Key Takeaways

• AWS Grow Our Own Talent provides Amazon employees and entry-level candidates with non-traditional backgrounds with on-the-job training and job placement possibilities.
• Surge2IT is a self-paced learning resource that enables entry-level IT professionals across Amazon's operations network to seek careers in higher-paying technical areas.
• The Intel AI for Workforce Program also provides professional training for school faculty and implementation guidance.

Introduction

Amazon Upskilling 2025 Program

 

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AWS Grow Our Own Talent

• AWS Grow Our Own Talent provides Amazon employees and entry-level candidates with non-traditional backgrounds with on-the-job training and job placement possibilities.

• The training prepares staff to work in Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers, where they can innovate and safely deliver high-quality cloud computing services to clients.

• The company employs employees who participate in the program in positions such as data center technicians and data-center engineering operations technicians. They receive six months of on-the-job training.

Upskilling 2025 Program Models

Surge2IT

• Surge2IT is a self-paced learning resource that enables entry-level IT professionals across Amazon's operations network to seek careers in higher-paying technical areas.

• The course prepares employees to further their careers in information technology by teaching them how to assist Amazon Robotics' picking and stowing technology.

• Participants who advance their careers at Amazon can earn an extra $10,000 per year. 

The UXDR Apprenticeship Program

• Employees can acquire and build skills in research and design on teams across Amazon, including Prime Video, Alexa, AWS, and Amazon Fashion, through the UXDR Apprenticeship program, which combines instructor-led training and real-world experience in a one-year curriculum.

• Graduates are prepared for jobs that help Amazon customers have a better experience, from making online payments easier to design features that make devices more accessible.

Challenges and Potential Solutions

• When it comes to job growth over the next decade, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a shortage of career paths. In-demand jobs such as medical assistants, statisticians, software developers, nurse practitioners, and wind turbine service technicians will be the fastest-rising occupations.

• To solve this, Amazon's Upskilling 2025 initiative aims to create career paths in areas expected to flourish in the coming years.

• More than 300,000 Amazon employees in the United States will receive free upskilling opportunities worth more than $1.2 billion, allowing them to advance their careers in high-paying, in-demand professions.

• The company is also spending hundreds of millions of dollars on public projects to deliver free cloud computing skills training to 29 million people worldwide.
•  Kenzie Academy and Lambda School were the early adopters of the model.

Intel's Digital Readiness Program Portfolio

AI for Workforce Model

• The program is part of Intel's Digital Readiness program portfolio, equipping current and future workers with critical artificial intelligence skills (AI).

• Intel provides community institutions with approximately 225 hours of AI curriculum, including pre-packaged courses.

• The Intel AI for Workforce Program also provides professional training for school faculty and implementation guidance.

• Community colleges then use the content to create AI certificates, supplement current courses, or launch novel AI associate degree programs for their students.

• As of December 2021, 31 institutions in 18 states had joined AI for Workforce, which was started in the United States in 2020 through partnerships with governments and community colleges.

Challenges and Solutions

• COVID-19 has expedited the digitization of everything, fostering innovation and new models of learning, work, business, and care.

• Ubiquitous computing, pervasive connectivity, artificial intelligence, and cloud-to-edge infrastructure are disruptive emerging technologies driving rapid digital transformation.

• By unlocking the power of data and promoting next-generation solutions, Intel seeks to tackle these challenges and proffer solutions that benefit business, society, and the globe as we look ahead to the next decade.

• Intel's new RISE 2030 strategies, backed by its technology and the expertise and enthusiasm of its employees, aim to create a more responsible, inclusive, and sustainable future.

Intel Powered the First AI Associate Degree

• In 2020, the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) in Arizona established the first two-year AI associate degree program, collaborating with Intel.

• Intel supplied content on the most up-to-date AI tech skills, such as machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing, as well as social skills, such as AI ethics and biases.

• Intel provided faculty training and assisted in developing AI labs, and universities are now adopting the curriculum.

• Through this degree, thousands of students, regardless of ethnicity or gender, will be able to find work in a variety of fields, including high tech, healthcare, automotive, industrial, and aerospace.

• Many students have already begun using what they have learned in the workplace.  

• Graduating students are now better equipped with new technical, social, and professional growth skills. They are ready to enter the local workforce in Maricopa County, where AI-related employment is predicted to rise by over 40% by 2030. 

Challenges and Solutions

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is rising, and establishing an AI workforce is crucial for a country's global competitiveness.

• Furthermore, demand for AI talent is likely to skyrocket over the next three years, necessitating the acquisition of new technical skills by workers across industries.

• According to a poll of higher education instructors and IT decision-makers conducted in 2021, 69 percent of all respondents believe that businesses are increasingly looking for graduates with AI technical skills.

• Despite the high demand for AI training at community colleges, just 45% of respondents said their institution provides any AI technical course, certification, or degree program.

• To improve AI education, community college respondents said that more industry assistance for professional development, followed by more financing, would be the most beneficial.

• For community college professors, Intel is providing a train-the-trainer model and ongoing technical assistance for lead instructors.

• There is also an ongoing peer support network, design, and technology models for the AI Lab, including in-person, virtual, and hybrid delivery for college instructors.

Research strategy