New GwG Scholarship Opportunity: Google and Coursera

An interesting post popped up on TechCrunch today related to the Grow with Google program (GwG), "Google and Coursera launch program to train more IT support specialists."

"...Coursera...is today launching a new IT course with Google...the pair announced a

new program to train IT support professionals — a course written by Googlers for the Coursera platform to teach and then test across six fundamental areas of customer support: troubleshooting and customer service, networking, operating systems, system administration, automation, and security... 

The IT Support program — which is launching globally, but will offer courses initially only in English — has 64 hours of coursework in all, and students are expected to complete it eight to 12 months, at a cost of $49/month...Google is also offering financial aid to 10,000 people, based on need, and also via a few charitable partnerships...the typical cost of the course for full-paying students will be between $392 and $588 depending on how long it takes, which comparatively is a pretty good deal...I’ve seen courses from reputable companies that can cost as much as $1,230 for 20-25 hours of IT support instruction. 

For Coursera, the IT Support course is part of a larger strategic push for the startup to promote more vocational training...It’s also a way to tease out other potential business lines for the company in areas like career placement. After you finish the course, Coursera can then help you find (but does not guarantee) a job, tapping its partner network of businesses, which includes Bank of America, Walmart, Sprint, GE Digital, PNC Bank, Infosys, TEKSystems, UPMC, and Google... 

For Google, the course is one of the bigger efforts it has made to date for its Grow with Google program, an effort that the company launched in October 2017 to offer training, scholarships and other tools to help train people in skills related to tech and entrepreneurship..."

It's interesting to see the different approaches Google and other tech-related organizations are taking to increase the number of people with marketable tech skills.

I wonder how many people in the Udacity-Google GwG scholarship program now wish they'd applied for this new Coursera-Google program instead...

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