Make the switch to the cloud for your job.

Today, we’re beginning off a three-part blog series on career pivots, focusing on how companies and individuals can gain cloud skills that help them advance their careers and businesses.

In December, AWS announced that it will provide free cloud-computing skills training to 29 million people across the world. We’re dedicated to supporting the future workforce at AWS Training and Certification, and that workforce is expected to increase. According to Burning Glass Technology, a labor-market analytics firm, employment requiring cloud skills would expand by 28% in the next five years in the United States.

Over the last year, we’ve heard several exciting tales of companies investing in upskilling their employees and people taking measures to prepare for a cloud-related position. These tales begin with the acquisition of new talents. The student will frequently seek external validation of abilities through industry certification, which serves as a motivation as well as a form of acknowledgment.

Individuals with experience in areas such as cloud architecture, cloud-based application development, operating systems, networking, machine learning, cloud security, and more can obtain one of AWS’ 11 cloud-related certifications. The number of people dedicating time to learning AWS skills and subsequently obtaining an AWS Certification has increased dramatically. More than 400,000 people have current AWS Certifications as of August 2020, a number that increased by more than 85 percent between August 2019 and August 2020. Despite this, firms continue to seek cloud talent: according to 451 Research, 90 percent of IT decision makers cite cloud skills shortages.

As part of cloud projects, migrations, and upskilling programmed, AWS clients such as National Australia Bank, BP, and VNR have taught and assisted their staff in earning AWS Certification. Accenture, World Wide Technology, and CloudCheckr are AWS Partners that have established their cloud-based teams and earned AWS Competencies via specialized learning and certification programmed. Higher-education institutions, like as Miami-Dade College, have adopted AWS cloud-computing curriculum with certification milestones integrated in to assist students prepare for cloud-related careers.

Individuals are striking out on their own to gain cloud skills and pioneer a new career path at the same time as enterprises are upskilling their staff. Aspiring builders may utilize AWS Certification as a milestone on their route to achieving their personal objective, whether it’s to be staffed on a cloud project at their firm, find a new job after a layoff, or future-proof their IT career.

Here are two examples of AWS Certified persons who have embarked on a cloud-pivot journey.

After being laid off in April 2020 due to the pandemic, J Dana Eckart, now a senior solutions architect at Vistra Corp., began his AWS journey: “I soon understood that the employment market was going to be quite tight.” With so much free time on my hands, it was the ideal moment to learn more about cloud computing. I decided to concentrate my employment hunt on AWS since I believed it would bring the greatest options.”

Dana began her studies and established benchmarks for herself to achieve particular AWS Certifications. “I felt like something clicked every time I passed an AWS Certification exam,” Dana said. “Everything seemed to come into place at the same time, and my confidence in my own talents grew.” Finally, the AWS Certifications I earned helped me land my present position.”

AWS Certifications can be inspiring as a personal challenge for others, such as Maciek Trzeciak. “I wanted a professional shift,” Maciek adds. While I was considering my options, I immediately learned that cloud technologies are gradually becoming the preferred method of operation for enterprises across practically all industries. Cloud seemed like an obvious career choice in the next years, and getting certified appeared like a fun and doable endeavor.”

While studying, Maciek used the AWS Free Tier to acquire some hands-on experience with the AWS Cloud. He was awarded the cloud job he wanted just a few weeks after completing AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. He’s presently working as a DevOps engineer with kreuzwerker, an AWS Partner. “Becoming certified changed my life,” Maciek remarked.

If you’ve been debating whether now is the right moment to get free AWS Training and Certification to improve your core cloud knowledge, we advise you to think about it. You can grow with the cloud as more firms, from startups to major corporations to government agencies and more, migrate to the AWS Cloud to save money, become more nimble, and innovate quicker by starting to expand your cloud expertise today. You may acquire one (or more) of the 11 industry-recognized AWS Certifications to demonstrate your progress and be prepared for your company’s next cloud initiative—or perhaps that next job interview.