Building a Tech-Savvy Workforce and Amazon Web Services Training & Certification in Asia Pacific with Emmanuel Pillai
Fresh out of the studio, Emmanuel Pillai, Head of Training and Certification from Amazon Web Services, ASEAN, joined us to share how companies can build a tech-savvy workforce from building their startups to digital transformation with enterprises. Emmanuel began with an overview of AWS training and certification in the Asia Pacific. Then he dived deep into the recent report on building a tech-savvy workforce with Gallup and explained how economies and companies benefitted economically with the implementation of training and certification initiatives targeting to uplift the digital workers with modern technologies from AI/ML to 5G. Last but not least, Emmanuel shared what great would look like for AWS training and certification in the Asia Pacific.
"So at the Asia Pacific level, this study looked at several countries. But you know, we looked at a country level because that's the information that our customers and partners are interested in - whether they're in the government sector or in the private sector. So the countries include Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and India. In the ASEAN space, the four countries I mentioned before - are Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. So in this case, the first takeaway was that, again, digital fluency yields massive economic benefits. For example, those with advanced digital skills raised the Asia Pacific GDP by an estimated 934 billion. So it's pretty close to a trillion." - Emmanuel Pillai from Amazon Web Services
Introduction
- Emmanuel Pillai, (LinkedIn), Head of Training and Certification, ASEAN, Amazon Web Services
- How did you start your career?
- What brought you to Amazon Web Services and what is your role and coverage there?
- What key lessons can you share with my audience in your career journey?
Building a Tech-Savvy Work and AWS Training and Certification in the Asia Pacific with Emmanuel Pillai
- Before we talk about the main topic, can you introduce the global vision and mission of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its current footprint in the Asia Pacific?
- Can you provide a comprehensive overview of what training and certification means in the AWS to the broader ecosystem, for example, your customers and partners who want to train their workforce in the Asia Pacific?
- How do organizations that seek to start their digital transformation engage AWS to upskill and train their employees?
- What benefits do certifications bring to the talent of these organizations?
- What is the one thing you know about training and certification from AWS that many need to learn about?
- Recently, AWS, in collaboration with Gallup, released The Economic Benefits of a Tech-Savvy Workforce study. This report explores the economic benefits that digital skills provide for individuals, organizations, and national economies. Can you summarize what the key takeaways from that report are?
- What are the data sources that were used to build up the report?
- What are the benefits for economies with the arrival of digital workers?
- There are different levels for digital workers. How do we distinguish between a digital worker who is only skilled in basic cloud computing and a software engineer who might be skilled in the software development the report talks about?
- One interesting take from the report is that 7 in 10 employers in Asia Pacific countries face digital hiring challenges, in part due to strict bachelor’s degree requirements. The reason for the requirement is to help employers to set a minimum standard or a minimum qualification or signal for hiring specific to the immigration policy of that country. Removing that barrier might not help the filtering of the candidates, what are your perspectives on whether companies should remove the requirement?
- Can you talk about the opportunities for digital workers in specific areas such as web3 / cryptocurrencies, 5G and artificial intelligence?
- What does great look like for AWS training and certification in the Asia Pacific?
Closing
- Do you have any recommendations that have inspired you recently?
- Emmanuel's recommendations: Inspiring people.
- How does my audience find you?
Podcast Information: The show is hosted and produced by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong, Linkedin) and Carol Yin (@CarolYujiaYin, LinkedIn). Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by G.Thomas Craig (@gthomascraig, LinkedIn).
