Mirantis launches two courses, searchable database to grow verified OpenStack talent pool
When it comes to OpenStack adoption, one of the most frequently heard regains is "But we can't' find the expertise!" Mirantis is tackling the problem on two fronts: with a searchable database of professionals who have been certified in vendor-neutral OpenStack, and with two new courses that widen the available options for both students and employers.
Anecdotally, it's a well-accepted fact that being able to list OpenStack as a skill improves a potential employee's resume -- one respondent to the Kilo OpenStack user survey even noted it as what he/she liked most about the technology: “$$$$$$$$$$ Cha-ching, best resume buzzword ever!”
Statistics bear out that optimism. Indeed shows more than 2000 job openings that specifically mention OpenStack -- with a premium of $32,000 of additional salary over non-OpenStack cloud jobs. BSA Global Cloud Scorecard 2013 predicts an estimated 14 million cloud jobs will be created by the end of 2015 -- SimplyHired.com already lists more than half a million -- and with OpenStack adoption gaining ground, larger and larger numbers of these jobs will require OpenStack skills.
With that in mind, Mirantis, which has trained more than 5,000 students in the technology since 2011, set out to ensure that employers can be certain that an applicant isn't simply padding his or her resume with a sought-after skill. Last year, the company launched a certification program in which students could prove their skills. Now, Mirantis has created a searchable database of these professionals. Employers can search for (and contact) individuals within a specific geographic area, or they can verify the authenticity of an applicant's certification.
Although Mirantis has its own OpenStack distribution, all training classes provide completely vendor-neutral training; skills students learn can be applied to any and all distributions. Classes cover the most popular distributions, hypervisors, storage backends, and network topologies. In addition to its pre-existing OpenStack Bootcamp I (OS100) training for IT professionals, Mirantis now offers OpenStack Fundamentals (OS50), a one-day course for business professionals, and OpenStack Bootcamp II (OS200), a training for students with extensive background in OpenStack.
