Certification Training Gives Students the Tools for a Career in the Cloud

Eight Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) students have successfully completed a free, six-month Introduction to Cloud Computing Certificate Program provided through the Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) division of the BMCC Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development.

The program provided networking and cloud foundational trainings with two national industry certifications in CISCO CCNA and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Practitioner.

“The AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner is the first step aspiring professionals will take in pursuit of obtaining the Solutions Architect credential,” says Daniel Lebo, BMCC Technology Instructor.

For those entering the field of Information Technology, he explains, “AWS Certified Solutions Architect is among the 10 Highest-Paying IT Certifications for 2023. As an instructor, I can honestly say that these students worked incredibly hard to acquire the skills needed to not only obtain certification status, but more importantly, perform as a team in an enterprise cloud deployment. Congratulations to BMCC’s latest class of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioners! They earned it.”

According to Donna McLean-Grant, Director of Programs & Special Initiatives in the BMCC Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development, students who completed the program are now participating in the career success component of the program, with the goal of landing a paid externships and job placement assistance with Spectrum and other leading employers.

“BMCC’s aim is to develop a talent pipeline of qualified, trained and certified IT technicians who are able to meet employers growing IT demands and respond to our students’ career aspirations and goals,” Dr. McLean-Grant says.

Also, she adds, “Two graduates will be selected to participate in BMCC’s in-house, 1,000-hour, paid New York State (NYS) Computer Network Apprenticeship program with the Department of Technology Resources & Technology under BMCC Vice President for Information Technology Joseph Spadaro.”

Sojourner Hughes, a Brooklyn resident and the only woman in the Cloud computing class, learned about the tuition-free opportunity in an ad in AMNY. She had Comptia A+ certification but was not employed at that time, and had attended veterinary technology courses at the college level about 10 years earlier, but had changed her focus to IT technology.

“Our teacher in the Cloud computing class at BMCC, Daniel Lebo, was very relatable. He was incredibly motivational. If I said, ‘I can’t do this,’ he would say, ‘Yes you can!’ I also had an amazing support system in the class. Everyone was willing to help each other. There were times I needed help with subnetting and a couple classmates would stay behind to help me with that.”

Ms. Hughes says that while she didn’t know a lot about Cloud computing when she started the class, it has opened up a huge range of possibilities.

“I’m considering a solutions architect career path for networks and I’m researching new technologies,” she says. “I would like to see this class go on because it was great for me and I think it would be great for others. I didn’t know what I was going to do and it gave me a foundational path to go on when it comes to career possibilities. I just got my AWS cloud practitioner certification and the next step is to get my solutions architect associate certificate then the professional level certification.”

The eight students who completed the pilot Introduction to Cloud Computing Certificate Program are:

Jawaanza Davis

Joel Fernandez

Gerardo Gutierrez

Omesh Hiraman

Sojourner Hughes

Purcell Nurse

Brandon Sifontes

Lincoln Speer

For more information on the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioners training in the Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) division at the Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development, contact Dr. Donna McLean-Grant at dmcleangrant@bmcc.cuny.edu.