Contextualized Career Readiness for a Cloud Computing Consortium

Our Class partnered with California Cloud Workforce (CCW) Consortia to provide ongoing support in the development of soft skills for the students in the consortia across the 19 participating colleges. Our Class, in consultation with CCW Consortia leadership, developed a series of scaffolded and contextualized career-readiness workshops and 1:1 resume development sessions for students. Students gained skills in the workshops to organize and develop their resumes and prepare them for competitive job interviews including the opportunity to participate in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Virtual Career Fair. The AWS Virtual Career Fair was specifically designed and hosted for the consortia to provide more opportunities in the tech sector for community college students.

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services including data, networking, and storage, over the internet. It is one of the largest growth areas in technology today, with 90% of companies on the cloud. As a result of COVID-19, a greater population of the workforce has moved to work remotely, further increasing the already high demand for cloud computing services. The high demand has created opportunities for students to enter and pursue a high-wage growth sector.

To best meet this demand and prepare students for opportunities, Santa Monica College established a regional sector-based partnership of multiple cloud employers, 19 community colleges and partnering high schools, to create the California Cloud Workforce Consortia (CCW), a Strong Workforce Program funded by the CA Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. The goal of the CA Cloud Workforce Consortia is to expand the common cloud curriculum and develop a regional career pathway program leading to industry certifications. The Cloud Computing Certificate is now offered at all the participating colleges and is approved by the state as a regional certificate program with course credit portable across the 19 colleges. Between Fall 2017-Fall 2020 a total of 3,555 students enrolled in cloud computing courses in the Los Angeles region.