"I just wake up now and I feel this sense of purpose," said Alex Corral.
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Corral spent years managing two restaurants on Chicago's South Side. He couldn't afford to finish college, then a work injury and the pandemic forced him to rethink his future.
"I didn't really have much direction. I didn't know where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do," he said.
That's when Corral said he found Google Career Certificates through a scholarship with City Colleges of Chicago.
"I took it, and it ended up being one of the best decisions of my life," Corral said.
It's an online teaching program created by Google to train you in IT support, data analytics and project management. The courses are recognized by big-name companies like Accenture, Deloitte, Anthem, Walmart and more.
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"We're really doubling down on these career certificate programs whose whole goal is to help the 80 million Americans who don't have a college degree get into good high-paying, high-growth jobs," said Google's Vice President, Lisa Gevelber.
Gevelber said these courses are designed to be low-cost, accessible and open to anyone looking to break into the cyber workspace. And now Google is opening up tens of thousands of scholarships to take part.
"Right now we have 130 employers - small, medium size, and lots of large companies who are eager to hire people who have graduated with these certificates,"
According to Google, in the past year searches like, "how to find a job with no experience" or "great jobs without a degree" spiked over 750%.
Now, these courses are available and can be completed in less than a year. There are even resources to help you learn through City Colleges.
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"We've been aggressive at City Colleges of Chicago in seeking partnerships with employers," said Juan Salgado, Chancellor at City Colleges of Chicago. "We've been aggressive in seeking opportunities for our students to get a foot in the door. And Google has been aggressive at building partnerships with institutions like ours."
It's where Corral found his course and is now working his dream job as a cyber-security analyst.
"Being able to do this program that completely changed my life and being able to do it through scholarship was absolutely life-changing. It was amazing," Corral said.
Visit grow.google/certificates or bootcamp.ccc.edu/google-it-support-professional/ for more information.