Bendigo and Adelaide Bank launches AWS Skills Guild

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is in the process of training 700 staff with cloud capabilities as part of its new cloud strategy.

The company is currently implementing its AWS Skills Guild upskilling program, which aims to build cloud fluency across the organisation’s business and IT functions.

The program commenced in June and will run through December, with multiple training classes being conducted each month.

AWS Skills Guild was launched following a month-long training blitz designed by the bank in collaboration with AWS Training and Certification.

The upskilling plan saw more than 50% of the bank’s developers trained in cloud, and was the foundation for an accelerated ‘32 apps in 30 days’ migration program designed to help the bank migrate workloads onto the AWS cloud at scale.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Cloud Community Lead Lauren Benedict said following the success of this training effort, the AWS Skills Guild team led the design of a program named ‘Unleash’. This program will include both formal and informal learning activities for employees across the technical, risk and finance functions.

“Training for both our technical and non-technical staff is crucial, because it facilitates collaboration between technical and business teams and creates a common understanding of cloud. With cloud-fluent business professionals, we can collaborate effectively and contribute to our organisational objectives,” she said.

“Unleash ... aims to invest in our people and unleash their potential through building cloud confidence.”

Informal training events include a Game Day — a collaborative exercise to test skills in implementing AWS Solutions to solve real-world problems in a gamified environment — as well as an Immersion Day, which will include hands-on labs to help participants learn about AWS services.

Towards the end of the program, attention will shift to preparing to secure AWS Certification through exam readiness workshops and group study sessions.

“The first six months of Unleash is just the beginning. A successful AWS Skills Guild establishes a culture of learning, supported by cloud champions, to enable the team to continue to maintain momentum for transformation projects over time. We are excited to continue our collaboration with AWS to drive cloud innovation,” Benedict said.

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