Big Tech Schools Us

Even as state and regional education systems and business coalitions roll out reams of computer, tech and STEM skills certification and boot camp programs, Big Tech behemoths is doing the same. Companies such as Google, Intel, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn and beyond have developed their own academic portfolios in order to fill a need for talent that only promises to keep climbing.

Skeptics might point to such programs as community development sops — the sort of philanthropy-tinged outreach a company does to convey its goodwill and commitment to a region even as it hunts out ever more competitive advantage. But there is evidence that the proverbial win-win-win scenario may indeed be unfolding: Companies train people for the positions they and other firms need to fill. Communities build a critical mass of talent. And individual citizens build customized portfolios of certifications and skills.

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