Dive Brief:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced training courses and certifications to combat the "cloud skills gap."
• The courses include "Architecting on AWS Accelerator," a four-and-a-half-day class that readies students for the "AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate" exam, according to a press release.
• Two corresponding courses, "AWS Certified Cloud Practicioner" and "AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials," prepare those in non-tech roles to comprehend "cloud concepts."

Dive Insight:

There is a high employer demand for workers with cloud-related skill sets: LinkedIn named cloud computing the most in-demand hard skill of 2019.

This follows a more general pattern of demand for high-tech skills throughout the business world. Last year, the demand for highly skilled tech workers grew, and so did the difficulty in finding them, according to the results of a Consumer Technology Association survey. It's a burden even the federal government bears, leading the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to publish guidance aimed at helping agencies identify cybersecurity skills gaps in 2018.

Of course, one of the primary ways to close these gaps is to create more workers who possess the needed know-how. Just as AWS has established itself in the credentialing market, businesses and other entities have created training and learning opportunities. Often, businesses, educational institutions and non-profits (and sometimes the government) will come together to offer such programming. For example, Johns Hopkins University's Whiting School of Engineering and 2U's Trilogy Education announced a coding boot camp in July to teach front- and back-end development skills to working professionals from the Baltimore, Maryland, area.