Building Careers in the Cloud

The California Cloud Workforce Project

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—from applications to storage and processing power—over the internet.1 It is widely considered the hottest growth area in technology today. Experts say that 90% of companies are on the cloud with the U.S. public cloud market accounting for $124.6 billion in 2019. With the advent of COVID-19, large sections of the workforce are working from home, increasing the demand for cloud computing services. Cloud computing offers students a prime opportunity to enter a high-wage growth sector

In Los Angeles and Orange Counties in 2018, there were 83,010 job openings requiring knowledge of cloud computing, while the region’s community colleges conferred 974 degrees or certificates in information and computing technology that year.4 To address this gap, Santa Monica College partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and AWS Educate to develop college credit courses in cloud computing that begin in high school, continue in college, and lead to college certificates, degrees, and industry certifications. The partners created an entry-level, 18-unit Cloud Computing Certificate program that introduces students to AWS and other cloud technologies as well as to career pathways in the cloud. The four core courses teach architecting, database management, security, and other cloud essentials and are carefully aligned with industry competencies and certifications. During its initial pilot (2017- 2018), Santa Monica College also partnered with Roosevelt High School to offer dual enrollment opportunities in cloud computing during the school year.