Bluewolf Offers Free Cloud Training for Unemployed IT Pros

At Cloudforce New York, IT service provider Bluewolf announced Unemployment Benefits, an intriguing new initiative to help turn unemployed IT pros into Salesforce.com cloud experts.

The first wave of free Bluewolf Institute Salesforce certification training was offered at Cloudforce itself, but out-of-work channel pros can apply through May, according to Bluewolf’s website. As a partner itself, it’s not much of a mystery why Bluewolf is focusing on Salesforce training. And it’s not just philanthropy that sparked this initiative, apparently — it’s enlightened self-interest in the future of America’s technological capabilities as the cloud revolution marches on.

“The talent gap this revolution is creating is wide and dangerous. Bluewolf is putting over 1,000 people to work in the U.S. monthly, but this could be much higher if they had the skills in demand now. For the most part these IT pros don’t exist, and if we don’t train them, America is going to fall seriously behind,” said Eric Berridge, co-founder and principal of Bluewolf, in a prepared statement.

For those who make it into the Bluewolf Institute’s pro bono initiative, they can expect “standard and customized role-based training courses, workshops and one-on-one ‘Office Hours’ with Salesforce experts,” according to the press release. There are also business and marketing sessions designed to help these service providers-in-training build out their expertise and close the skills gap.

I have to applaud Bluewolf for reaching out and helping those with technical knowledge get their footing in the cloud. If you participate in the program, make sure you drop us a line and let us know what you think.