AWS Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance launches in France to help meet demand for cloud, AI talent

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance in France brings together education institutions such as Epitech, ECE Paris, CPE, Lyon, ENSITECH, PST&B, HETIC, DSTI, Datascientest; community organizations such as France Travail,  Numeum; and employers such as Apside and Capgemini. All participating organizations play a critical role in the Tech Alliance. 

The alliance aims to answer this question: How can we accelerate the digital transformation and economic development of France, when basic digital skills are lacking? This is the case in more than half of French companies. At the same time, only 19 percent of them recruit competent profiles without difficulty. AWS decided to launch the Tech Alliance in France with the mission to align on training provided in higher education institutions and training organizations with the recruitment needs of employers. Since 2023, the alliance has launched in 12 countries and US states and is now expanding to France, with the aim of meeting the growing demand for cloud skills. AWS aims to connect 25,000 learners with employers by 2030.

Addressing the challenge of talent shortage

This initiative is in line with the European Commission’s Digital Decade policy program, which aims to make Europe a digital leader by 2030, with the objective of having 75 percent of French companies using artificial intelligence (AI). According to a Strand Partners study, digital transformation could generate an additional €589 billion for the French economy by 2030 if the pace of adoption of AI is maintained.

Bridging the digital skills gap is a critical challenge to enable businesses of all sizes to access and take full advantage of the latest technologies. However, as the Institut Montaigne identifies in its report Mobilising and training digital talent, “The shortage of talent in digital jobs is currently one of the main obstacles to economic development in our country. The Montaigne Institute estimates that 845,000 people must be trained between 2023 and 2030, or 130,000 additional new talents to be trained per year. [To achieve this] The training offer must therefore double.” 

A multi-stakeholder initiative and an innovative collaborative model

The Tech Alliance is fully in line with the approach of training students and retraining people to use AWS Cloud and AI solutions, in collaboration with employers, education and training institutions, and institutional actors such as France Travail, Numeum, and Opco (skills operators).

“Capgemini is part of this same approach. We mobilize our business collaborators, including AWS, to deploy educational projects that are part of the curricula of our target campuses. Our objective to enable students to develop skills on concrete issues, using professional technological environments,” says Aurélie Jacquot, director of school and university relations at Capgemini.

Educational institutions including Epitech, ECE Paris, CPE Lyon, ENSITECH, PST&B, HETIC, DSTI and Datascientest can integrate industrial experience into their programs and provide employers with access to a pool of talent directly trained on the technologies they need. They can also be involved in training by giving courses and conferences or by participating in dedicated events focused on job exploring, coaching, mentoring, workshops, and applied learning.

In turn, the schools and training organizations listed earlier receive significant educational support by accessing tailored courses created and maintained by AWS, testing environments on the AWS console, and globally recognized certifications. For learners, the Tech Alliance is a unique opportunity to learn in-demand cloud skills and to build direct contacts with employers.

“The central objective of the Tech Alliance is to create concrete synergies between the worlds of education and business. This collaborative approach makes it possible to meet various needs; that of students to train theoretically and practically on sought-after skills; that of companies to quickly access these sought-after skills; and that of training institutions to offer training that is fully in line with market reality,” said Julien Groues, AWS Vice President for France and southern Europe.

A positive and lasting impact on territories

Beyond meeting the immediate needs of businesses, this initiative also aims to stimulate employment in the longer term, particularly in the areas of development, architecture, deployment, and administration of cloud solutions.

Initially concentrated on three pilot zones — Paris, Lyon, and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the Tech Alliance intends to contribute to filling jobs related to cloud computing. According to an OPIIEC study, cloud computing should represent 130,000 jobs by 2030 in France. To date, a dozen schools and companies have already joined the program, including some with multiple campuses in France. 

“Our ambition is to train as many talents as possible in cloud skills, to meet the recruitment needs of all of our customers and business collaborators, regardless of their size or location in France, whether in the pilot areas or elsewhere, and regardless of the number of positions to be filled. We will offer adapted solutions, with a personalized approach or events bringing together several companies, in order to suit all volumes of needs and all investment capacities,” said Groues.

In addition, the Tech Alliance builds on existing AWS training programs:

1. AWS Educate offers hundreds of hours of training for cloud novices, allowing them to progress at their own pace. Learners can explore job opportunities on the AWS Educate Job Board site and get digital badges. Signing up for AWS Educate is allowed at the age of 13 with just an email address. No credit card, Amazon.com, or AWS account required.
2. AWS Academy offers turnkey programs on the cloud to higher education institutions. The goal is to prepare students for industry recognized AWS certifications and for high-demand jobs. This program helps educators stay at the forefront of AWS cloud innovation to enable students to develop the skills they need to be hired in one of the fastest-growing industries.
3. AWS Skill Builder is one of our online learning centers that offers more than 600 courses in 14 languages, including 200 courses in French. It covers 30-plus AWS services, from beginner to advanced. We offer both role-based training and learning plans that focus on a specific domain or role. The training plans allow learners to master the skills of professions in tension in the field of cloud computing, such as: solution architect, data engineer, and machine learning engineer.

In conclusion, AWS is committed to diversifying the sector’s talent pool and is positioning itself on training job seekers and under-represented digital audiences (women, seniors, and people with disabilities) with Datascientest and France Travail through operational employment preparation.

Thanks to close collaboration between various organizations, a collaboration between the needs of businesses and the skills of learners, the AWS Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance is positioned as a major lever for employment in cloud jobs and in supporting the digital transformation of companies. For additional information, please visit the Tech Alliance homepage to learn more and get involved.