On 1 June 2022, Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced the launch of the AWS re/Start programme in Singapore. AWS re/Start is a skills-development and job training programme that prepares learners for cloud computing careers and operates in more than 100 cities across more than 40 countries globally.
Benefits for Employers:
In Singapore, the programme will operate as a collaboration with Lithan, a digital learning and talents platform with the mission to deliver growth for talents and enterprises in the digital economy. Lithan is offering the programme under the Career Conversion Programme (CCP) for Cloud Professionals – AWS Cloud Specialist by Workforce Singapore (WSG). Companies can obtain salary support from WSG when they tap on the CCP to hire mid-career individuals without prior experience or redeploy eligible to take on cloud practitioner roles. Concurrently, companies can enrol their employees for optional structured classroom training offered by Lithan and leverage applicable course fee funding by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) to subsidize the AWS re/Start structured classroom training component within the CCP duration.
Upskilling the Singaporean workforce is increasingly important as digitalization accelerates. New research commissioned by AWS and carried out by strategy and economics consulting firm AlphaBeta shows that the need for digital skills training in Singapore became more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 91% of workers reporting they need more digital skills – the ability and knowledge to apply digital technologies for tasks in the workplace – to cope with changes in their jobs. The “Building Digital Skills for the Changing Workforce” report also found that cloud and cyber security skills will be the top two most demanded digital skills by employers by 2025.
Benefits for Individuals:
AWS re/Start is a skills-based training programme covering fundamental AWS Cloud skills and practical career tips, including interviewing and resume writing. Through real-world, scenario-based exercises, labs, and coursework, students with no prior experience in cloud computing learn to build Linux, Python, networking, security, and relational database skills.
The programme prepares participants for entry-level cloud roles in operations, site reliability, infrastructure support, and more; it also prepares participants and covers the cost of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification exam, so graduates can validate cloud skills with an industry-recognized credential. Individuals may apply for the CCP for Cloud Professionals with a participating employer to undergo AWS re/Start structured training and on-the-job training to take on their new job role. The programme is offered as a standalone or as part of the CCP for Cloud Professionals – AWS Cloud Specialist. Individuals should apply for the CCP through their company. The first AWS re/Start Singapore cohort will kick-off in June; registration is now open.
“The industry demand for cloud adoption continues to outpace the number of new, cloud-savvy workers, leaving organizations struggling to find and hire the talent needed to implement cloud services.” said Conor McNamara, Managing Director, AWS ASEAN. “To overcome this divide, cloud talent must be cultivated from non-traditional sources. AWS re/Start provides individuals in Singapore with little to no technology background with the fundamental hard and soft skills to kickstart their cloud career, helping address the current skills gap within the tech field as well as provide people with the opportunity to pivot into this exciting and ever-changing industry.”
Lithan founder and CEO, Leslie Loh, expressed his confidence in the collaboration that aims to lead digital upskilling in cloud computing in Singapore. In his words, “Rapid digitalization necessitates the development of a pool of talent that’s relevant for the new economy. The goal of this collaboration with AWS re/Start is to develop this pool of talent by helping adult learners to transit into a high growth career, and helping enterprises improve their existing digital workforce. This programme offers enterprises the opportunity to stay one step ahead of digitalization in their industries.”
From education to employment
Support and assistance to the learners will continue even after they graduate from the program. Leveraging its partnerships with industry-leading institutions, Lithan aims to provide placement opportunities to all graduates within six months after the completion of the program.
In Singapore, hiring partners Cloud Kinetics, GECO Asia, Graymatics, and Starhub, have fully committed themselves to welcome graduates of the program to their companies.
“Cloud skills development is a critical foundation for organizations looking to embark on the digital transformation journey,” Haji Munshi, CEO, Cloud Kinetics. “By collaborating with AWS, we will be providing real-world scenarios and projects for the candidates to work on. We believe this will help fill the talent gap with true cloud practitioners.”
“Cloud Roles have accounted for some 40% of our hiring at Geco, year to date. We aim to be an Employer of Choice for Career Transiters, as there is good mentoring and coaching support. Currently, we have 45 cloud roles to fill by August. The salary hike is approximately 50% compared to similar roles which are based on traditional non-cloud and on-premises administration or support roles,” said Christie Dao, Director of Capability & Organization Optimization, GECO Asia. “An upskilling program, such as AWS re/Start, is an excellent springboard for anyone who has interest in transitioning to a modern IT career in infrastructure management.”
“Graymatics ensures continuous developments and enhancement of our intelligent platform VISTA to solve real-life problem statements,” shared Jagdip Yadav, Manager of Graymatics APAC, a cloud platform providing digital video and image recognition technology to products. “The AWS re/Start program will support us in building cloud talent for our growing market, and the tangible hands-on approach in the course will also provide our team with real life scenario practice, something we would like to cultivate our talents to focus on.”
“Connecting digital lives as part of StarHub’s five-year transformation strategy DARE+, we are swiftly expanding our cloud offerings, and are placing strong emphasis on attracting, hiring, and retaining talents in this field,” said Catherine Chia, Chief Human Resource Officer of StarHub. “We are pleased to work with AWS and Lithan on the AWS re/Start programme, which enables us to strengthen our pipeline of talents in cloud technology, while empowering non-tech professionals to embark on a new career. More than just tapping on a pool of unconventional candidates, we believe in nurturing and developing people, to seek the best opportunities they deserve.”
AWS re/Start is a global program delivered in 40 countries and connects more than 90% of graduates with job interview opportunities. For more information, visit AWS re/Start.
To learn more and apply for a Singapore cohort, visit https://products.lithan.com/aws-restart-program/.
About Amazon Web Services:
For over 15 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud offering. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any cloud workload, and it now has more than 200 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 84 Availability Zones within 26 geographic regions, with announced plans for 24 more Availability Zones and eight more AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
About Lithan Academy:
Lithan Academy is an accredited training organization endorsed by various government agencies under Singapore’s ministry of education. We are EduTrust certified by the Committee for Private Education (CPE) and a Centre for Continuous Education and Training (CET) appointed by SkillsFuture (SSG) Singapore. We are also an accredited international training center for Pearson UK.
Lithan Academy has served over 30,000 learners and 2,000 enterprises with our network of over 100+ campuses across Asia.
Press Coverage
Hardware Zone – Singapore workers get free skills boost to retrain for careers in Cloud computing
The Bharat Express News – Singapore workers get free skills boost to retrain for careers in Cloud computing
WorkSmart Asia – Get started on a cloud computing career with AWS re/Start