From IT Certificate completers to Googlers

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Like many success stories, our journey to create the Google IT Support Certificatewas inspired by a challenge: We had issues finding qualified candidates to fill our own IT support team. We developed the Google IT Support Certificate (IT Cert for short), which requires no experience or degree, and helps prepare people for entry-level jobs in IT support in three to six months. In addition to helping us fill roles at Google, we created a hiring consortiumof over 50 national employers, including companies like Hulu, Sprint and Walmart, which consider graduates for roles.

In today’s economic environment, we’re committed to creating further access to job training to help people grow their career and economic potential. We’ve seen great results with the IT Cert: 80 percent of program participants report a positive career impact like a raise or a promotion, and 58 percent of participants identify as Black, Latino, female and/or veteran. But our work is not done. We recently created more pathways to jobs, including new Google Career Certificates in high-paying, high-growth career fields that do not require a degree, a new apprenticeship program at Google that teaches the certificate and a program that will bring the IT Cert to 100 career and technical education high schools for free by the end of 2021. 

Learn more today by joining our Grow with Google OnAir session, Plan Your Next Career Move with Google's IT Certificate. And read on to hear from graduates who experienced everything from homelessness to unemployment before taking the Google IT Cert and starting a role at Google.

Chelsea Rucker, Data Center Technician, Google

Chelsea Rucker had recently moved out of a shelter for homeless women in Nashville with her two young daughters. After taking a job at her local Goodwill, she learned the organization had partnered with Google to offer its IT Cert program. She received a program scholarship and spent the next several months enrolled in the self-directed course, carving out time to study while balancing her duties as a single mother and her 40-hour work week at Goodwill. After completing the program, she found an open IT role at Google, but struggled with imposter syndrome. 

“I thought there was no way Google would hire me,” she says. “After I gathered up the courage, I sent them my resume.” Chelsea landed the job at Google and credits the IT Cert program with giving her the foundational knowledge she needed to succeed. 

“Nobody ever talks about how this is possible—if we become well-versed in technology, we’ll find all kinds of opportunities..I’m a firm believer that difficult does not mean impossible,” Chelsea says. 

Xavier Heydt, IT Resident, Google

Xavier had always been good with computers, even helping family and friends build them, but had never really considered an IT career. He started with Linux and Python courses at a community college, but then heard about the Google IT Cert and finally saw a career he was interested in. He enrolled in the program. “It was like a fire hose of knowledge,” Xavier says. 

After completing the program, he shared his resume with several companies from the program’s hiring consortium. Within two weeks, a Google recruiter reached out and encouraged him to apply to Google’s Information Technology Residency program. Thanks to the courses, he was ready for the technical interviews and got a job in internal IT support at Google’s Ann Arbor office. “I don't know what my career trajectory would have been without the certificate program,” he says. “My experience at Google has been life-changing and the Google IT Cert is what opened that door for me.”

Aldi Suryoutom, IT Resident, Google

Aldi first was introduced to computers when he was around 7, growing up in Indonesia. His father brought home a PC with a Pentium 1 microprocessor in it. He would spend hours exploring how this new machine worked, trying to understand how the programs operated and tinkered with the hardware until the computer would freeze up. 

Aldi enrolled in the IT Cert program and loved the process and lessons. “The IT Cert program does a great job of preparing us for interviews with real word examples and practice,” he says. “I used to program to prepare for my interview questions that the recruiters asked me.”  Aldi was offered a job within Google’s IT services and went from being a student technician to working in an IT support role. “Everything I learned from the IT Cert program led me to Google,” he says.

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/grow-with-google/it-certificate-completers-googlers/