Have you explored or used any of the free training programs offered by hyperscalers? Which ones should other leaders check out for their own teams?

Agree with Paul Toal 's comments. In addition, my recommendation would be to look at platforms like LinkedIn that offer training programs across hyperscalers, amongst many other providers

In my experience, the courses offered by the hyperscalers (disclaimer: I work for one of the hyperscalers) tend to be great if you need to gain skills in those specific cloud platforms and the services that are delivered on those platform. So, for example, if you want to understand how to operate in a DevOps type role, hyperscalers will have courses around managing their respective Kubernetes services etc. Of course, as you would expect they will generally always be targeted at specifically teaching you how to use the specific services in their platform.

Would I use a hyperscalers training if I wanted to get generic knowledge in a particular subject?Probably not. I would find courses elsewhere, whether online or in-person.

Using your account manager for your hyperscaler can help focus training on what you actually use. While there are online programs that are pretty generic, getting them to come onsite for a focused session or training for your own team has been beneficial. Having experts come in for focused training is more advantageous than just using their free, more generic training tiers.

Since we’re talking about hyperscalers, the big cloud computing platforms do have their free curriculum and courses. If you use them as a vendor, your technical account manager can create significantly discounted courses or programs. They have a lot of existing curated content that you can subscribe to, and they could even provide it for free to your organization if you ask. Sometimes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. These major cloud providers want more skilled people within their niche platforms, so they are flexible in providing their training curriculums or even instructors if needed for a couple of hours.

Our focus has been more on tool training and getting very specific in skill sets. Many vendors today have academies—training academies, knowledge academies—and getting certified in those tools and platforms is beneficial. Operators at that level can grow their professional skills, and it looks good on a resume when they are certified in specific technologies. These technologies are often deployed across various companies, so having that skill set means they can be efficient right out of the gate. They know the platform, how it operates, and how to maneuver quickly. Understanding your environment, documentation, and training on the actual operations and business flows is helpful. Knowing the tools and technologies used, they can quickly piece things together with resources like a Confluence article that explains the workflow. This makes them very efficient and helps them get into the flow of things quickly. I lean into those programs because they offer practical value for users and other companies they might work for later in their careers.