Grow With Google: 50,000 New Scholarships Available Now
“Google to give $1 billion to nonprofits to help Americans get jobs in the new economy”
That’s the headline in USA Today, and it follows on news that Google CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled at an event in Pittsburgh, PA earlier this morning. As the article notes, this is “the largest philanthropic pledge to date from the Internet giant,” and the investment is targeted specifically at “helping people adjust to the changing nature of work.”
Here at Udacity, we’re excited to partner with Google for this new Grow with Google initiative, and together, we’re offering 50,000 new scholarships to people all across the country. Stuart Frye, Udacity’s VP of Economic Opportunity, wrote about this in an announcement on the Udacity blog this morning:
“As we move further into a transformative age that brings with it significant changes to the hiring landscape, Udacity and Google are committed to providing meaningful opportunities to help people master the most important skills they need to be successful in the modern economy. We are now past the era where technical skills only apply “in tech.” In today’s world, skills such as web and mobile development are relevant to every industry — not just Silicon Valley.”
Stuart’s observations parallel sentiments expressed by Sundar Pichai this morning:
“The nature of work is fundamentally changing. And that is shifting the link between education, training and opportunity,”
A particularly notable statistic that Stuart shares is this one: “Nearly 90% of software developers in the US live outside Silicon Valley, and there are a number of open software development jobs — more than 220K across the country as of 2016.”
At Udacity, we spend a lot of time talking with our students about the opportunities that are out there, how to pursue them, and what the challenges might be along the way. Given all the changes taking place across the hiring landscape, it’s understandable people are concerned about their futures. One of the most common concerns we hear being expressed is the worry that having to learn new skills translates to giving up, and starting over.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Terms like “reskill,” “upskill,” and “stackable skills” may seem like buzzy catch-phrases, but it’s important to understand their underlying meanings — what we’re talking about here is the idea of augmentation; layering in valuable new skills on top of what you already know.
As an example, if you’re a mid-career retail professional, and you’re suddenly feeling vulnerable because you don’t know how to code, don’t understand machine learning, and don’t know how to create world-class data visualizations, you may feel like you’re at a competitive disadvantage. But through Udacity, you can learn these skills simultaneous to maintaining and advancing your existing career. Then, as a Udacity graduate, you’re not only an experienced leader with a great deal of industry experience, you also have a new roster of cutting-edge skills that you’ve mastered. In short, you’re valuable, and in demand.
In a piece by Sundar Pichai published on the Google blog this morning, he writes the following:
“We think the Internet should allow everyone to become a developer, entrepreneur or creator, and we build our platforms around that. Researchers estimate that Android supported about 1.3 million developer jobs in the U.S. in 2016.”
These new scholarships were created expressly for you to take advantage of career opportunities like these. Apply today. You’ve got Udacity and Google behind you all the way!
~
This article was written by Christopher Watkins, Senior Writer and Chief Words Officer, Udacity
