NEW CARLISLE — Amazon Web Services announced the opening of its new Campus Administration Building located on its data center campus between New Carlisle and South Bend.
The building is home to a training center purpose-built to develop the next generation of data centers and machine learning professionals from the local community.
Here’s five things to know about the new building, campus and its learning programs:
Administration building
Although Amazon officials were unable to provide an exact dollar amount of how much it took to building the Campus Administration Building, Josh Sallabedra, cluster operations leader of Indiana, said it’s part of Amazons $11 billion promised investment in the community.
The building has lockers, showers, break spaces, a small café and a coffee shop inside for employee use. Because the data center operates 365 days a year, 24 hours and seven days a week, Sallabedra said Amazon saw the importance of providing importance resources for employee comfort.
“It’s one of the first ones that we put together in all of the U.S. right here,” Sallabedra said. “Things are pretty special for us.”
Long-term jobs
The Campus Administration Building is home to Amazon’s Work-Based Learning program, which recruits directly from local high schools, colleges and community members in Northern Indiana.
Sallabedra said individuals who enter the program are not required to have any prior technological knowledge and are trained in machine learning and data center operations inside the administration building.
“We promise communities when we go into those communities that we’re going to be hiring people locally,” Sallabedra said. “Being able to train those folks in the things we’re bringing to this is area is what’s the important part.”
The first graduating class includes 58 residents who are being promoted from level two to level three technical roles, whether that’s in part replacement, testing servers or auditing.
IVY Tech Community College Partnership
South Bend, Valparaiso and Lake County’s Ivy Tech Community College branches have partnered with Amazon to create a pipeline from classroom to career at the data center.
Sallabedra said each campus has collaborated with the data center from day one, and in 2021, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Ivy Tech announced a partnership with AWS to train and certify 5,000 individuals in cloud computing skills.
The partnership includes data center career pathways where students are trained in fiber optic splicing, server rack operations and data center fundamentals to prepare them for roles at the data center campus. It also includes intensive hands-on training in fiber optic cable connect.
Ivy Tech and AWS have named their collaboration the AWS Pathways Program.
Other collaborations in the community
In May, Amazon opened its first Think Big Space in Indiana at New Prairie High School in New Carlisle. The Think Big Space is an educational lab that gives approximately 3,000 students access to hands-on technology and resources designed to spark interest in science, technology, engineering and math fields.
The space primarily serves New Prairie High School students and middle school students making field trips to use the facility.
Julia Trigo, a program manager with Amazon’s STEM education partner Creative Hut, said engaging students in STEM education from an early age is vital in today’s ever-changing world, The Tribune previously reported. Jobs that will be hiring in five years might not even exist right now, Trigo said, but teaching kids critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving skills will help them land a job down the road.
A piece of something bigger
Amazon’s work-based learning program is a part of Amazon’s Future Ready 2023 initiative — a $2.5 billion investment to prepare 50 million people worldwide for the future of work through skills training.
Vice President of Global Data Centers Operations at AWS Sergio Loureiro said the celebration of the Campus Administration Building was not just about the building’s construction but about opening a new chapter for the community.
“The SBN campus represent Amazon’s long-term commitment to the Midwest,” Loureiro said “Our work-based learning program … operates on a very simple premise. You don’t need a tech résumé to build a tech career. You need access, and you need opportunity. That is what we’re happy to provide.”
Email South Bend Tribune business reporter Jessica Velez at jvelez@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Amazon unveils new administration building with work-based learning
Reporting by Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
