New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Community colleges partner with Amazon subsidiary for tech training
NEW HAVEN — A partnership between the state, its community college system and a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Amazon will establish non-credit certificate program classes offering training in a variety of computer and information technology skills, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday.
Amazon Web Services, which provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments, will provide the curriculum for the courses, which will be offered through Connecticut’s community college system. The courses will cost $795 and will be taken over a five- to seven-week period, according to state Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe.
“We will help with the cost of the course for people who it is an issue for,” Geballe said. The partnership
does not involve any money changing hands between the state and AWS, he said; the money a student pays for the course goes to the community college the individual attends.
Lamont announced the partnership during a press conference at Gateway
Community College.
“We have tens of thousands of these jobs that are being advertised every year and now we want to match the training with the need,” he said.
The initial goal of the program is to train more than 2,000 Connecticut residents by 2024, said Terrence Cheng, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, which oversees the state’s 12 community colleges. Cheng said 20 faculty members across the community college system are being trained to teach the classes.
The first classes for what will be known as AWS Academy will be offered at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport Nov. 2. The classes then will be rolled out at Manchester and Three Rivers community colleges Nov. 29 and at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield in early December.
The rest of Connecticut’s community colleges will offer AWS Academy beginning in the spring 2022 semester, according to state officials.
Geballe said more than 40,000 jobs were advertised last year alone that sought individuals with skills relate to cloud computing and information technology.
The median salary for cloud computing jobs is $180,00, he said.
“These are great jobs,” Geballle said.
An inability to fill those positions can slow down a technology company’s productivity or force Connecticut-based companies to look to hire out-of-state residents with the necessary skills, he said.
“We want to keep those jobs here,” Geballle said. “Amazon is a leader in cloud computing. Here in Connecticut, we can choose to be stuck in the past or we can modernize the way the state operates.”
The CSCU has created a dedicated web page for interested students to get more information and sign up for the training. For more information, visit www.ct.edu/aws.