Despite the media fervor around technology replacing human labor, the reality of modernization is a net gain in new jobs — one that will require a fresh crop of talent with the most current industry education. In order to arm an incoming workforce with the knowledge they’ll need to land roles in tech, Amazon Web Services Inc. is partnering with community colleges to develop an accelerated certification program through its California Cloud Workforce Project.

“We’ve been developing a certificate that students are able to earn at the end of 15 units in cloud computing,” said Marvin Martinez (pictured), president of East Los Angeles College. “The goal is to get them trained quickly and out to work quickly.”

Martinez spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the AWS Imagine: A Better World event in Seattle, Washington. They discussed the school’s partnership with Amazon and how the program is helping students excel.

Enabling opportunities for a new generation

The goal of the AWS and East Los Angeles College program is to encourage students’ interest in cloud careers and help connect them to job opportunities in and outside the company. The partnership has already led to direct recruiting from Amazon, according to Martinez.

“They call us all the time and say, ‘Do you have trained students? We’ll hire them right now, and we’ll pay them a good salary,’” he said.

The community college is also partnering with high schools to bridge learning gaps and give students the advantage of a headstart. “If you want to be competitive, a high school diploma may not be enough. If we’re able to get students on a college campus to take a college-level course, they’re able to go out and work once they complete this program,” Martinez stated.

Prior to the implementation of this new cloud curriculum, enrollment was in decline across community college’s due to their somewhat outdated course offerings. Through the California Cloud Workforce Project, East Los Angeles College is adapting to fit the needs of a new generation.

“Young people grow up with these technologies, so when we propose programs like these, they enroll en masse,” Martinez said.

Looking ahead, Martinez expects the program to continue developing. “You want to take care of the kids and put them in the right path so they have the most success possible. Amazon offers that kind of path,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS Imagine: A Better World event.

Photo: SiliconANGLE