industry.”

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AWS re/Start prepares learners for entry-level cloud roles, such as cloud operations, site reliability, infrastructure support, and technical adjacent business support functions. Each cohort of learners in the AWS re/Start program is supported by professional mentors and accredited trainers, and completes a 12-week training featuring real-world scenario-based learning, hands-on labs, and coursework. The program also provides learners with resume and interview coaching to prepare for employer meetings and interviews.

NCI’s AWS re/Start program will primarily be available to unemployed and underemployed populations in Southern and Southwestern Virginia. Applicants from other areas of Virginia will be considered on a space available basis.  According to the Virginia Employment Commission, almost 400,000 Virginians are currently unemployed due to COVID-19. In addition, according to Emsi labor market data from July 2019 to June 2020, Virginia has the third largest number of cloud related job postings in the United States with almost 300K cloud related jobs posted. NCI is proud to create opportunities for more people, from more backgrounds, to engage in workforce training in such a high-demand, high-growth arena. AWS and the AWS Workforce Development team continue to focus on opportunities to support unemployed and underemployed individuals in Virginia.

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“The Information Technology (IT) industry is facing a substantial talent deficit that can only be addressed by attracting more Americans into cloud computing and IT careers, including those without traditional technology educations or experience. The AWS re/Start program is a springboard to help Virginians prepare for and successfully enter entry-level careers in cloud computing. 1901 Group is excited to leverage AWS re/Start and NCI to help identify, attract, and hire more Virginians to fill our demand for cloud computing talent, especially at our Enterprise IT Operations Centers in Southwest Virginia,” said Brendan Walsh SVP Partner Relations at 1901 Group.

“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 with little to no technology background and preparing them to launch a cloud career,” said Tejas Vashi, AWS re/Start Global Team Lead, AWS Training & Certification, Amazon Web Services, Inc.