In a recent Team Survey by Wattsnext HR Consultants, TechConnect scored off the charts for the Training and Development opportunities it offers Team Members. We put heaps of effort into this and are proud of the result. In light of this, we thought we would share some of our methodologies on how to motivate your team to get AWS certification.
TechConnect is a cloud-based consultancy firm and we require our team members to always be a few steps ahead of the customers when it comes to tech ability. We have found that studying and completing the AWS certification exams really do assist with fantastic project outcomes and delighted customers, so we have invested heavily in this area.
If you have a group of over-worked Techies that crawl out the door after a 10 hour slog most days, how do you motivate and invigorate them to further their qualifications? Letting your techies take a moment to sharpen their axe rather than keeping them at it with a blunt one greatly benefits both your employees and your business. Our proven program is outlined below and is with reference to the AWS exams, but can be altered for other Tech based exams.
TechConnect AWS Certification Training and exam ideas :
- Speak to AWS about understanding their training programs and look at setting up a training plan for your business. The training they have is extremely relevant and the labs are gold.
- Subscribe to the AWS online training portal.
- Offer your team instructor-led training. These are nearly always 3-day courses with some very relevant Labs.
- If you are not located near a training centre or have people that prefer their own space, give the team member 3 days off to complete the online study. We use A Cloud Guru and it has been great.
- Wherever possible, give the person relevant work to give them experience on the particular tools they will be assessed on. Giving a person a lot of devops work when they are studying for the AWS Certified Big Data exam does not help.
- Dependent on the exam, we give the person a day off prior to the exam to help them study and prepare.
- Pay for the cost of the exam for the team member – on the proviso that they pass!
- Our big clincher is that we have a menu of bonuses the team member gets for passing. We have heaps of guys completing the exams in the lead up to Christmas as they want a little extra cash for the Christmas period. By way of example:
- Associate Exam – $500
- Big Data Exam – $2,500
- Professional Exam – $2,500
- speak to your account manager to see if they can assist as AWS are usually very excited about us getting people AWS certification
- Set-up Friday afternoon tech sessions where the guys can ask the more experienced team members the questions they have.
- Ensure the leaders set good examples for the team. Two of our directors are AWS Certified Professional Architects.
At TechConnect we strongly believe that we are a learning organisation and all team members buy into this culture. Our team members give up their own time to ensure the others are well equipped to study for and take the exams. We’re all here to help support each other!
Outcomes of our program:
- We have a highly qualified workforce that is ready to delight customers with their expertise.
- We are looking to achieve several AWS competencies. TechConnect now have our sights on the Big Data competency and are nearly there. The certifications enable the competencies.
- A knowledgeable workforce works faster which allows us to be competitive in an already competitive market
- Retention – We have great employee retention due to the investment we make in the team members. This reminds me of the age-old joke:
Two managers are talking about training their employees. The first asks, “Yeah, but what if we train them, and they just leave?” The second responds, “What if we don’t train them, and they stay?”
- Lazy team members don’t like to get qualified whereas energetic team members do. We scare the lazy ones and attract the energetic ones who become the high performing team members. This in turn makes Tech Connect a high performing organisation.
At TechConnect, we have had remarkable results with investing in training and hope this article helps in some way in steering your ship. If you are an employee, share this with your Leaders so they can assist in getting you skilled. If they don’t and you believe you are one of the energetic ones, jump on our website and drop us an email.