The cloud is an undeniable phenomenon, permeating organizations large and small, and ushering digital transformation, modern operations and the age of cloud. Increased interest demands increased expertise, and let’s face it, cloud experts don’t grow on trees.

Open source software vendor Red Hat is opening its training and certification courses to partners free of charge. Previously, only current customers received the same offer.  

“Partners play a critical role in Red Hat’s (News - Alert) open hybrid cloud vision and customer success,” said Ken Goetz, vice president of enterprise customer success and business management at Red Hat. “By expanding partner enablement offerings and Red Hat Training opportunities, we are empowering partners to deepen their abilities in delivering impactful customer solutions to unlock the open hybrid cloud with Red Hat technologies.”

The self-paced online courses cover cloud computing, containers, virtualization and automation in a curriculum comprised of 17 courses, available in eight languages. Red Hat is offering the necessary education to developer skills in hybrid cloud computing. These certifications enable partners to further training elsewhere, as well.

The IDC (News - Alert) white paper, The Business Value of Red Hat Training highlighted, “As the need for a skilled IT workforce continues to grow, it is imperative for vendors to expand their support for partners and customers implementing technologies in increasingly complex cloud environments.”

The complimentary comprehensive training and certification provides vendors a means to continue education, address a global issue and deliver greater value to customers. Maybe cloud experts can grow on trees.