 From around the globe, it's theCUBE with digital coverage of AWS re-invent 2020. Sponsored by Intel and AWS. Welcome to theCUBE's coverage of AWS re-invent 2020. I'm Lisa Martin. Exciting conversation coming up next. We have Maureen Lonergan with us, the Director of Worldwide Training and Certification from AWS and Jared Gaines, Customer Support Analyst for IDBS. Welcome to both of you. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Thank you, I appreciate being here. Likewise. So, we're gonna be talking about training and certification programs and skilling and right now couldn't be more of an important time to talk about that. The global health and economic crisis continues to loom over our heads, but cloud computing and the industry is continuing to grow. So, there's demand for these skills. Maureen, I wanna start with you to just kick us off with an overview of what the AWS Restart program is. And then we hear from Jared about his experience. Yeah, so I thought I'd start off by saying, today Accenture released a study that said that connecting individuals to opportunities to learn, we can create pathways and jobs with more opportunity, higher wages, accelerated growth and less vulnerability and sudden disruptions like COVID. In fact, today we announced our commitment to help 29 million people grow their technical skills with free cloud computing and training by 2025. One of those programs is Restart. And Restart is a skills development and job training program that prepares learners for careers in the cloud. We wanna build local talent by providing AWS cloud skills and job opportunities to unemployed. We work with nonprofits in the local communities and government organizations to deliver a learning experience and provide pathway to earning an AWS certification and support the participants as they launch their career jobs by providing them training and matching them with companies, giving them the opportunity to interview with companies. And Jared's one of our graduates of that program. Excellent, well, Jared, welcome to the program. Talk to us about your background. What led you to join the AWS Restart program and when was that? So I started the program in May and before COVID I was working in fitness. I was on my way to open my own studio and then COVID happened and kinda swept the rug from under my feet. So trying to recreate a career out of almost nothing now since everything was in quarantine. I was referred to Per Skolas, which is a program that hosted the Restart program where I'd learned Python skills, Linux administration skills, the architecture and infrastructure of AWS. It gave me a lot of tools to kinda grow a career in the cloud. And so you were in fitness before, did you have any tech training, any tech background experience? Outside of the few online tools that I used, I always tell people the most tech experience I had was upgrading my iPhone. Wow, so this is a program Maureen that anybody can enter. You talked about the number of 29 million. So Jared, I can imagine when you found this program, as you said in the beginning with fitness studios still shut down, who knows what could have happened. Amazing opportunities that it provided you. Talk to us about, if we think back, it's only been what eight or so months where you are now, you mentioned some of the certifications that you have. Talk to us about how that's landed you in your current career. So during the program, I was matched up with the company and able to interview with them. And I was able to land a role as a customer support analyst where I troubleshoot software support issues. So you go way beyond now upgrading your iPhone. I bet your friends are all gonna be coming to you for fix this, this isn't working, right? You're gonna have to be that tech supporter for all your friends and family. That IT guy now, I'm it. You are, that's awesome. So talk to me about some of the things that you would recommend, Jared, to your peers and folks, especially if you're saying, you know, all I was good at before tech wise was upgrading my phone. That really I think dispels a lot of the concerns that folks might have. I don't have a tech background, I don't have a tech degree. Your proof, you don't need one and you know Python now, I don't even know that. So what I always like to tell everyone is empty your cup and disarm the ego. You know, starting something new when you're pivoting into a new career, it's going to require some changes. It's going to have a lot of challenges. So when you come to it with an open mind and are willing to kind of grind it out, it's worth it in the end. So the results speak for themselves. Well, you have the right mindset. I think that is huge. That was a big advantage that you probably had going in but that's such great advice for anyone. I think maybe one of the, I call them COVID catalysts and this is one of them. Some of the things that are coming out of this, Maureen, that Jared and his peers are really being able to upskill, reskill, learn new skills. But to Jared's point, you got to have that open mind. So Maureen, talk to me a little bit more about you mentioned 29 million folks being impacted with this. I'm sure there are a lot of folks like Jared who had no tech background and are now opening up because of the pandemic careers and opportunities that they never would have thought of. Yeah, I mean, restart's one of several programs that will be turning 29 million people for free. But I think for restart in particular, it really is. And Jared's a great example of this is having a desire to dig in. We had a conversation the other day and he was saying what an incredible opportunity and if you have an open mind and a learn and be curious kind of mentality, you can be successful with this program and he's a great example of that. And this program's never been more important than during these times. And Jared's actually a graduate of the first virtual program because we actually delivered this in countries all over the world, but we had to pivot quickly, much like all of our other programs into a virtual environment. So even with those challenges, working remotely with his cohort, he was still able to get through the training and get a certification and then hired by an employer. So it's just, it's a credit to him and all the hard work he put into it. Exactly, and I can tell he's a disciplined guy and that's one of the things that I think all of us have struggled with during the last nine months is having that discipline and motivation. Everything is just completely, it's the upside down from stranger things, right? Jared, talk to me a little bit about kind of specifically some of the things that when you think of the word restart and you think of maybe where you were a year ago, this has really been an actual restart for you. I'm sure fitness will get back hope to what it was and you have now even more opportunities as a result of this crisis. Yes, I was able to really grow and become something more than myself because COVID and quarantine presented so many challenges and you kind of had to adapt quickly. It allowed me to recognize a lot of the transferable skills that I had other places and brought them and bringing them into the program. So that restart name fits perfect for the opportunity that it gives people. You can literally become competitive in a new industry within a few short months. I think what I'm doing, oh, go ahead, Maureen. I was just gonna say one of the other interesting things is he has a son at home that he's homeschooling. So not only did COVID impact his business, but his family and his having to learn and online school help to online school, his son is also a credit to his character and his drive. Oh, absolutely. I can't imagine how challenging that is to do, not just one, do a regular job that you've been doing for a long time while also having kids at home that you're having help. But you are in the middle of a pretty big shift. The online, talk to me about, I imagine maybe you were even inspiring to your son or vice versa in terms of having the dedication to show up online because there's nobody, making sure that you're actually in a physical location. Right, Jared? Yeah, so there was some advantages and disadvantages to learning in a virtual environment, but having my son there, be kind of pulled on each other and pushed each other, like, hey, like a human break, what are you doing? Like, why are you working and I'm not working? So we was able to kind of motivate and inspire each other to really make things happen. And then with being in a virtual environment and then coming from a fitness background, I'll say like I really didn't miss getting up at 5 a.m. for early sessions. So there were some things that I really enjoyed from it. There's definitely pros and cons, yeah, not getting up at 5 a.m. So then in terms of like not getting up at 5 a.m., Jared, are you able to kind of create your own curriculum and complete it at your own? So there was a curriculum provided by the program. As I always say, you need to do that plus more. Getting away with the bare minimum isn't just enough. So in addition to the curriculum, I would take extra hours and really dive deeper into it and make sure that I had a firm grasp on everything. So Maureen, I can't imagine what this year would have been like without programs like this. I think the name is, I think we all want a restart. I think we're looking for the calendar to turn in a couple of weeks and have a restart. But talk to me about some of the other opportunities and some of the big transformations like Jared's that you're helping people achieve. I think at AWS we really believe in providing as much access to education as we can. We have pivoted our entire curriculum to virtual, either virtual instructor-led training or digital training. We have a digital platform with 500 free courses on it. So really anybody can learn. I talked a little bit about this earlier in the week. My dad was asking me, what's cloud? What does that mean? And I introduced him to the cloud practitioner. So I think it's anyone from my 78-year-old father to young kids really trying to introduce STEM into STEM programs, AWS cloud and have them play around with it. So there's a lot of amazing things. We've also, we provide our curriculum into universities through our academy and educate programs as well. So we want to reach out to anybody that we can. We want to provide training to anybody that wants it and we do that through delivering it ourselves and through partnerships. I love that you just talked about such breadth of folks like Jared to folks like your dad wanting to understand something differently. I think that my mom learns about the cloud because she watches the queue, but I love that there's now the opportunity to reach even more people and help them transform, which right now I can't imagine a better opportunity. Jared, what's your one piece of advice for folks maybe in your situation who are going, we're locked down again. I don't know what's gonna happen next year. We can't count on this vaccine to be this one day, June 1st, everything is gonna open back up. What do you recommend that they do to not be afraid to take on something completely different? I would say stay fluid, be ready for anything that can come your way. When you're able to change and move directions, the force doesn't stop, it just goes more directed somewhere else. So when you're in control of that, the results are gonna be amazing. Jared, congratulations. I find you very inspirational. I'm sure your son does as well. Who knows, maybe he'll be a steam kid one of these days, but that's congratulations on having a discipline in a time that nobody ever could have predicted that we would be living in. And Maureen, I wanna ask the last question to you following on to the question for Jared. What do you recommend if folks are going, I don't know, should I look into this? I'm scared of it or I don't have this experience. What do you say? Yeah, I don't think people should be scared about it. I think Jared said it well. You just have to have a desire to learn and a curiosity and when we help you get there, right? We provide the program. So if you have an interesting cloud, whether it's through our restart program or any of our digital offerings, the digital offerings are probably the easiest way. Go in and be curious yourself and take cloud practitioner. It's online and it's available for free. And then you can start to see how you can build your skills. And if you're interested in restart by all means, go ahead and apply for the program. We're looking for builders for the future. I love that. The amount of opportunities are endless with this. So we'll say to folks, be like Jared. Yes, the health crisis is looming, but cloud is booming and there's opportunity for you. So be like Jared. Jared and Maureen, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a great conversation. Thanks Lisa, thanks Jared. Thank you, it was a pleasure. All right guys, thank you so much. For my guests, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE's coverage of AWS re-invent 2020.